Challenge the Pros: Lynette McKee discusses recruiting multi-unit franchisees

“How do you identify, target, and recruit multi-unit franchisees to your brand?”

Lynette McKee, CFE

Senior Vice President of Franchising

Potbelly

With more than 25 years of experience in franchising and working alongside renowned global restaurant brands, I’ve gained a deep understanding of what multi-unit franchisees are interested in when considering their next investment. Across segments, owners and operators seek high-performing brands that align with their current portfolios and long-term goals. Strategic positioning of a brand to showcase the type of support and resources the franchisor can provide is crucial for long-term growth and recruitment.

Building strong franchisee-franchisor relationships is paramount in achieving recruitment goals. To interest qualified operators, we ensure those needs are top of mind. We’ve built a criterion that needs to be met to be considered, but first and foremost, we seek franchisees who are as passionate about Potbelly and our mission as we are—making guests happy through good vibes and great food. Genuine enthusiasm from our operators drives the quality of customer experiences and ensures the consistent delivery of our values. 

Beyond that, we have focused our efforts on enhancing Potbelly’s recruitment pipeline through extensive real estate research and tech innovation to determine high-interest locations as well as operators who bring a proven track record of multi-unit management success, exhibit strong business acumen, and maintain reputable financial strength. Our investment in real estate innovation has allowed us to provide various shop formats to fit the needs of any market, including endcap, drive-thru, in-line, and freestanding locations. We recently rolled out our smaller, digital-centric prototype, made to lower construction and lease costs. Each new prototype is enhanced with our digital kitchen, a digitized backline to streamline online ordering and pickup.

Backed by a strong leadership team with more than a century of combined experience, we use various recruitment channels to find ideal franchisees, including informational webinars held to detail growth opportunities and which markets remain a priority for expansion. We regularly engage in industry events and within local communities by hosting strategic in-market meetings to generate leads and continue fostering the relationships of interested operators to explore growth opportunities. 

As operators grow with Potbelly, they receive significant operational support, including supply chain, field operations, extensive training, enhanced digital platforms, real estate, design, construction assistance, and comprehensive marketing support to generate local buzz in their respective markets. 

Gaining continuous momentum, these focused strategies have allowed us to grow our pipeline of impressive operators and maintain interest throughout all stages of recruitment as we scale nationwide.