People

On Cathy Amato's first day as a Jack in the Box management trainee in the early 1980s, her trainer questioned whether Amato was up for the rigor ahead--changing grease vats, scrubbing floors, and crazy hours.
"He was really like, 'Real girls don't want to do this kind of work,'" Amato remembers.
He didn't know Amato, who along with partners Martha Jordan and Rick Riley, collectively own and operate 55 Subway restaurants in San Antonio and Austin, along with Mooyah and Ruby Tuesday brands. The winner of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine's 2012 MVP Role Model Award truly believes she is in a business that rewards hard work with opportunity.
"I never had any aspiration or skill set that would necessarily help me be successful in the restaurant industry," she says...

Anil Yadav is a repeat achiever in the pages of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine. We first interviewed him in 2008 when he had "only" 78 Jack in the Box restaurants and 16 Denny's. Just two years later, when he was named one of the magazine's MVP Award winners, he had expanded to 155 Jack in the Boxes and 26 Denny's.
Today, another couple of years down the line, he's done it again, staking claim to 227 Jack in the Boxes and 30 Denny's. For the record, that makes him the largest Jack in the Box franchisee in the country. He also has become involved with Marco's Pizza as the broker for both the Northern and Southern California markets (so check back with us in 2 more years).
It's all quite amazing when you consider his present-day empire began in 1984 in Northern California, when the teenaged Yadav took a part-time job as a Jack in the Box fry cook to help pay for college...

It's easy to see why Houston-based franchisee Atour Eyvazian was honored with Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine's 2012 MVP Noble Cause Award. His story of a treacherous escape from war-torn Iran at age 19, followed by his move to the U.S. to achieve the American dream as Jack in the Box's largest individual operator, writes itself. Along the way, he has practiced business the same way he lives life--with passion and unwavering support for those in need.
"I grew up looking at life from a different angle," says Eyvazian. "Everything we do, every line of work, is about serving people in some capacity, about adding value to somebody's life. At the end of the day it is all about what you do for other people."
Eyvazian's journey began in 1984, when his parents helped him escape across the rugged mountains of Iran on foot, only to be arrested and jailed as he crossed into Turkey...

They work hard to build businesses that provide for their families. They create jobs and give back to their communities. They're innovators unafraid to do things differently, often on a large scale. They are among the superstars of franchising, and Multi-Unit Franchisee is honored to recognize six of these winners with our 2012 MVP Awards.

Cathy Amato
Role Model Award
For providing an example for others to follow in franchisee success
Cathy Amato's got her first job at 14, busing tables and washing dishes at the Highway Cafe in La Vernia, Texas. Today she and her partners operate 55 Subway restaurants in San Antonio and Austin, and since 1992 she has worked for the Subway development office for South Central Texas...

The last time we visited with Eric Werner, he had just signed a deal with the up-and-coming LA Sunset Tan franchise. That was 2008, and he had become one of the brand's first franchisees and an area developer for the Dallas area. He's quite familiar with the Texas market because he's been operating dozens of Subways there for almost 20 years. When we checked back with him recently to see how things were going, his vivacious response was, "Of course everything is going very well!"
He currently operates 56 Subways, with plans to open three more this year. Sales, he says, have been up dramatically the past 3 years thanks to the Any $5 Footlong promo and solid operations.
"I may have owned a few more Subways when you did the last profile, but I had some great offers to buy some of my stores so I sold them," he says...

Craig Colby created his own computer consulting and programming business following his graduation from the University of Delaware. During the next 10 years he built a successful business but didn't enjoy it. Eventually, he hated going to work every day.
"It became just a job and I didn't like my life much then," says the 48-year-old today. Colby says he realized that loving his work was an important objective for both his career and his quality of life. "I believe in a person doing what they love to do. I love food and restaurants, so I made it my business."
His first "love affair" was with Burger King where he--along with his twin brother--built a system of 15 units before selling them. Today, he operates four Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and four Così restaurants in southern New Jersey and Delaware...

By Debbie Selinsky
If there's anything Gavin Hart enjoys more than a vanilla cone at one of his Dairy Queens, it's handing one over to a customer.
"That makes me glad to get up every morning," says the Indiana family man and multi-brand franchisee. "I feel the same way about my Dunkin' Donuts coffee. It's incredible and addictive and I have it every morning while I watch everyone else enjoy theirs. We try to create a family-type environment for our customers in all our restaurants--it makes them want to come back."
Hart, an athlete and a criminal justice graduate of Indiana University, strongly believes that a relaxing, fun, upbeat work environment is largely responsible for the success of his 9 Dairy Queens and 14 Dunkin' Donuts...

Let me get right to the point. The keys to success in any business are: (1) the quality of the products or services you offer, and (2) your employees' ability to deliver outstanding customer service. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.
When 555 CEOs of mid-sized to large firms were asked to name the most important source of competitive advantage, product or service quality and customer service came in neck-and-neck at 45 and 44 percent, respectively.
Ted Levitt, former editor of Harvard Business Review, summed it up this way: "The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer." And the best way to keep customers is through exceptional customer service. Yet, customer service specialists report the average business loses half of its customers every 5 years and doesn't even realize they lost the customer or know why...

Performance plans are action plans, not static documents. Effective performance plans must detail the specific actions leaders and employees must follow to accomplish the goals and objectives set within it. Leaders understand that without meaningful performance standards, measuring and evaluating individual performance becomes difficult if not impossible. Once the plan is implemented, meaningful performance standards allow leaders to modify and adapt their plans to actual conditions.
Leaders must use solid standards to monitor and evaluate all aspects of performance. Any measurement used should determine and create an action both on the part of the employee being evaluated and on the part of the leader performing the evaluation.
There is a natural tendency for a leader to focus his or her activities on more prominent areas that will be highlighted and spotlighted, yet every element of the performance plan must be fully addressed...

Franchisors recognize the best performers in their system with a Franchisee of the Year award (or equivalent). For the winning franchisees, outstanding financial performance, adherence to system and operational standards, and a passion for their business, their brand, and their people are a given. What elevates them is their community involvement, their contributions to the system, and, for the more experienced operators, their desire to mentor their younger counterparts, just as they were mentored early in their own careers as franchisees.

Steven Keys
U.S. Lawns
Sharp as a Blade
In October 1998, Steven Keys converted his residential lawn care business to a U.S. Lawns franchise. He was 25 and had a child on the way...

After earning a degree in computer science from the University of Delaware, Craig Colby set up his own consulting and programming business for the first decade of his career. He was successful, but he didn't enjoy it. In fact, he says he dreaded going to work every Monday.
"It became just a job and I didn't like my life much then," says the 48-year-old today. Colby says he realized that loving his work was an important objective for both his career and his quality of life. "I believe in a person doing what they love to do. I love food and restaurants, so I made it my business."
His first "love affair" was with Burger King where he--along with his twin brother--built a system of 15 units before selling them. Today, he operates four Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and four Così restaurants in southern New Jersey and Delaware...

When Chirag Patel left India 15 years ago, he had mixed feelings about leaving his home and his parents. "India is a beautiful country, but at the time there were not many opportunities to grow professionally. Being an engineer provided me with the background to pursue a better quality of life, so I left to join my wife, who had already moved to the United States to work."
Patel found work as an engineer and consultant. But he soon learned, through his family, that franchising offered big opportunities for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit.
"At the time I began in the business, my family had seven Dunkin' Donuts units in three states, which allowed me to experience the industry and owning and operating multiple units firsthand," he says...

Steve Jobs was a master at many things. He built Apple into a multi-billion giant, and he did it in large part because of the people he hired. His goal, he said, was to hire people who were creative, wickedly smart, and slightly rebellious to help him build "the company that would invent the future."
To say that he met his goal would be a gross understatement. In Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson quotes his subject as saying, "I've learned over the years that, when you have really good people, you don't have to baby them. By expecting them to do great things, you can get them to do great things. The original Mac team taught me that A-plus players like to work together, and they don't like it if you tolerate B work."
Bradford D. Smart, Ph...

Sunita Sagar got her first shot at franchising in 2007, when she was given the chance to buy an underperforming Denny's in Campbell, Calif.
"That restaurant was going downhill," she recalls, "and we turned that restaurant upside down. We turned the people around, we turned the operation around, and we turned the sales around. We started staffing the restaurant with the right people, and then we had an opportunity to purchase more. So we bought three stores in Fresno in 2008."
Sagar stepped in on each, where she could see for herself what needed to change. "We took over those three stores and managed those stores for a few weeks," she says. "We made some staffing changes, found people right for the business, and took a few months to bring those stores around...

Anil Yadav has graced the pages (and one cover) of Multi-Unit Franchisee magazine twice before. We first interviewed him in 2008 when he had "only" 78 Jack in the Box restaurants and 16 Denny's. Just two years later, when he was named one of the magazine's MVP Award winners, he had expanded to 155 Jack in the Boxes and 26 Denny's.
Today, another couple of years down the line, he's done it again, staking claim to 227 Jack in the Boxes and 30 Denny's. For the record, that makes him the largest Jack in the Box franchisee in the country. He also has become involved with Marco's Pizza as the broker for both the Northern and Southern California markets (so check back with us in 2 more years).
It's all quite amazing when you consider his present-day empire began in 1984 in Northern California, when the teenaged Yadav took a part-time job as a Jack in the Box fry cook to help pay for college...

Procrastination is not for everyone!
"Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today." (My Mother - ever since I can remember).
Procrastination is like a virus. It creeps up on you slowly, drains you of energy, and is difficult to get rid of if your resistance is low. Procrastination is a close relative of incompetence and a first cousin to inefficiency, which is why their marriage is taboo. These suggestions will help you conquer the virus:

1. Give yourself deadlines. In moderation, pressure motivates. Extreme pressure debilitates. Set appointments, make commitments, write out your goals, and otherwise develop the determination to succeed.

2. Don't duck the difficult problems. Every day we are faced with both difficult and easy tasks...

Effective leadership is based on ongoing input and feedback. Where 20 years ago managers rarely asked for input, today effective leaders are regularly seeking and receiving employee feedback. Leaders elicit cooperation from employees and other individuals when they listen to them. To move employees forward, leaders first identify their needs by asking for their feedback. Identifying employee needs through feedback allows leaders to modify their behavior to serve the best interests of their employees and unit.
Feedback is an effective communication mechanism that enhances productivity and motivation. Leaders use it to create a positive sense of direction that increases efficiency and reduces stress among employees. It empowers employees and gives them ownership in both the ideas and direction driving the organization...

Gavin Hart loves his Dairy Queen vanilla cones and Dunkin' Donuts coffee. But he also loves to see his customers enjoy them, too.
"That makes me glad to get up every morning," says the Indiana family man and multi-brand franchisee. "We try to create a family-type environment for our customers in all our restaurants--it makes them want to come back."
Hart, an athlete and a criminal justice graduate of Indiana University, strongly believes that a relaxing, fun, upbeat work environment is largely responsible for the success of his 9 Dairy Queens and 14 Dunkin' Donuts. "We believe good people equals good profits. We treat every employee as family, which creates loyalty and an emotional connection and makes a lot of things easier. We have no theft issues, our retention is good, and we have good employees taking care of our guests...

It's fitting that Johnny Collins runs marathons. The persistence and long-term training needed to finish a 26.1-mile race is mirrored in Collins' long, difficult quest to start his own business.
Collins had worked for years as a fireman and security officer before he set out on his own. At first, the going was tough. Several businesses he started didn't make it. Even after he opened his first Wingstop in McAllen, Texas, making the store work seemed like a test of his faith. "Several times, I said, 'Oh my goodness, what did I go do?'" Collins says. "I'd get on my knees and pray."
One problem was that Wingstop was an unknown quantity in his market. In that area, he says, small, mom-and-pop restaurants open up regularly--and shut down just as regularly...

One brand, two brands, three brands, more. When it comes to growth and expansion, that's exactly what many multi-unit operators have in mind. While some are content--and quite successful--operating many units of a single brand, others like to play ball with many different brands, even different sectors.
With the right people and infrastructure in place, multi-brand growth is a lucrative way to grow a franchise organization--providing power in numbers, the additional security of spreading risk across several concepts, and cross-pollination of best practices from each system.
Although the payoff can be much more rewarding, managing multiple brands is much more complex than sticking with one brand. Multi-brand franchising demands skilled, knowledgeable, experienced professionals and team members who can operate under diverse system requirements, market conditions, and consumer profiles and tastes...