Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 26

P O W E R

P L A Y E R S

By John Carroll

British Brothers Take
Illinois, Virginia
“I don’t quite understand why people eat
what they eat in the U.S.”

G

lenn Miller’s first look at
the franchising business came
in the early 1990s, when the
British Chartered Accountant’s
brother, an attorney, wound up with
six Arby’s in Central Illinois. It didn’t
take a rocket scientist to see some of

the problems that needed fixing.
“It was wrongly structured,” recalls
Miller, who says two loans had been
taken out that charged 15 percent and
13 percent, and the debt payments
were dragging down the operation.
“It took about two years,” he says.

“The loan was paid off and we refinanced with a local bank when I
came on board three years down the
line.” The local Busey Bank was able
to restructure the debt, and in 1996
Miller left the U.K. and made the trip
to the U.S., where he gradually took

MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy: We tend to run our company with the ideals of our
Scottish socialist father, who believed in a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.
No prejudice, no bias. Our obligation is to our employees, who take care of
our guests.
Would you say you are in the franchising, real estate, or
customer service business? Why? We are in the customer service
business. I think you can use a lot of the educational skills you’ve learned
in formal education and deploy them running something better than anyone
else. Our motto is to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Hopefully we have
an open-door policy.
What gets you out of bed in the morning? Competing. We want to
build a better mousetrap.
What’s your passion in business? My passion is being the best husband and father possible.
Management method or style: Integrity and honesty.
Greatest challenge: I don’t quite understand why people eat what they
eat in the U.S. I wasn’t raised in this culture. I don’t understand the appeal. I
have no natural affinity for some of the things we sell.
How close are you to operations? I think I’ve got a lot closer in
the last three years and I enjoy it. It just means you want more and more
control. Franchisees are always disappointed with franchisors. You think you
know how to run the franchise better than the franchisor. That’s a source of
frustration. When it’s your money on the line, you have to have a lot of faith,

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Multi-unit Franchisee IS S Ue II, 2011

particularly now that Arby’s has been thrown on the block.
Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the
economy? How? The economy has driven complacency out of our attitudes towards our guest. Our four walls marketing must emphasize what is
important to the guest: great food, well served in a comfortable environment.
How do others describe you? (He laughs.) I would think “odd,” because of my accent. I talk about politics too much.
How do you hire and fire? I’ll hire and fire the director of operations.
I will have some opinions on internal promotes. I do inspect all of the formal
appraisals that the area directors do for the general managers. We want to
make sure the language is the same for all employees.
How do you train and retain? In terms of training, there’s seven
weeks training in McAlister’s and six weeks training in Arby’s. In Arby’s the
director of operations assigns mentors to newer general managers who they
can rely on. We meet as frequently as we can with our managers in Virginia.
Retention, I think, goes directly to the culture. This is a small company, still
growing, financially secure, and we like to have fun. If you want to be a general manager, we provide the mechanism to get you there.
How do you deal with problem employees? Our policy and procedures manual is pretty strict. If there’s no call, no show, you get written up.
The second time you’re dismissed. We also do a newsletter once a quarter.
And employees can raise concerns and complaints to the director of human
resources.