Encouraging Healthy Lives: Franchisee sees big benefits in helping others

Encouraging Healthy Lives: Franchisee sees big benefits in helping others

Encouraging Healthy Lives: Franchisee sees big benefits in helping others

Name: Bob Allison
Title: Executive Chairman
Company: LWI Inc.
No. of units: 31 Lindora Clinic
Age: 63
Family: Wife Kristen and four adult children
Years in franchising: 5
Years in current position: 9

Bob Allison established a long and successful career building companies and scaling them around the globe. A relative newcomer to the world of franchising, he is now taking his passion for health and wellness to provide care to others with his Lindora Clinic locations.

Allison began his career as an investor in early-stage companies and became the principal founder of a technology company by the age of 28. He later went on to co-found several other businesses before operating a venture capital company to support early-stage investments.

In 2017, he joined Lindora, a weight management and metabolic health company, to use his previous experience to guide and grow the brand. Lindora Clinic delivers a medically guided approach to supervised weight-loss programs and consumer wellness products.

Lindora Clinic franchised the business three years ago, and Allison currently operates 31 clinics in Southern California. Allison says technology can help drive engagement and operationally scale the company.

“The most exciting part about it is we can quickly open a relatively successful operation with people who want to have businesses in those markets,” Allison says. “We want to grow quickly, and that is attractive to buyers. Lindora is carving its place in the market, and it is exciting to have franchisees who share that same passion to grow the business. The stronger the brand gets and the clearer the mission becomes, the less confusing it is to the consumer. When they see a highly vetted business, it is more appealing to them.”

Allison says that metabolic health solutions are currently scattered throughout different segments, and Lindora can become a national franchise to develop a standard service model across the country. He sees a great opportunity to build a burgeoning business operation as well as deliver weight-loss options and help people live healthy lifestyles.

“It is so encouraging to see the growth of units in an economic and cultural environment in which the people are involved with you in a same alignment,” he says. “People have the same passion and desire for growth as you do. I plan to retire being in this industry. I find it incredibly rewarding seeing the progress we are making and want to focus on that.”

PERSONAL

First job: Growing up, I worked on the family farm that my grandparents owned. After I reunited with my mother and new stepfather, I worked in the aircraft distribution business they owned. After graduating college with a degree in business economics, I was recruited to be a technical product manager for a semiconductor distribution company.

Formative influences/events: Working on the farm and for the family business in machine shops and aircraft parts distribution taught me a lot about being responsible and dedicated. I am very responsible, and I want to deliver on what I have to do. Sometimes you have to carry weight because nobody else is there to do it, and it has to get done.

Key accomplishments: I became the principal founder of a technology company when I was 28. We built that business into an industry leader and then sold it to expand on an international scale to a London-based public holding company. Founding, building, selling, and then operating on an international scale was a remarkable early career experience. I went on to co-found other businesses a few years later and then ultimately formed a venture capital operating company to support early-stage investments. In 2010, I dedicated my activities to the intersection of health and wellness.

Biggest current challenge: Navigating the significant changes in the healthcare industry related to new digitally enhanced services and cost containment. Digital services can be simple on the surface but require a lot of personal information and collaboration with caregiver experts. Health systems can balloon costs, so delivering highly effective digital solutions in a cost-effective way is very challenging.

Next big goal: Delivering metabolic health solutions on a national scale, which is weight control and energy management for people to become healthier. Care is currently scattered. We need a national franchisor to build a service model across the country. There are currently many different terms and segments, and we want to deliver care across a standard protocol.

First turning point in your career: Founding my own company gave me the confidence to achieve and to deal with issues quickly.

Best business decision: Recognizing the need to direct my business career. I started in a family business environment and was committed to that. I needed to stay true to that and be mission oriented. I was dedicated to the family environment I created. I knew I wanted to go out on my own and accomplish something.

Hardest lesson learned: Being dependent on someone else to provide a critical element of success and having no influence or control to ensure it.

Work week: Really every day, and I love it.

Exercise/workout: Six days a week. Multiple activities, including strength and cardio training. There’s no shame in any type of exercise. Movement is medicine.

Best advice you ever got: We all take risks together as a team. My boss likened it to a situation in which we all get on the building, hold hands, and jump off together. We should have transparency and collaboration and work together as a team. I make decisions about how I make people comfortable working as a team. Leaders must make people believe something is in their best interest.

What’s your passion in business? My passion is building high-performing businesses and teams that want to be on a mission to provide positive outcomes for health, wellness, and opportunity.

How do you balance life and work? I love integrating work into my life. I prefer not to think of it as hours but rather as actions. I believe you can intertwine work and pleasure, especially in safe and collaborative cultures. Things such as charitable endeavors and sports activities are both personal and professional.

Guilty pleasure: I love a good cookie for sure. Peanut butter has my number.

Favorite book: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

Favorite movie: “Wedding Crashers” and “300.”

What do most people not know about you? I was a sponsored surfer and skater in my teens.

Pet peeve: I have no tolerance for being late.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a dentist or a naturopathic physician. I should have known then to jump all in on wellness.

Last vacation: I spent three weeks in Southeast Asia visiting Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam in February 2024. Travel is a big part of our life.

Person you’d most like to have lunch with: Warren Buffett.

MANAGEMENT

Business philosophy: Act with fairness, be humble, and deliver what you promise.

Management method or style: Transparency and collaboration in a secure, high-performance environment.

Greatest challenge: Hiring exceptional leaders and talent. The skill sets of leaders are not as obvious today as 10 years ago because of the impact of remote work. People work more in isolation and controlled environments. They need to understand the physical nature of building bonds together. People are comfortable leaving one job to go to another without keeping a connection to the current brand.

How do others describe you? Energetic and mission driven.

Have you ever been in a mentor-mentee relationship? What did you learn? Yes. The job of a mentor is to listen and offer experience-based context for consideration. The goal is to improve analysis and thinking skills one can apply to complex situations.

One thing you’re looking to do better: I always want to understand fully and feel I can continue to improve that commitment.

How you give your team room to innovate and experiment: By providing an environment where ideas are nurtured, and trials are measured without judgment.

How close are you to operations? Daily but around specific KPIs that are a common performance language.

What are the two most important things you rely on from your franchisor? A focus on franchisee growth and success along with operational discipline.

What you need from vendors: Service, quality, and flexibility.

Have you changed your marketing strategy in response to the economy? How? Yes. We try to focus on health equity to expand member demographics. We continue to develop and offer lower-cost introductory and limited-use programs and then high-value broad service offerings to meet a wide set of needs.

How is social media affecting your business? Social referrals continue to be a strong source for leads and support closing memberships.

In what ways are you using technology (like AI) to manage your business? We are a tech-forward type of company. We like to use information and data collection to discover facts we can examine. We use platforms like Slack and Zoom for instantaneous communication. We are starting to use AI to develop chatbots to speak to our members or clients. We are definitely embracing technology.

How do you hire and fire? We hire with care and share specific expectations for success. We fire quickly so as not to let circumstances cloud true performance issues.

How do you train and retain? Training for success is a top priority for the employee and the members that they interact with. This involves multiple days and layers of training and access to a number of leaders. Retention is managed by recognizing and rewarding successful contributions and developing lead positions to create opportunities for growth. High-energy, safe, and collaborative environments support strong retention.

How do you deal with problem employees? Coaching and clarity. Know what you are supposed to do, why you do it, and whom you serve. Fastest way into your doghouse: Being untrustworthy.

BOTTOM LINE

Annual revenue: $32 million.

2025 goals: $37 million.

Growth meter: How do you measure your growth? Increasing AUV, memberships, clinic visits, and retention.

Vision meter: Where do you want to be in five years? 10 years? We expect to be at 35 locations and in excess of $42 million in five years. We would like to expand our geographic reach to build a similar density in at least two other markets in the Western states over the next decade.

Do you have brands in different segments? Why/why not? Not at this time. We feel we have so much still to do in our segment and with the rapid innovation within metabolic health. We want to be fully focused on our patients’ needs and the best successful programs and protocols.

How is the economy in your region(s) affecting you, your employees, your customers? With the dramatic increase in housing costs, we have seen a challenge with employees being able to find local housing at affordable rates. We have employees traveling from areas farther from our locations than we would prefer. This pinch on housing and general goods inflation has tightened dollar spend on services and products. As a result, we have to be mindful of staffing and think about value at all times.

Are you experiencing economic growth in your market? Yes. The new services are quite compelling and, as a result, spending on health is up. Generally, our locations are in strong economic areas with increasing GDP and population density.

How do changes in the economy affect the way you do business? We have recognized that we must operate with a very balanced staff allocation so that we can pay current employees at a high level and reward for retention, training, and production.

How do you forecast for your business? The metabolic health space is large and growing due to service expansion and product innovation. As a result, we forecast growth based on a hiring allocation model that leans toward a 12 to 15% year-over-year approach.

What are the best sources for capital expansion? Internally generated cash and limited borrowing.

Experience with private equity, local banks, national banks, other institutions? Why/why not? We use banks for some lines of borrowing, but we’re mostly limited to working capital buffers and growth capital expenditures. We shy away from outside equity, which may have a time pressure or return pressure that may not match a cycle within the industry. It is very difficult to predict economic cycles, and outside capital tends to be difficult to replace.

What are you doing to take care of your employees? We offer a strong benefits package, consistent work schedules, spot bonus incentives, and 401(k) plans.

How are you handling rising employee costs (payroll, minimum wage, healthcare, etc.)? We promote a lean-employee and lean-administration approach to help us with being able to respond to rising costs and operating expenses. That approach allows us to incorporate technology or training to keep head count down and change our processes to protect profitability.

What laws and regulations are affecting your business, and how are you dealing with them? As a medical corporation entity, we have many laws that protect patients, members, and personal privacy. To this end, training and manager oversight are critical and ongoing. We have found that most of the regulations are constructed with the right intention, so we approach it from that perspective and do what is right for the patient.

How do you reward/recognize top-performing employees? Through incentives, profit participation, and professional growth opportunities.

What kind of exit strategy do you have in place? We have a long road to go in an incredibly exciting market segment. Who would want to exit such a great opportunity? Seriously, we think large markets with high value naturally consolidate, and we expect to always be a top performer that could either be a consolidator or a target for consolidation.

Published: January 31st, 2025

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