Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 16

P O W E R

P L A Y E R S

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: We’re doing a lot more third-party management and
have been phasing out of day-to-day management activities. I’m the youngest of
the three partners (they are 65 and 61), and we’re all kind of wanting to maybe
not burn the candle at both ends any more.
Would you say you are in the franchising, real estate, or customer service business? Why? It’s customer service. If you don’t have
great customer service and a good product you won’t survive. Consumers are
being a lot more conscious about how they’re spending dollars but still demanding
the same service.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? I just enjoy life and getting up, and I love working. Work is probably the most fun that I have and that
motivates me. I also enjoy spending time with my wife every day—that’s more
important.
What’s your passion in business? I guess I’m a driver. I’m not a patient
person with details.
Management method or style: I just look at the big picture. I don’t like
about his success. “I think it’s just getting up every morning, looking for deals,
treating people like human beings, just
being honest. A friend of mine once said
that we spend a tremendous amount
of money trying to keep the dishonest

to micromanage. I like for the people around me to tell me in 30 words or less
what’s going on, because there are so many things we do.
Greatest challenge: The greatest challenge today is making sure that you’re
picking the right locations and making sure you don’t over-leverage yourself.
How close are you to operations? Very.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the
economy? How? Yes we have. We have eliminated a lot of print material and
are using more Internet. We also are having our sales reps follow up more with
the consumer.
How do others describe you? Probably they’d say not too serious, but a
workaholic.
How do you hire and fire? I usually don’t. Our management team does that.
How do you train and retain? That’s the management team and they do
a great job.
How do you deal with problem employees? As I said, the management team is in charge of that.

“We’re a small
company, a pat on
the back is important.”

from taking our money. But at the end
of the day there’s only that one percent
of people who are bad who will steal
from you. Don’t worry about that one
percent, because they’re going to hell
and you’re not.”

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: I couldn’t tell you.
2011 goals: To complete all the construction projects and make sure they’re
open on time. We’re working on a very large project in the Phoenix area and
that’s a goal of mine.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Profits. Not
revenue. I don’t care about revenue.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? I
would like to be maintaining the same pace I am today, continuing to do business
deals, continuing to grow, maybe to work a little less.
How has the most recent economic cycle affected you, your
employees, your customers? Are you experiencing economic
growth/recovery in your market? We’ve reduced staff by 25 percent, reduced costs by 40 percent. We took a look at ourselves and realized that there are
some things out there we don’t need. We looked under every rock to find a dollar,
and I would say we’re a much better company now having gone through this.
What did you change/do differently during the recent tough
economic times that you plan to continue doing into the future?
Business in America has learned how to do more with less people. I’m not looking
at hiring anybody soon. We can do the same work with less people. And I learned
to be more conservative, even in my personal life, making sure I don’t lose what
I’ve worked so hard for. Through this recession my net worth has gone down
about 40 percent.
How do you forecast for your business during trying times?
Can you even forecast at all? No. Not until we know we can borrow
money. I think it’s too difficult to forecast. You have to take one day at a time.
Where do you find capital for expansion? We’ve used smaller banks,
where it has been easier to find capital. What works for Value Place is $3.5 mil-

14

Multi-unit Franchisee Is s ue II, 2011

lion, so that does make the Value Place model more attractive for developers.
If you put equity in, then you can go to a community bank. But for any sizable
projects ($8 million, $10 million, $100 million), financing for new construction
is nonexistent.
Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? A little, not much.
Have you used private equity, local banks, national banks,
other institutions? Why/why not? Community banks, over the last six
or seven months. They’re willing to lend more than the larger banks, although
they have their restraints.
What kind of exit strategy do you have in place for your business? I don’t have one. My exit strategy is to continue what I do. I have one
son in the business. I’m hoping he’ll step up to the plate and take some of the
business.
What kinds of things are you doing to take care of your employees? Treat them great. The best way is to tell them when they accomplish
things. Obviously we make sure they’re compensated, but they like to be recognized and told they’re doing a great job. We’re a small company, a pat on the
back is important.
How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? Health care is the biggest problem. The rest of payroll costs we can
handle fine. But health care is an unknown. It goes up every year. Until Congress
decides to get along with each other, I have no idea where we’re going.
How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? We
are too small to single out one person. We try to reward everyone as a team.
How is social media affecting your business operations? We are
using social media in our marketing, but have not felt the effects of it yet. It’s still
a learning process for us.