Brand Builders

Irvine, CA-based El Pollo Loco has a penchant for serving hand-marinated, flame-grilled chicken and the freshest Mexican foods, and last year the company experienced record sales of $396 million. But executives there say that although their product is important, they owe much of their success to their loyal and dedicated employees. In fact, multi-unit operator Roland Spongberg recently went six years without losing a single manager at his 21 southern California El Pollo Loco locations. So what's going on at this company that's creating this environment of motivated, hard-working employees who stay the course?

Bill Welter's name may not be familiar, but one small phrase he created decades ago will place him for you immediately: "Where's the beef?" Yes, Welter was executive vice president of marketing for Wendy's when that famous campaign made a star out of a little old lady named Clara Peller, and gave Wendy's a real boost in the marketplace.

The multi-unit operator point of view is more of building an organization. From real estate, capital investment and people development, it is a very different environment. And the people development is the most critical aspect for success.

Seattle's Dennis Waldron is still in the early stages, but he's by no means an amateur. For 10 years he was president of Cinnabon, where he introduced franchises and grew the chain to 400 units. After Cinnabon was sold, "I looked at a number of opportunities and finally settled on being a franchisee," he says. More than that, Waldron set out to be a multi-unit franchisee.