Case Study: Zaxby's Franchisee Family Plans for Succession

Successful multi-unit operators will eventually ask themselves an important question: “What’s going to happen to the business that I’ve worked so hard to build?”

“I always wanted to build this business for my kids,” says Gary Avants, president of Avants Management Group, which owns 33 Zaxby’s in six states and two more are in the pipeline to open by November. “When I found out about 12 years ago that the failure rate for transferring the business from generation one to generation two was 75 percent, I said, ‘I didn’t like those odds.’ And the third generation is like 99 percent.”

Avants’ response was to hire a family succession consultant, who worked with the family for several years and helped Avants and his children understand their gifts.

“For my oldest daughter, Melissa, he felt like her talent was in operations,” says Avants, who’s based in Athens, Georgia. “My son’s gifts were more in training and working with employees, so he’s in HR, and he felt like MaryStuart (his daughter) had more of a marketing background.”

Melissa Avants Crowe is vice president of Avants Management Group, Jordan Avants is director of human resources, and MaryStuart Avants Hulsey is director of marketing and guest services.

The family members had quarterly meetings with the consultant, who doubled as a family therapist. Family members could call him at any time to discuss issues that arose.

Avants has also sought out other experts. In the spring, he and his wife attended a family business seminar that included owners of about 50 businesses that ran the gamut from generation one to generation seven.

“I learned a lot. The first thing for a family business to be successful is everyone needs to be engaged,” he says. “I can seriously say that my family and my children are definitely engaged. They come to work every day, and they know what they have to do.”

Avants is also creating business covenants, a collection of policies and procedures that can help his family when making decisions without him.

“That’s what I’m working on right now,” he says. “When I’m not around in the future and there’s an issue, at least they have something they can lean on to guide them in making the best decision they can make.”

According to the succession plan, Crowe will become president in a year or two.  Avants will become CEO. “As a family, we’re planning on her taking my place,” he says. “I’ll step back, and she’ll be running the company.”