Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2012 | Page 43

MVP 2012
By Debbie Selinsky

W

Learning franchising on the fly

hen Kevin Osterfeld’s “dream
job” as a stockbroker didn’t
turn out so dreamy, he decided to switch things up.
“When I was a stockbroker, I would
eat at Philadelphia Steak & Subs in
downtown Cincinnati. I loved the food,
so I decided to buy the restaurant, which
would become a Penn Station East
Coast Subs restaurant,” he says. “I knew
nothing about the restaurant business. I
knew nothing about franchising. I didn’t
really even know how it worked, but I
was young and reckless and thought I’d
figure it out.”
Twenty-five years later, it’s clear that
Osterfeld did “figure it out.” Recipient

of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine’s 2012
MVP Influencer Award, he now owns
18 Penn Stations in Ohio. He also is an
active participant in charitable ventures
and franchise organizations and a busy
family man.
Despite the positive outcome to his
own story, when potential franchisees
ask Osterfeld for advice about getting
into franchising, he sounds a bit like
that old parental maxim: “Don’t do as I
do—do as I say.”
His road to success has not lacked
in tough lessons, he says. For example,
“I’ll never forget that first week in the
restaurant when I thought I needed to
cut down on labor costs. In the after-

Name: Kevin Osterfeld
Title: President
Company: P.S. MGMT., Inc.
Brands/units: 18 Penn Station

East Coast Subs
Age: 48
Family: Wife, 3 daughters
Years in franchising: 25
Years in current position: 25

Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s u e III, 2012



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