How did you get into the industry?
I was born into it from day 1. Started prepping in the kitchen at 13. Took on the kitchen manager position for my dad in 12th grade. Once I turned 21 I started bartending which lead to bar manager a few years later.
At 24 I was asking how I could partner/receive profit from the business, how I could move up and do more, and I was shut down by my dad saying I wasn’t ready which brought me down a bit. A year later he walked into the office saying “I’m going to sell this f*ck*ng place” and that’s when I said, “I’ll buy it!”
And finally at the age of 26 after getting private money and lines of credit established, I owned my first bar Casey’s Pub.
What’s New in the Business or in the Franchise Model?
Inflation is at its highest levels and hard to find employees. However, what we’re doing to not let that dominate us is to continue to increase prices where needed while still providing a great experience for the customers so they continue to feel the value. They are feeling the higher prices EVERYWHERE so as long as we continue to provide great service and a great product, the prices don’t reflect on 90% of them.
With employees, we have very little turnover but when we do, we just offer more pay than the competition and we treat our staff like family and treat them right, coach them right.
Where do you See Opportunities or Challenges for the Franchise/Business Moving Forward?
Opportunity by leveraging our time and money to build out more locations with other franchisees. I was in the coaching / consulting business for bar and restaurant owners for 8 years and have hundreds of great case studies of increasing sales and profits for them. I see a huge opportunity being able to do that again but now for just ONE brand which makes me much laser-focused vs working with 50-75 other clients at a time in different concepts.
Challenges I see are making sure I’m choosing the right franchisees who have the motivation and pigheaded discipline to follow the exact systems that allow me to never have to be in my bars and do the majority of my work from home.
What is your Goal for the Business Moving Forward?
In the next 5 years I’d like to have my first 10 franchises opened and running smoothly producing a minimum of 2.5 million a year.
Talk to us About Training and Support, How Do You Deliver?
Training will be done by coming to our location and working for at least 2 weeks in our kitchen to learn recipes and processes of all our prep work and menu items. At the same time learning the POS system and back-office systems and management systems for making sure orders/inventory/scheduling is done correctly.
We will soon have a video library and training system that will then test all our franchisees and our staff on our menus/systems / etc.
After a franchise is opened, I plan on doing monthly group calls for the following months promotions like I did with my coaching clients and then be available 3 times a week for zoom coaching calls.
If there’s anything ever urgent, every franchise will have direct access to my wife and my cell phone number.
The more successful our franchisees are the more successful we will be. Coaching and mentoring is something I enjoy. To say “I did that” about someone’s success and to see someone else live their dream of having a business that can run itself for them is an amazing feeling to have. I never knew what this felt like till the first client I ever had and when they told me they could finally retire because of my help – one of the best feelings in the world!
Your most difficult moment in the Franchise Business?
I’m not sure yet haha. Just getting started. Nothing has been difficult yet!
Define your Franchise Model:
A. Training and Support Model?
See above
B. What is the Fee Structure?
$50k franchise fee
5% royalty on gross
D. Day in the life of a Franchisee?
The first 3 months you’re there basically open to close overseeing all areas of the business and focusing on training staff and coaching the staff. The faster the team is comfortable and reliable and confident in their ability is when you can start trusting your staff to follow the systems in place to provide a great experience for your customers.
After 3 months you’re still doing the same thing but now should be able to take 1-2 days off a week of having to be in the bar/ restaurant. Should be able to do 20 hours of admin-type work from home such as social media postings, bills, payroll, scheduling, overseeing daily checklists from staff through our connect team app.
After about 1-year franchisees could have the opportunity to start looking into another location if they have a good kitchen manager and bar manager in place to oversee the daily operations.
What does Your Franchisee Do in the Business Every Day?
It depends on what they want their role to be honest.
They could be doing all the office admin work in the morning and be behind the bar at night over overseeing the floor and expo-ing in the kitchen to make sure food is coming outright.
What I’m trying to focus on with all of them from the start for the first 6 months is that they are playing a part in all positions and learn every system and follow every system in place that we expect our staff to follow.
Our goal is to give our franchisees freedom which would mean working 15-20 hours a week in the business and the only way that is possible is by creating an amazing culture with a few managers who are responsible and have the leadership drive in them.
Basically, as your business grows, you let it take a life of its own, kinda like you do raising a child. At first, you have to spend a ton of time raising your business and as it matures it can run itself. The only difference is in business vs real life raising a kid, you can do this with our franchise model within a year vs 18-25 years!
Who is the Ideal Franchise Candidate?
Someone who has been in the bar/restaurant industry for at least 7-10 years (more the better) and has at least 5 years of some management experience in the industry.
They must be willing to put in 60-70 hours a week in the first few months and be willing and able to work at any given time if an emergency occurs. Someone who has kids and doesn’t have a sitter / significant other to help during these times will make it very hard to handle this business in the first 6 months because there are always issues that arise when starting out.
Success Stories and Failures with Franchisees?
None yet. Just getting started.
What Goals Do You Have for the Franchise Model in the Future?
I’d like to have 25 locations total within 15 years and be able to pass the business off to my kids to take over and I want to continue to simplify it as much as possible without affecting the guest experience.
For more information on Fozzy’s Franchise system, visit the corporate site: https://fozzys.net/