Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 18

P O W E R

together took some research, says the
young multi-concept operator, who was
able to get a fast start on Cousins, a brand
he knew well as a customer. “Cousins was
always my favorite sandwich shop,” he
says. “That’s how I got started looking
at it.” After that he began surfing the
Internet in search of complementary
brands, tracked down the Chocolate
Shoppe and just kept going.
But the real key to his success, he
says, has been his ability to attract a
good group of employees to prepare
and serve the food. After all, he says,
“The restaurant business is really more
about the people than the food.” Just
about anybody can make a good sandwich, but if you want customers to keep
coming back day after day, you need to
have friendly, likable people behind the
counters. To do that, he budgets extra
time to get to know the people who
are applying to work, probing them to
find out more about what makes them

P L A Y E R S

“The restaurant
business is really
more about the
people than the
food.”
Name: Andy Lanz
TiTle: Owner
CompaNy: Lanz Restaurants LLC
No. of uNiTs: 5 Cousins subs, 2
Chocolate shoppe Ice Cream, 1
Big Apple Bagels, 1 Figaro’s Italian
Pizza
age: 29
family: Nope.
years iN CurreNT posiTioN:

6.5
years iN fraNChisiNg: 6.5

tick to get a better idea of how they
will handle customer relations on the
front lines.
“Part of hiring is just having a feel
for people,” says Lanz, “finding out who
will be outgoing and talk to your guests,
and who’s reasonably hard-working.” By
taking more time for job interviews, he’s
been able to reduce his remedial work
with problem employees to a minimum.
Lanz just doesn’t talk the customer
service talk. He helps set the pace, and
provides an example by making sure
he’s in one of his stores every lunchtime,
serving food and talking it up with employees and customers.
Nights and weekends you can often
find him at a local event, but he isn’t just
out to have fun. A real go-getter, Lanz
doesn’t wait for the business to come to
him. He goes after the market wherever
he can find it, specializing in marketing
his food favorites at events in the area.
It’s a lucrative sideline, he says, which

PERSONAL
Key accomplishments: Going from
one store to four stores in six and a half
years has probably been my biggest accomplishment.
Biggest mistake: I’ve made a lot of
mistakes. At certain points I’ve been a
little too optimistic and grown too fast.
How do you spend a typical day? I
usually visit at least a couple of the stores.
I work lunch in one of the stores. I do
quite a bit of paperwork every day. Bookkeeping and setting up marketing, that
kind of stuff. I’d rather be on the floor,
working with customers.
Work week: I do a lot of special events.
This year we have over 50 special events
scheduled. And it covers everything: the
state hockey tournament, fairs, firework
displays. I work with a local entertainment
center and we donate a percentage of
sales back. We sell subs and ice cream at
the events.
Favorite fun activities: I love to go to
Badger games, both football and hockey.
And I have pet turtles.
Exercise/workout: I probably don’t

16

“This year we have
over 50 special events
scheduled. And it covers
everything: the state hockey
tournament, fairs, firework
displays. I work with a local
entertainment center and
we donate a percentage of
sales back. We
sell subs and ice cream at
the events.”

Multi-unit Franchisee Is s ue II, 2011

work out nearly as much as I should.
Favorite stuff/tech toys: I’m not
really big into that, but I couldn’t live
without my BlackBerry.
What are you reading? I read the
news about half an hour a day.
Do you have a favorite quote or
advice you give? Adversity builds
character.
Best advice you ever got: Laugh
at your mistakes, but don’t repeat
them.
Formative influences/events:
My parents have had a great deal of
influence on my life. My Dad owned an
insurance agency for 25 years and my
parents had a large self-storage business
when I was growing up, so I think that’s
definitely where I got my drive to invest
and build a business.
How do you balance life and
work? I spend a lot of time with my
business. At first I was much worse at
it than I am now. I definitely learned
to force myself not to work and do fun
things too.