Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2013 | Page 38

MEGA

“We treat our people like people.”
MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: Do what you say you are going to do, minimize
debt, don’t over-leverage.

What I need from vendors: Consistent quality and on-time delivery.

Management method or style: Treat your people with respect and recognize they have problems and life issues as well. Our other motto for Glencoe is,
“We treat our people like people.”

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the
economy? How? We always need to have a value proposition, and we
need to make sure the public knows what it is. We investment spend so we can
fund local marketing initiatives.

Greatest challenge: Treating my employees fairly while still making a
profit. The current anti-business environment makes it very difficult to make a
profit in the restaurant business today.

How is social media affecting your business? We are now advertising on Internet search engines like Internet Explorer and on mobile apps for
smartphones.

How do others describe you? Hard-working, sometimes impatient, but
always tries to be fair and do the right thing.

How do you hire and fire? District managers hire and fire at the restaurant
level unless circumstances call for immediate dismissal, like theft or fighting.

One thing I’m looking to do better: Not over-schedule my time.

How do you train and retain? We have frequent training sessions in our
conference room at our office. We also have a very detailed pre-employment
orientation at our office that clearly spells out company policy and the fact that
we use E-Verify. A thorough orientation is the best way to improve retention.

How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I encourage them to make their own decisions and then tell me why they made the
decision they did. I tell people it’s okay to make mistakes.
How close are you to operations? Not that close. My time is best spent
managing the businesses, rather than working in operations.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your
franchisor? National marketing and new product development.

How do you deal with problem employees? First we counsel them,
then we write them up, then suspension, and ultimately termination.
Fastest way into my doghouse: Don’t do what you say you are going
to do!

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: Burger King, $40 million; T-Mobile Premium Retail, $6.8
million; Panera Bread, $18 million; Fazoli’s, $2.2 million.
2013 goals: Open one new Burger King, remodel two more, and grow sales
by 5 percent minimum; open two new Paneras and grow sales by 7.5 percent;
open two new T-Mobile stores, remodel two existing stores, and grow sales by
5 percent.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Total sales versus a year ago and comparable sales versus a year ago. We also use the same
criteria for ticket counts.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? In
5 years: at 40 Burger Kings, 13 Paneras, and 20 T-Mobile stores. In 10 years:
still involved in the businesses, but about 75 percent retired.
How is the economy affecting you, your employees, your customers? Sales are down and net income even more. We have had very few
raises over the past three years, but thankfully, we have also avoided any
layoffs related to the economy.
Are you experiencing economic growth or recovery in your market? Just in the past two months we have had positive sales at Burger King.
Panera continues to grow in sales and tickets, year after year. T-Mobile also has
had consistent positive sales over the past two years.
What did you change or do di fferently in this economy that you
plan to continue doing? Tighter control on overhead costs.
How do you forecast for your business in this economy? We fore-

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue I, 2013

cast positive sales through traffic-driving value initiatives.
Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? Capital has been
easier to access because banks have money to lend and we have relatively low
debt and good cash flow.
Where do you find capital for expansion? From both national banks
(Bank of America) and local banks in Las Vegas and Southern California.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? We have had
no layoffs and no cut in salaries, although raises have been few and far between. We also “treat our people like people” so we have very good retention.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare,
etc.)? We are holding the line on hiring new employees and asking for more
productivity from our existing employees. Ultimately, we will have to raise
prices to maintain our bottom line as costs continue to go up.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We
give top performers raises. We also recognize their contribution with titles (training
manager, safety coordinator, etc.). However, our primary way to reward good performance is with a bonus plan that is, in effect, a profit-sharing plan.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? My family works
in the Burger King and T-Mobile businesses, so eventually I will work less and
they will take on more of the day-to-day responsibilities and decision-making.
I’m not involved in Panera operations and we have an operating partner in
North Orange County where the restaurants are located, so no need for an exit
strategy there.