Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2013 | Page 50

2013 MVP
MANAGEMENT
Business philosophy/management style: We establish parameters
for our leaders, and let them use their creativity and initiative to accomplish our
goals within those parameters.
Greatest challenge: We are in a very strong development phase right now,
so time management between development and operations is a particular challenge at the moment.
How I give my team room to innovate and experiment: It starts
with us leading by example in trying new things and being innovative, and we
encourage our team to do the same. We highlight, celebrate, and learn from
innovative mistakes.
How close are you to operations? Very.
What do you rely on/expect from your franchisor? We expect our

franchisor to be a partner with us so we can grow our business and grow the
brand.
What do you need from vendors? Timely delivery, consistent products
and service.
How is social media affecting your business? Positively. As long as
you provide a great product and superior service, word will spread.
How do you hire and fire? We hire people based on a good attitude
and a willingness to work as part of a team. Employees with a poor attitude or
who cannot be relied upon are counseled. The employees themselves normally
discover they are not a good fit for our business and move on.
Fastest way in my doghouse: Tell me you are going to do something
and then don’t follow through.

sees. On one occasion, Kevin, a pilot,
loaded up his plane and flew supplies
to a new Alabama store because sales
volumes more than doubled projections and the distributor couldn’t restock quickly enough. Without Wilkerson’s help, the store would have had
to close. “That was fun,” he recalls.
“I had the capacity and the time. He
would have done it for me had the
tables been turned.”
Wilkerson sees franchising as a
great opportunity for other vets. “My
best advice would be to throw the net
wide and think more broadly in terms
of what the business is. It’s not just
about selling pizza. It’s about building
a multi-unit, scalable business that you
can take to any level.”

BOTTOM LINE
Annual revenue: Approximately $8 million
2013 goals: We have doubled the number of units in our territory every
year since 2010. We plan to double again this year. Additionally, we are focused on increasing same-store sales over the past year.
Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Development of
our people, same-store sales, and number of units in our territory.
Vision meter: Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
In 5 years, have our territory completely developed. In 10 years, we hope to
have purchased another Marco’s territory and be developing it.
How do you forecast for your business? We look at a couple of
different layers. On one hand, how many stores will we build next year in
our territory personally and as a group? What are sales and stretch goals?
Certainly we also look at same-store sales, trying to forecast based on realistic
but stretched goals. In store development, so far we’ve doubled the number of
stores every year since we started. We’ll go from 9 to 18 this year, but that’s
getting tougher every year.
Where do you find capital for growth/expansion? We have funded

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue III, 2013

internally or taken advantage of SBA conventional loan programs.
What are you doing to take care of your employees? It starts with
providing a positive work environment. We try