Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2012 | Page 68

and their effects on franchising.
He sees no dramatic changes ahead, describing the next 7
to 10 years as a “choppy, grind it out period” in which “there’s
not much we can do about it.” The economy, he says, is “not
growing very fast, but slowly rising”—a mild, steady improvement from previous years.
Johnson said competition for credit will continue, and that
franchisee growth will be characterized by a fight for existing
market share. The keys to borrowing are a multi-unit organization’s performance history and the brand’s performance
history. Europe’s ongoing recession and a worldwide increase
in the demand for food supplies should continue, driving commodity prices upward, he said.
One potential red flag he raised concerned hiring new
managers in the coming years. Noting that the only demographic group that is shrinking is those aged 35 to 44—the
“ideal” age for managers—he asked, “So where do you go to
bolster your management team?”
He also noted that multi-unit growth continues to be fast
and dramatic—even joking that we were witnessing the “multiunit march toward world domination.” Johnson closed with a
thought from management guru Peter Drucker: “People who
don’t take risks make about 2 big mistakes per year. People
who do take risks make about 2 big mistakes per year.” (For
his most recent thoughts and observations, see his column
on page 82.)

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue III, 2012

The afternoon’s keynote address was to be delivered by
the NFL’s all-time winningest coach, Don Shula, accompanied by his son Dave. However, right before the conference,
Don was admitted to the hospital with doctors’ orders not
to travel. But Dave—with a few playing and coaching years
of his own in the NFL—stepped up and handled the address just fine, sharing stories of his father’s football career
and approach to life.
The Shula family started a chain of steak restaurants in
Florida in the late 1980s. Dave’s restaurant experience and
conversational approach helped him relate to many of the
franchise operators in the room through both successes and
failures. One humorous analogy he offered, “In football, you
kick your opponent’s butt, in the restaurant business you kiss
your customer’s butt.”
He laid out a six-point plan for being successful in football
or franchising. It boiled down to having a good plan, hiring
right, training, accountability and follow up, innovation, and
focusing on your core strengths.
Solution sharing and wrap-up

The remainder of the morning allowed attendees to join
business solution roundtables and breakout sessions covering topics such as social media, marketing, financing, and
growth strategies.
Following lunch in the Expo Hall, the group recon-