Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2012 | Page 24

MVP 2012
2012 MVP Innovation Award
For bringing a new and unique contribution
to your brand
Why do you think you were selected for the Innovation MVP
Award? It was our distinct honor simply to have been nominated for the
2012 Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine’s MVP Award. The announcement that
we actually won one of the six awards was beyond humbling to us—humbling because we are keenly aware of the thousands of excellent operators and
franchisees who accomplish remarkable results for their businesses, brands,
and communities on a daily basis. We are deeply appreciative of the guidance,
blessing, and support of Firehouse Subs of America in every aspect of our business. FOA’s endorsement and submission of our nomination truly was as gratifying to us as the award itself.
We suppose we were selected because our application revealed that we
are doing some very important things for a small franchisee to be successful.
Among these are: staying customer-focused in good times and bad; remaining
true to the brand’s mission, standards, and core values—Walk the Talk; maintaining our relationship with our franchisor as a mutually respectful partnership
focused on shared goals; accepting our local responsibility for improving all aspects of operations and customer service by developing or enhancing basic tools
and systems; striving to give back to our community, our employees, and to
our colleagues in our Firehouse community; and never accepting the status quo
as the best we can do. We firmly believe that we are infinitely perfectible—
meaning there is no end to how good (or how great) we can become. Our only
two options are continuous improvement or regression.
Give us an example of innovations you have created and used
to build your company. We developed and use our Firehouse Subs data
management system, a proprietary database for such purposes. We have
also improved catering execution with the development of our “Pinksheet”
for order taking, customer information capture, and planning. In 2009, we
69, is a former university full professor
and consultant, and Judy, 65, boasts a
corporate background of organizational
development, training, and human relations. Instead of relaxing into the world
of retirement, the couple launched Divita
Concepts Group in 2003, eager to put
their skills to work as business owners
in a way that would offer them more
control of their future.
The move to Columbia—the college town where the pair, married 39
years, first met—was purposeful, yet inspired by more than just feeding piping
hot subs to the hungry student masses.
“We wanted to be part of a whole life
of a university,” says Judy. “It’s new kids
coming in all the time, and every four
years you see a great transformation of
your customer base. It’s just fun for us.”
In 2006, the Divitas opened their third
restaurant on the USC campus, a strategy
that would serve as a springboard to new

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue III, 2012

received a “Smoking Idea” Award from Firehouse headquarters for making
our Pinksheet available to the system. Our proprietary database and Pinksheet
allow us to track and communicate with customers effectively. We have nearly
6,000 customer records, 2,000 companies, and 1,000 delivery locations in
our database. We know who ordered what, when and where it was delivered,
frequency and amount of delivery, etc. In addition, we can handle all of our
invoicing and receivables with the database. Other innovations include:
• The Weekly Supply Sheet: an operations tool we use to provide office
supplies to the managers on a weekly basis. This useful service allows managers to focus their time and attention in the store, as opposed to going to an
office supply store to buy ink, paper, etc.
• Our Yearly Budget: derived from an idea and format form used to manage corporate stores in Jacksonville. We modified the design and connected
links to include the sales, labor, and food costs. We use this tool to determine
the majority of our variable costs. The tool also doubles as the bonus calculator
for our GMs.
As a multi-unit franchisee, how have you raised the bar within
your company? We have set a great example for school involvement,
working with school administrations and PTA/PTO organizations. In 2006, we
were Lexington (S.C.) School District Business Partner of the Year, an award
we shared with Intel and Coca-Cola. We frequently support school fundraisers
and charitable activities. We have also served as a role model for developing an
effective university-based Firehouse Subs location though our acceptance within
and contributions to the university community and our marketing to home and
visiting teams.
What core values do you feel led you to winning this MVP
Award? We fully subscribe to the core values of Firehouse Subs, namely treat
people fairly, stay customer-focused, set high standards, work hard and learn,
and give back to the community.

“We subscribe to
th