I got my start right out of high school as a restaurant manager for a fast-food chain. That’s when I got my first actual look at franchising. I worked for a master franchisor of Taco Bell throughout the Sacramento area, helping the restaurants grow and become more profitable. Overall, I really enjoyed the fact that established franchise restaurants had all the systems and processes in place to run smoothly as long as you followed the system. As I was helping the master franchisor with managing some of her locations and day-to-day tasks, I quickly learned all the procedures. The procedures made it very easy to train people; you knew who you needed and when you needed them. With the restaurant business, there are certain times of day, obviously, that are busier than others. We knew, based on sales, exactly how many employees we needed and what locations they were needed in, which made for very simple operations. It all felt so logical to me, and it felt really good to be able to walk into any of the Taco Bells in the Sacramento area and know that I’d be doing the exact same things no matter the location. As I traveled the region, there was only one bad thing I noticed when I walked into these different restaurants. There were certain managers who had been there before me, and they weren’t exactly following those policies and procedures. Maybe they thought they knew better. Nevertheless, they were making changes here and there—and those decisions weren’t paying off. I was actually placed at those locations to put everything back on track, to make them run smoothly and efficiently according to the policies and procedures that Taco Bell had outlined. I learned that if you’re a new manager, your first day is not the right time to try to make improvements to proven systems and processes. Spend the time needed to get them in place, and then spend the time to maintain the right results. Later, when you’re a top owner, you might be able to add new ideas. There is room for growth, but you should get to know the improvement process first and foremost. As a teenager, I definitely saw that franchising was a great option. I would later learn much more about it (especially that it’s not limited to restaurants), but I’m grateful for my first experience in the franchise world. I then moved on to a 24-hour food chain, Lyons, which is similar to Denny’s. I spent about 15 years managing restaurants.
Quite often when I introduce franchise restaurants to my candidates they shy away from the idea as being too difficult to run, too many moving parts. They are concerned that they will have to be there too much. I did not find this to be the case when I was a manager. One the first things I would always do is to train people to take my place. I always had at least two assistant managers and two or three employees who could act as relief managers. This way I always had someone who could take over and know what to do should an emergency arrive, and I was not there to handle it or should I decide to take a vacation. Yes, sometimes emergency happen but in the 15 years I worked in the restaurant industry it only happened maybe a handful of times. With the right people in place in place and with the right franchise system, it all runs very smoothly.
Hiring was very easy as well. The Taco Bell franchise (and Lyons Restaurant which was not a franchise) had already outlined what to look for in people. However, in the service industry it was pretty obvious. When people came in to apply, I always looked for smiling faces and well-groomed people. Outgoing and easy to talk to is always a plus.
I did learn all aspects of what each employee did just so I could get the feel of it, and I would step in on occasion and run those different jobs. My employees got a kick out of it, especially the dishwashers and cooks. I bartended, bussed tables, washed dishes, cooked, and prepped food. My customers always gave me hard time when I was in kitchen. They would tell the wait staff, “tell Greg I’m not ordering until he gets out of the kitchen!”. It was a lot of fun doing the different jobs but was not necessary. As a restaurant owner your customers want to see you out front, and they want to talk to you. You are the face of the business. Whether you choose to run one restaurant or be a multi-unit owner, having a restaurant to me, was very enjoyable and easy to operate.