Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2011 | Page 25

By John Carroll

Ground Round Bound
All the little things he does pays off big

J

ohn Scharnweber grew up in
the restaurant business, starting
at the bottom as a dishwasher and
busboy growing up in Minneapolis. He went on to major in hotel,
motel, and restaurant management at
junior college, eventually breaking into
good jobs managing restaurants. These
days, he oversees the operation of seven
top-performing franchise locations in
the Dakotas.
Scharnweber’s big break came after
he had risen to the top job as general
manager at a Ground Round restaurant
in Bismarck, N.D. The partners at the
restaurant were looking at opening a
different kind of restaurant franchise.
They selected Denny’s and brought

2011 MVP AWARD WINNER

You were recognized for demonstrating outstanding performance and innovation in growing your organization and brands.
Tell us what you did. I don’t know, I’m not a great back slapper. I don’t
tell everyone how great I am, or how great our company is. I do know that
we have three Ground Round franchises and four Denny’s restaurants. On the
Ground Round side we do have the number-one grossing restaurant in the company: our location in Bismarck is number one, our Fargo restaurant is number
two, and we have two others in the top six. We also train a lot of the managers that go through the system.
As a multi-unit franchisee, how have you raised the bar within
your organization? I think we have a good philosophy. We have great managers and great employees, and that is the truth. We try as a group to interview
anybody that walks in the door. We don’t ever want to miss a great employee or
a great manager. I think on the Ground Round side we did a good job of promoting our concepts, the restaurant, and the bar: the restaurant is more for family
and kids, and in the bar we have lounge drink specials, sports on TV (NBA, NFL,

and so on). We promote nights we do happy hours and we do drink specials. We
promote it as if it’s a separate bar.
What innovations have you created and used to build your
company? In the late ’80s, early ’90s, we did a few things before anybody
else. We did 2-for-1 burgers every Tuesday. That’s a half-pound—buy one get one
free. That idea, Pizza-Pizza, caught our ear. It’s been a huge success. We have
a Long Island Tea night every Wednesday night. There’s a quick lunch menu, a
smaller-size menu with lighter portions. In ’88, well before everybody else had
done it, we did Margarita Monday in the lounge, with a free taco bar. We do
a very good job of promoting the bar side, the special days like Halloween, St.
Patrick’s Day, the night before Thanksgiving. We go all out. On the restaurant side
there’s New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and more, when we will do specials like
everybody else.
What core values do you feel led you to win this award? Lou
Holtz, a coach at Arkansas and Notre Dame, said in a video there are three things
you need to always do: Do things right, do your best, and always follow the
Golden Rule. As a group we’re very “Please and thank you” oriented. We always
give back to the community: the Red Cross, Special Olympics. Ever since 9/11
our restaurants have picked a fire department or police department to go and give
some food to. And we sponsor local teams.

Multi-Unit Franchisee Issu e III, 2011



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