Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2012 | Page 32

M U L T I - B R A N D M A N A G E M E N T, C O N T I N U E D and earlier to keep up. That and paperwork. I hate paperwork. How do others describe you? I think they’d describe me as a hardworking, honest person. How close are you to operations? Very close. I’m involved every single day. I like to be part of the business, to make sure everything is done right. I’ll mop the floors, talk to my customers, make sure my employees come in with a happy attitude and have a happier attitude when they leave. Employees see me working, scrubbing the floor, cleaning the tables. Sometimes, with customers I know, I’ll buy them a round of beers. I believe when you take a real interest in your customers, they can sense that. How do you train and retain? Wingstop provides us with training videos. After the employees have viewed them, we match them with another employee in the same position to work together hands-on. I’ll mop the floors, talk to my customers, make sure my employees come in with a happy attitude and have a happier attitude when they leave. How do you hire and fire? I listen to what my employees and prospective employees tell me. In interviews I ask them for some of their best qualities, why I should hire them, why they’d be good for my business. The majority will say the same thing: I’m a hard worker, I’ll be there on time. But I also ask questions about working with other people. I’ll ask about small details. If they sound positive on the details, I’ll take a chance with them. How do you deal with problem employees? I never raise my voice. I describe the situation, and if I have to let them go, just say I can’t have it. I never get angry or raise my voice. I used to but now I don’t think there’s any point in it. That’s one thing I pray for: Help me to be mellow. In the end we’re just cooking, we’re not saving the world. Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? Not really. We advertise on the grocery store register tape. I advertise in local magazines. I go talk to schools, and try to be a part of the community as much as possible. We do fundraisers for churches and youth organizations. How is social media affecting your business operations? The corporate people handle that. We have our Facebook page out, and we’ll see how that goes. I see us doing more of that as time goes on. BOTTOM LINE Annual revenue: $5 million from Wingstop, plus the brand-new burger stores I use my own money. Other than that, I just go to a bank and ask for an SBA loan. 2012 goals: I want to continue doing what we’re doing. My goal is to just talk to other people about the Lord. Is capital getting easier to access? Why/why not? I’ve noticed it’s a bit more difficult. Banks are asking more and more questions. They want more collateral. Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? The way I look at it is, How is each of my restaurants growing? I’m also now growing in another sense by buying property to build my own stores. Have you used private equity, local/national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? Local banks where I keep my accounts. Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? I want to be in good health, and for my son to be more involved in the business, take more and more of the reins. I’ll probably hand it all over to my son. I’ll be there, helping him out, giving him advice. What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? I want to stick with it for now, and get my son more and more involved. If he’s doing a good job, taking care of the business well, keeping the numbers positive, I’ll start exiting slowly. How has the most recent economic cycle affected you, your employees, your customers? In the Valley, the economy has still been good. It hasn’t affected us down there as it has across the U.S. We still get customers in from Mexico with a lot of disposable income. What are you doing to take care of your employees? We give them Christmas bonuses, and during the year I’ll give them little incentives, where they can make extra money. When we get inspected by the health department or by Wingstop and we pass, they get a bonus. After they’ve been with me a year, they get a week’s paid vacation. Everyone, not just supervisors. Now I’m looking to provide insurance to supervisors. Are you experiencing economic growth/recovery in your market? Yes. What did you change or do differently in this economy that you plan to continue doing? It’s just been business as usual, and we’ll keep doing the same thing. Stay involved with schools and churches, continue treating everybody fairly. How do you forecast for your business in this economy? We look for consistent growth from year to year. If I’m doing anywhere from 3 percent to 8 percent growth I’m happy with it. Where do you find capital for expansion? A lot of it I have saved. 30 Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue II, 2012 How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, healthcare, etc.)? Taxes have gone up, but that’s just standard. You make more money, you pay more taxes. I’m just glad I have the money to pay. How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? I guess I really haven’t at this point. It’s something I need to look at. There’s one thing: All of them get Christmas bonuses, even if they’ve just been with me for one day, but the employees who are really much, much better get a higher percentage bonus.