Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2013 | Page 68

“I’m dealing primarily with men who don’t realize that you are
as knowledgeable as you are. Gaining their respect was
daunting in the beginning.”—Tammy Toren
says Clark. “I have balance in my life because of franchising.
Snap Fitness has given me the tools and support and resources.”
Destined for franchising

If the hats fit

While entrepreneurs like Read and Clark transitioned into
franchising from other fields, Little Caesars franchisee Vicki
Dunn-Marshall seemed destined for business ownership from
the start.
Dunn-Marshall, who owns 24 Little Caesars restaurants in
West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio, began her journey with
the chain as a crew member when she was 16. She was quickly
promoted to assistant manager and then manager. Each time
the young entrepreneur needed a new challenge, “There was
always something else to grow into,” she says. Dunn-Marshall
served as carry-out supervisor of seven units, before joining the
franchise sales department where she assisted franchisees with
market development.
“The only reason I am not with the company is that I traveled the country to help franchisees open their stores and I saw
how wealthy these people were getting,” says Dunn-Marshall,
president and CEO of VDM Management Group in Huntington, W. Va. An admitted risk taker, she also develops commercial and residential rental
properties, is an investor in a
health-related product manufacturing company, and owns a
business that breeds, sells, and
shows American Saddlebred
horses, a passion of one of her
two daughters.
Since she became a franchisee in 1982 at age 22, DunnMarshall has seen the role of
women in franchising evolve.
“In the beginning it was harder,”
she says. “I had landlords who
didn’t want to negotiate with
me. I was blessed to have my
father to use to go in together.
We overcame those challenges.”
As a result, Dunn-Marshall
dedicates herself to mentoring
her employees at every turn.
With a self-described “lead by
example” management style, she
has helped former employees
become Little Caesars franchisees—some of whom bought
their stores from her.
“I want to help them to Tammy Toren

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wherever or whatever they can dream,” Dunn-Marshall says.
“I want to do this with my daughters as well.”

“The nice thing about getting into franchising is that they
give you all the tools, but obviously the implementation is up
to you,” says Tammy Toren, a Chicago-based Plato’s Closet
franchisee who previously worked in corporate training for a
national restaurant chain.
Entrepreneurs like Toren simply learn what they don’t
know. In the past year and half, she has moved, opened, and
expanded three o