Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2015 | Page 22

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: We use the Pike Place Fish Market philosophy for
our customers: play, make their day, be there, and choose your attitude. The
Cowabunga Team mantra is, “To be the best, you’ve gotta beat the best!” We
are always looking to be our best and beat our best.
Management method or style: I am results-oriented. I allow for freedom
of decisions and process. And I spend a lot of time strategically for my business.
How do others describe you? Competitive, confident, passionate, and I
would hope someone would say that I was generous.
One thing I’m looking to do better: I’m always looking to be a better
boss. That is my job and role—to be a leader.
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: I cut
them wide-open loose. I give them an outline or a budget and a process. I
don’t give them a lot of instruction to start, but I spend time on what the outcome should be.
How close are you to operations? I’m not as close in the store-tocustomer connection as I used to be, just because of the growth in number of
stores and people. But I am as close to the business as I can be without making
every pizza. I keep my schedule clear so I can maintain a bigger picture.
What are the two most important things you rely on from your
franchisor? I expect sound decisions. When a franchisor doesn’t make sound

decisions you are left holding the bag. I expect good, solid decisions and a
commitment to the brand. I expect them to help me be profitable so I can grow
their brand.
What I need from vendors: To be contemporary and innovative so we
can constantly improve and speed up our operations. And I need them to be absolutely price-competitive. If I bring them sales advantages or assets that help
them, I expect them to help me.
How is social media affecting your business? Social media has
become such a broad term. We have grown from zero pizzas ordered online to
more than half our orders online. From a banner advertising and social media
standpoint, it is a faster way to network and seems to have cut out a lot of our
print business, which is helpful economically. The jury is still out where social
media is from an advertising standpoint. Our Domino’s leadership is committed
to doing the best job, so it is off my plate to worry about.
How do you hire and fire? I look at the people funnel like a timeline:
advertising to recruit, onboarding, initial training, and a focus on a career path.
That is a process we are working on right now. What is extraordinary retention? What is desired? What is expected? Those are things we are focusing on
right now. I don’t have a plan to fire, but if you bugger things up consistently
you are probably going to be gone.

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: N/A.
2015 goals: My focus is always on profits and sales, happy customers,
our operational scores, and what we call the “Miracle of Team.” If we have
a fantastic team, we will have great operations, which will generate happy
customers. Happy customers generate sales increases, which generates profitability. We are in the middle of reimaging all of our stores. We hope to have 90
percent of that done by the end of 2015.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? By sales,
profitability, number of units, and people. If I get more people, I will get more
sales. We went from 91 stores to 101 in 2014, with two or three more lined
up in January.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
My vision is to have consistent growth of 10 to 20 stores a year from our base
of 101 stores now and continue to build brand equity. To really be seen as
great operators, I would like to see us at a 9 or 10 in our brand equity scores.
How is the economy in your region affecting you, your employees, your customers? We have seen tremendous sales growth, but
because of food and insurance costs our profitability is about the same. We
haven’t raised prices for 3 years, so I maintain that we may not discount as
much.
Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks, other? Why/why not? I work with BB&T Bank. I have a personal relationship
with my lending person. I don’t have a lot of debt for the number of assets we
have. What I do is lay out a plan with them way ahead of time of what I’m do-

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ing, where I’m going, and where I’m spending money. My rule of thumb is that
if you borrow, it has to be for something that is new to the system. If I were
starting today, that would be a rule I would have started with. Now the process
for growth is more important to me than the number of stores.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? The nonprofit Domino’s Pizza Partners Foundation was established to assist team
memb ers in time of special need or tragedy. Since its inception, the foundation
has helped thousands of Domino’s Pizza team members and their families with
financial, emotional, intermediary, and advisory assistance.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? Our
management team earns bonuses based on our five goals. In December, we
were looking for a record week in sales. I put a $100,000 bounty out for the
management team to split if we hit the record week, so they could think about
and understand how important it is to me that we constantly get better. I try
to keep it fun and treat my employees like customers. We also have awards
banquets every year and give out literally hundreds of plaques and trophies to
recognize people. We really believe in recognition. Every week I write cards
for anybody who is up in sales by 5 percent or more. That is a big stack every
week now. I could raise the sales increase amount to limit that work, but they
all mean something to me, so that is a really important piece.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? None. I am sticking with this. I really love the brand. I really love the leadership team we have
in there now, and I love their decision-making process. I used to help run the
whole thing, so I know this is the best we have ever had. I’m really proud to be
part of the brand.

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE I, 2015

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