Franchise Interviews

We are meeting with Bill Chemero, Executive Vice President of Jake’s Wayback Burgers.

Wayback Burgers began in 1991 as Jake's Hamburgers with a single restaurant in Newark, DE which still occupies its original location on Route 273. Home to the University of Delaware, Newark is also known for its automotive plants (little known fact: reggae icon Bob Marley worked in one) and Main St. shopping district. A simple, unassuming "burger joint," Jake's soon became several stores and home to one of the region's favorite burgers.

Jake’s Hamburgers had always served big, juicy hand-made burgers and real milkshakes, crafted to order by a friendly staff. Delivering the freshest, most delicious food possible was Jake’s only philosophy.

Fast forward 20 years: many fast-food chains are selling some version of a “premium” burger. Most of these are just larger versions of their frozen “hockey-puck” burgers, mass-produced and shucked at customers from under heat lamps. Celebrity chefs got in on the act too, selling overpriced burgers for $20 at their upper-crust burger boutiques.

None of this felt right to the people at Jake’s. Burger lovers deserve better than that, and Jake’s wanted to remind people that they can still get a better burger, made just the way they like it, in a warm and comfortable restaurant that feels like home. That’s how they did it way back when, and that’s what they still do today.

So, in August 2010, Jake’s Hamburgers changed their name to Jake’s Wayback Burgers. They still serve the best burgers under the bun.

 

Part 2 is our interview on CBS.

We are meeting with Brian Cygan, Founder and CEO of Exercise Coach

The Exercise Coach franchise is a comprehensive, turnkey business system that is extremely rewarding to those who are passionate about delivering high-quality service that truly helps people.  We provide custom solutions in each and every area of the business operations.  The Exercise Coach system allows franchisees to operate a personal training studio with no previous fitness experience, and to deliver the most advanced and effective workouts in the world.

Personal training has always been a personality-driven industry.  If a trainer leaves a gym or area, the clients are left trying to find the next trainer they can trust with their fitness goals.  The Exercise Coach advantage over traditional training is our proven process of service delivery.  Our studio owners and clients are not reliant on a superstar trainer to make the studio successful.  It is about the process and protocols, not the trainer.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., French Fry Heaven was created in 2010 by Scott Nelowet and is first and leader in the “Gourmet Fry” market – home to the World’s Best French Fries. The mission of French Fry Heaven is to serve the best fries on earth, be everywhere people are hungry, leave you with a smile on your face and make a significant positive impact on the world.

We are meeting with Tiffini Soforenko, the Founder and CEO of Yummy Cupcakes and Dennis Mulgannon, Director of Franchising at Yummy Cupcakes. Tiffini started the biz in 2004 after 18 years in the corporate world, working for Universal Studios as the Director of Operations in LA and Japan. Next month, Yummy Cupcakes is opening their first-ever franchised location in San Diego and there are more coming in Michigan and other states in the next year.

 A lot of people are saying the cupcake craze is dying, but Tiffini will tell you straight up that it's not. It's just BAD cupcakes that are dying.   At Yummy Cupcakes, she has created more than 400 proprietary gourmet cupcake recipes including 94 Vegan and 23 Sugar-free. There are also gourmet cupcake treats like Cupcake Truffle Pops, Cupcake in a Jar, Cupcakie Pies, Cupcake Parfaits, Cupcake Push Pops, Cupcake on a Stick and tons more.

 

The LA-based company has three California locations and two internationally with a lot of plans on the horizon for franchise expansion.

This weekend is the annual International Franchise Expo in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center. Many refer to this event as the Super Bowl of franchising.  Today you will hear our interview with the founder of FranchiseWorks.com Terry Corkery who gives his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to buy a franchise as well as some fantastic tips on attending franchise shows.

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, or Javits Center is a large convention center located on Eleventh Avenue, between 34th and 40th streets, on the West side of Manhattan in New York.

Entrepreneur Zabi Kator is no stranger to what it means to start from the bare minimum, with growing fast company guardNOW within nine months he has managed to open 5 franchises including Los Angeles (home base), the Bay Area and New York.

Servicing all needs of business and residential security and offering no contracts for usage. Temporary security guard service from guardNOW include jobs such as fumigations, firing an employee, moving out an old roommate, an ex or any type of special event.

At the young age of 26 Kator put his time into developing an affordable security guard company that did more than just the basics of security guard requirements. As a UCLA grad his experience in college as taught him how to expand his ideas to give him the 10 years of security and franchising knowledge he obtains today. Kator is currently obtaining his second degree at USC in Los Angeles.

Thursday, June 6 at 10 AM EST - The UPS Store has more than 4,300 independently owned locations in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, providing convenient and value-added business services to the small-office/home-office (SOHO) market, corporate "road warriors," and consumers. The UPS Store locations offer consumers and small businesses a wide range of products and services in one convenient location. Our range of products and services* includes professional printing and document services, mailbox services, packaging and shipping, freight, and luggage logistics, and more!

For more than 30 years, entrepreneurs have been benefiting from franchise ownership with The UPS Store, Inc...The UPS Store, offers products and services designed to help small business owners and continually ranks #1* in its category by Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500”. Franchise opportunities are now available in your community.  *Entrepreneur's Franchise 500® 1990-2003 listed as the Mail Boxes Etc. brand.

The UPS Store was named #10 in their category in the 2013 American Brand Excellence Awards.  Over 250 business brands were rated and over 2,200 small business owners and managers participated in The Business Journals’ annual proprietary study. The winning companies were chosen as the brands who best met the needs of small and mid-sized business owners and managers.

We are meeting with Chris Adkins, vice president of franchise development.

 

Part 2 is an interesting clip from our Great Quotes in Franchising podcast.

Fate can strike entrepreneurs in the strangest of ways. Just ask Lenny Verkhoglaz and Mila Feldman, a married couple whose unexpected Valentine’s Day experience nearly a decade ago has given way to a successful business venture now expanding nationwide.

“Cupid’s arrow really struck us in an unforeseen way that Valentine’s Day,” remembers Feldman. “One of our elderly neighbors was alone in her home after her daughter went on vacation — she needed a helping hand. My husband Lenny and I offered to stay with her and spent Valentine’s in her home helping her out, sleeping on a floor mattress in case she needed help in the middle of the night. That experience transformed us.”

It also touched Mila’s brother, Alex Feldman, who co-owns Executive Care along with the couple. He entered the picture on Valentine’s Day 2003 to take care of his young nieces while Lenny and Mila cared for their homebound elderly neighbor. After that fateful evening, the three adults collectively felt a strong desire to figure out how to provide the kind of high-quality personal and medical services far too many elderly men and women go without. They started Executive Care one year later as a way to provide a full range of in-home care services to individuals and their families.

Executive Care offers services that help families often overwhelmed with the responsibility of providing care to a loved one — all while ensuring the patient remains in the comfort of his or her own home.

We are meeting with Mila Feldman and Lenny Verkhoglaz.

We are meeting with Mike Best, Chief Operation Officer of Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar and Boston's is a full-service, pizza-themed, casual dining restaurant and sports bar offering incredible gourmet pizzas and gourmet pasta, along with a wide variety of other great dishes, such as wings, ribs, burgers, entree size salads, sandwiches and the most delicious and fresh kid's menu in the casual dining category.

We have a great show  today.  We are meeting with Paul Pickett, VP of Franchise Development for Wild Birds Unlimited, and Ellen Davis, franchisee of the Franklin, MA storePaul Pickett, VP of Franchise Development for Wild Birds Unlimited, and Ellen Davis, franchisee of the Franklin, MA storePaul Pickett and the Wild Birds Unlimited franchisee, Ellen Davis.  Ellen shares her experiences as a Wild Birds Unlimited franchisee.