Success Stories

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...

The Coalition of Franchisee Associations (CFA) has recently added two new franchisee association groups to its ranks. The Edible Arrangements Independent Franchisee Association and the San Francisco-Monterey Bays 7-11 Franchise Owners Association are now part of the growing 17-member group of franchisee associations that comprise the CFA. The group now represents more than 30,000 franchise owners, 70,000 locations, and 1.3 million employees.
The CFA has brought together some of the largest and most reputable independent franchisee associations to form an organization with a mission "to leverage the collective strengths of franchisee associations for the benefit of the franchisee community." The Washington, DC-based CFA is committed to providing vital support and assistance to the franchisee community at large...

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...

Flight Controller: Enduring values keep Tom Barnett aloft in turbulent times
In business, a lot changes in three years, especially in a down economy. And while his business has taken a turn for the worse, Tom Barnett's values and commitments remain strong as ever.
Since Multi-Unit Franchisee profiled the Arizona-based multi-unit, multi-brand franchisee in 2008, the skier, pilot, and family man has purchased a small private jet that he flies. His son is now 18, his daughter is 20, and he and his wife, Georgia, have been married for 25 years. His favorite pastimes include skiing with them in Colorado.
Unfortunately, what hasn't changed, says Barnett, is the four-year decline experienced by his Phoenix and Tucson area Burger Kings, The Good Egg restaurants (a full-serve concept he owns with friends), and Blue Burrito Grilles he contracts out in airports...

Tom Barnett has taken it on the chin. The last three years of economic woe have taken a toll but his values and commitments remain as strong as ever.
Since we last spoke with the Arizona-based multi-unit, multi-brand franchisee in 2008, the skier, pilot, and family man has purchased a small private jet that he flies. His son is now 18, his daughter is 20, and he and his wife, Georgia, have been married for 25 years. His favorite pastimes include skiing with them in Colorado.
Unfortunately, what hasn't changed, says Barnett, is the four-year decline experienced by his Phoenix and Tucson area Burger Kings, The Good Egg restaurants (a full-serve concept he owns with friends), and Blue Burrito Grilles he contracts out in airports.
"I've never seen anything like it--none of us has," says Barnett, a former fighter pilot in Vietnam turned UCLA MBA-wielding franchisee and franchisor...

In 32 years, Tommy Haddock has never closed a restaurant

Tommy Haddock has added 10 Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits restaurants since we profiled him six years ago. As he approaches 50 units, this "hands-in" operator says his favorite photo of himself shows him making biscuits--a testament to his made-from-scratch, multi-million-dollar organization and his ongoing love for operations.
Not that he would ever win his company's biscuit-making competition. "I can make a pretty good biscuit, but I'd lose out on speed," says the easygoing North Carolinian who opened his first Bojangles' restaurant 32 years ago.
A graduate of North Carolina State University's School of Forestry, Haddock worked for a local power company before entering the restaurant industry...

Tommy Haddock has added 10 Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits restaurants since we profiled him six years ago. As he approaches 50 units, this "hands-in" operator says his favorite photo of himself shows him making biscuits--a testament to his made-from-scratch, multi-million-dollar organization and his ongoing love for operations.
Not that he would ever win his company's biscuit-making competition. "I can make a pretty good biscuit, but I'd lose out on speed," says the easygoing North Carolinian who opened his first Bojangles' restaurant 32 years ago.
A graduate of North Carolina State University's School of Forestry, Haddock worked for a local power company before entering the restaurant industry. He learned from the best: Bojangles' founder Jack Fulp (now deceased), who also happened to be his father-in-law...

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. "I wanted to have a sustainable business, be out in the field, and know that if something happened to me the business would go on," he says. Today he operates eight U.S. Lawns franchises: seven in South Carolina, and one in Augusta, Ga.
Keys is the 2011 winner of the company's President's Award, given to an owner-operator who not only "consistently meets or exceeds all U.S. Lawns standards for customer satisfaction and revenue," but who also spends time "mentoring and leading other franchisees in the system to success." Keys also is a U.S. Lawns Hall of Fame member, sits on the company's Franchise Advisory Council, and is a member of the brand's Million Dollar Club...

After 10 years at Union Carbide, Ottawa-born chemical engineer Roger Mongeon wanted to spend less time traveling and more time with his family. He also wanted to test his entrepreneurial wings and started looking at franchise concepts. His 24-year relationship with Weed Man, the 40-year-old lawn care franchise, began with a casual dinner at a neighbor's home.
"He was running a Weed Man franchise out of his basement, and when he showed me his financials for the previous year I couldn't believe the profitability of the franchise," Mongeon recalls. "I looked more closely at the industry and visited a lot of dealers before I made a decision. I was impressed by the success and enthusiasm of the Weed Man franchisees."
In 1987, Mongeon, who says he's not a big risk-taker, nervously sold his home to buy a Weed Man franchise in Gatineau, in western Quebec...

"Sometimes interesting things happen in a bad economy," says Dawn Lafreeda, CEO and president of Den-Tex Central Inc. in San Antonio. While the economy continued to hammer the restaurant industry, Lafreeda opened 10 Denny's restaurants in 2010 and 14 in 2011. That brings her total to a whopping 70 in six states (Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, and Oklahoma).
"That's a lot of growth," admits Lafreeda, who began her Denny's career as a 16-year-old in Orange County, Calif., and bought her first restaurant when she was 23. "But we like to do whatever makes sense, and this made sense for us. In 2012, we're going to focus on fine-tuning our operations, getting acclimated to all our new acquisitions. We're not going to be as aggressive as we have the last couple of years...

Franchisors recognize the best performers in their system each year with a Franchisee of the Year award. We spoke with four recent winners--different-sized, in different industries, and in different parts of the country.

Common denominators among these winners include excelling in the following areas: 1) financial (sales/revenue volume, profitability), 2) adherence to system and operational standards, 3) client/customer satisfaction, 4) HR (employee training, customer service), 5) contributions to and participation in the system (mentoring and leading), and 6) community involvement and service. And one important trait they all share is their passion--for their business, their brand, and their people.


Alan and Harriet Bleiweiss
Signs Now

"Re-peat" Winners
It's two years in a row now for Alan and Harriet Bleiweiss, owners of the Signs Now center in Hollywood, Fla...

Sam Covelli says he grew up in the restaurant business working in his father's McDonald's. Under his father's leadership, Covelli Enterprises eventually grew to 26 locations, one of the largest McDonald's franchisees in the country. But after the senior Covelli handed over the company reins to his son, you could say that Covelli Enterprises grew up with Sam Covelli.
Under his leadership, the company's McDonald's holdings grew to 43 restaurants, keeping Covelli Enterprises among McDonald's top franchisees, and an award-winning one at that. Covelli sold off those restaurants and shifted the family business into Panera Bread--and how.
Today, Covelli Enterprises owns a 198 Panera Bread locations, with 20 under construction, making it Panera's single largest franchisee and the fifth-largest restaurant franchisee in the country...

This April will mark the third year in a row that Al Coelho has run the 26-mile Boston Marathon. That's a significant achievement. But it's only a part of what Coelho will do that day.

The Providence, RI, ColorTyme franchisee will once again partner with a patient at Children's Hospital Boston to raise money and awareness for the hospital. This year it will be Nathaniel Giannandrea, a patient since he was just nine days old.

Nathaniel's mom, Lia, learned that her son had cystic fibrosis when he was seven days old. Now two and a half years old, Nathaniel is no stranger to the hospital, as it has played an enormous role in his care, says Lia.

"Children's has always been fantastic to us," says Giannandrea...

Sam Covelli says he grew up in the restaurant business working in his father's McDonald's. Under his father's leadership, Covelli Enterprises eventually grew to 26 locations, one of the largest McDonald's franchisees in the country. But after the senior Covelli handed over the company reins to his son, you could say that Covelli Enterprises grew up with Sam Covelli.
Under his leadership, the company's McDonald's holdings grew to 43 restaurants, keeping Covelli Enterprises among McDonald's top franchisees, and an award-winning one at that. Covelli sold off those restaurants and shifted the family business into Panera Bread--and how.
Today, Covelli Enterprises owns a 198 Panera Bread locations, with 20 under construction, making it Panera's single largest franchisee and the fifth-largest restaurant franchisee in the country...

Ray Harrigill believes in diversification. His Sunray Companies has restaurants (Bumpers Drive-In), tanning salons (Palm Beach Tan), fitness centers (Koko FitClub), and hotel properties (Hampton Inn), to name a few. That's because of lessons he's learned along the way.
Harrigill got his start in the restaurant business working in a multi-unit, multi-concept company. When he set out on his own, restaurants were his first choice but he couldn't open new units quickly enough to satisfy his goals. He began opening Blockbuster Video stores in 1999, quickly ramping up to four. But even then it was clear to Harrigill that the Blockbuster model wasn't "a long-term business play." So he began diversifying further.
"I invested some money in comprehensive rehab facilities, which I lost a fortune in, and almost simultaneously got into the tanning business...

"Sometimes interesting things happen in a bad economy," says Dawn Lafreeda, CEO and president of Den-Tex Central Inc. in San Antonio. While the economy continued to hammer the restaurant industry, Lafreeda opened 10 Denny's restaurants in 2010 and 14 in 2011. That brings her total to a whopping 70 in six states (Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, and Oklahoma).
"That's a lot of growth," admits Lafreeda, who began her Denny's career as a 16-year-old in Orange County, Calif., and bought her first restaurant when she was 23. "But we like to do whatever makes sense, and this made sense for us. In 2012, we're going to focus on fine-tuning our operations, getting acclimated to all our new acquisitions. We're not going to be as aggressive as we have the last couple of years...

After 10 years at Union Carbide, Ottawa-born chemical engineer Roger Mongeon wanted to spend less time traveling and more time with his family. He also wanted to test his entrepreneurial wings and started looking at franchise concepts. His 24-year relationship with Weed Man, the 40-year-old lawn care franchise, began with a casual dinner at a neighbor's home.
"He was running a Weed Man franchise out of his basement, and when he showed me his financials for the previous year I couldn't believe the profitability of the franchise," Mongeon recalls. "I looked more closely at the industry and visited a lot of dealers before I made a decision. I was impressed by the success and enthusiasm of the Weed Man franchisees."
In 1987, Mongeon, who says he's not a big risk-taker, nervously sold his home to buy a Weed Man franchise in Gatineau, in western Quebec...

Ray Harrigill believes in diversification. His Sunray Companies has restaurants (Bumpers Drive-In), tanning salons (Palm Beach Tan), fitness centers (Koko FitClub), and hotel properties (Hampton Inn), to name a few. That's because of lessons he's learned along the way.
Harrigill got his start in the restaurant business working in a multi-unit, multi-concept company. When he set out on his own, restaurants were his first choice but he couldn't open new units quickly enough to satisfy his goals. He began opening Blockbuster Video stores in 1999, quickly ramping up to four. But even then it was clear to Harrigill that the Blockbuster model wasn't "a long-term business play." So he began diversifying further.
"I invested some money in comprehensive rehab facilities, which I lost a fortune in, and almost simultaneously got into the tanning business...

We are always on the lookout for big franchisees, the kind who don't run a half dozen units but dozens of units. They're powerful, dominant, and know how to be leaders in their business and communities. That's why again this year we have teamed up with FRANdata to create and publish our annual Mega 99 rankings.
We realize numbers alone don't tell the whole story, but they do provide a great starting point. The multi-unit franchisees on this list have worked hard, witnessed highs and lows firsthand, and poured themselves into creating empires known for their sheer numbers. Beyond the numbers are the stories of real human beings. It takes a unique individual to reach this level of franchising, one who can overcome obstacles, struggles, and failures, and yet rise from the ashes...

Tom DiMarco knows his numbers--and they're getting bigger every year.
When he was recruited 27 years ago as controller for Salo Inc., a franchisee of Interim HealthCare, the company had only four locations. As Salo has grown, so has DiMarco's career. Seven years ago he was tapped to become the president of the organization, and today the fast-growing business has 45 Interim HealthCare locations in 5 states.
Salo, based in Columbus, Ohio, offers full- and part-time work to 8,300 employees, up from 6,600 people just a few years ago. The company is still growing steadily--along with a healthcare industry that continues to expand even as the economy languishes--and has become the largest provider of home healthcare Medicaid services in Ohio, providing everything from pediatric to geriatric and skilled nursing services...