The Local Food Franchise Growth Game

Many entrepreneurs believe their business is worthy of franchising, but very few go through the thousands of dollars and piles of paperwork it takes to make such dreams a reality. We asked the pros behind southwest Missouri’s most successful food franchises their processes, plans and secrets to success so we could share their stories and highlight their best advice. Ready to grow up and out on your own? You will be soon.

Sweat Your Structure

Classic Rock Coffee Co.

Founding Year: 2011
Began Franchising in: 2013
Number of Locations: 12 (1 corporate store, 11 franchises)

If you want to sell franchises, your concept and your products must be transferable. The pros at Classic Rock Coffee Co. share what they’ve learned as they’ve grown around the globe.

In fall 2011, Kent Morrison opened the doors to the first Classic Rock Coffee Co. in Springfield, Missouri. Little did he know then that the second location of his themed coffee shop was a couple of years—and about 8,000 miles—away. “Location No. 2 was Pakistan,” says Morrison, who first decided to open a coffee shop after he opened smoothie bars in gyms. “We knew that with our theme and uniqueness, Classic Rock should work as a franchise. But I originally thought our first few may be in Kansas City, or St. Louis, or Tulsa, [Oklahoma], or Little Rock, [Arkansas].” 

Although it was not planned, the Pakistan sale worked, and Morrison attributes this success to the work the team did in the years prior. “We knew we needed to learn a bit more about running a coffee shop before we started franchising,” Morrison says. In the first year of operation, the team took note and created a business model with proven experience and transferable knowledge—both key components for growth. Then, they hired Brett Payne as Classic Rock’s director of franchise operations in 2013. 

Payne helps with the nitty gritty—things like market research and a whole lot of paperwork—and with many big-picture tasks, such as making sure the company is desirable to everyone. “Our concept is unique because it’s generally accepted everywhere in the world,” Payne says. “There’s hardly anywhere in the world where people don’t drink coffee, and everybody in the world likes classic rock music.”

Once you find a concept that is both desirable and adaptable, it’s time to truly analyze your products. “Everything you do has to be scalable and transferable,” Payne says. “You have to make sure whatever you’re doing can be duplicated. You also have to consider if it can be duplicated in your other locations.” While the coffee drinks are similar at all of Classic Rock’s dozen locations—six located in the United States and six internationally—each store is responsible for its own food. “We have a sandwich called the War Pig,” Payne says. “That’s a song by Black Sabbath. It’s made with bacon. Well, in Pakistan, they don’t eat pork, so they made a sandwich called the War Chicken. We had to tell them that wouldn’t work.”

Classic Rock is also careful to consider where to build in a proposed city. The company uses a proprietary algorithm that analyzes factors including traffic, population density and even residential buying patterns to determine where stores have the highest chance of being successful. The team then sends location options to the franchisee to make the final decision.

Although the overseas locations might take a bit more paperwork on the front end, Morrison says it’s most definitely a rewarding process. “There are people out there right now in cities all over the world with a Classic Rock coffee cup in their hand,” Morrison says. “It’s very gratifying, and it’s very humbling. There are people who put a lot of faith in us, so we want to do good for them.”

Hire Right or Head Home

Big Whiskey's American Restaurant & Bar

Founding Year: 2006
Began Franchising in: 2017
Number of Locations: 14 (8 corporate store, 6 franchises) Editor’s note: Five locations are still in progress.

The big brains at Big Whiskey’s American Restaurant & Bar say building a successful business requires first building a successful staff.

Every meal, every time. This is the driving focus that Paul Sundy and his team aim to instill in each and every one of the nearly 100 employees they train during the opening of a new Big Whiskey’s American Restaurant & Bar location. “Basically that means that the details matter,” says Sundy, who is one of five owners and operators of Big Whiskey’s and also acts as the senior vice president of operations for Big Whiskey’s Franchising. “Yes, we have to have good food and good service—that’s a given,” Sundy says. “But also, the experience matters. Our restaurants are designed based on so much more. On lights, on sound, on temperature. I’m trying to get into the psyche of your brain. ‘Every meal, every time’ is talking about the entire guest experience from the moment that guest pulls into the parking lot.” 

Sundy explains that the most important aspect of creating this coveted guest experience, and ultimately the success of the restaurant as a whole, starts by making sure you get the right people on the bus. “Discovery Day is what we call it,” he says. “That’s kind of the make or break day for both sides when we’re talking to someone about franchising. We’re interviewing them as much as we hope they’re interviewing us. What we’ve found is that the best franchisees come to the table with big questions.” 

Once you determine if a franchise agreement is a good fit for both sides, it’s time for the next biggest step: appropriately training all staff. This begins with each location’s owner, which is why Big Whiskey’s Franchising requires each owner to undergo personalized training at the Big Whiskey’s home office. All other major players are required to train in a Big Whiskey’s corporate location. “Corporate trainings are for general managers, assistant managers, at least one kitchen staff, at least one bar staff and another front-of-house person or server,” says Austin Herschend, president of Big Whiskey’s Franchising and a fellow owner and co-operator. This training lasts six weeks and teaches all aspects of the Big Whiskey’s brand; trainees visit multiple regional locations, shadow employees and eat their way through menus. “We know we could go and open a store anywhere, but what we’re trying to train is the culture of what we’ve created here in Springfield,” Sundy says. 

While these trainings are complete in a number of weeks, the process is never really over. “We’re sending people out on a regular basis to make sure the quality is where it needs to be,” Herschend says. “You have to have infrastructure behind your brand to do that. That’s probably been the biggest investment to us—to make sure that everyone new to the restaurant space, or at least new to Big Whiskey’s, is getting what they’re paying for. It’s important to us because they’re our partner in this, and they deserve excellence.”

Train Hard, Work Harder

Hurts Donut Co.

Founding Year: 2013
Began Franchising in: 2015
Number of Locations: 19 (2 corporate stores, 17 franchises)

Experience makes all the difference, which is why Hurts Donut Co. requires all franchisees to undergo a rigorous training period.

What is now a line of pastry cases filled with dozens upon dozens of drool-worthy donuts all began as a few notes in a spiral bound notebook and later, an Excel spreadsheet. “I would type out each donut type, the frosting and the toppings,” says Kas Clegg, who opened Hurts Donut Co. with her husband, Tim, in 2013. “We would use that for training all of our employees,” Kas says. “Next I started taking pictures with my phone, and we’d print out the pictures with the directions.”

Today Kas and Tim own Hurts with their partner, Scott Bussard. As the store and the menu have expanded over the years, so has the training—the company now has a digital training manual that provides employees the ability to learn how to make donuts via written directions and videos on iPads. Hurts also has a 300-plus–page operations manual it shares with its franchisees, providing them with all the information needed to run the business.

Long before the Cleggs were ever positioned to franchise and train staffs of nearly 100 employees, they trained themselves on how to run a 24/7 pastry business—all in the line of fire. The couple feels this was one of the most important experiences they had in becoming owners and operators, and that’s why they require all of their franchise owners to undergo similar situations with a two-week, on-site training program in Springfield called Hurts U. “We take a lot of time in the classroom to discuss, more or less, the operations side of things,” Tim says. “But we also take them to our location downtown, where they’re able to learn the hands-on aspect of it. They spend two solid weeks there, and that’s 14 straight days with no time off and no weekends off. We put them through the ringer, because we’re a 24-hour business.” 

In addition to these straight days of work, trainees are even called in for some “emergency” shifts. “After they’ve worked all day, they go home and sleep a couple of hours, then we’ll try to get ahold of them,” Tim says. “We’ll say, ‘Hey, you need to go back in and fill in.’ This is so they can experience the lack of sleep and fatigue that they will experience in actually opening our store. We try to emulate, as much as possible, what an opening is like.” 

After the Springfield training, the Cleggs and a few other Hurts team members go to the franchise location to help train the staff on location. And speaking of staff, that’s an equally important thing to consider, Kas says. “I teach the franchisees to hire people as bright as our donuts,” she says. “That’s really the best way to describe it. We need people who are over the top, outgoing and overly friendly. It’s all about their personality.”

Carry on Your Culture

Andy's Frozen Custard

Founding Year: 1986
Began Franchising in: 2005
Number of Locations:  62 total (28 corporate stores, 34 franchise locations)

For Andy Kuntz and the team at Andy’s Frozen Custard, company culture revolves around community.

If you were to visit an Andy’s Frozen Custard in Frisco, Texas, you would get the exact same fast and friendly service you receive every time you visit an Andy’s in Springfield. You’ll find more of the same in Littleton, Colorado, and again in Mesa, Arizona. “Andy’s is a place that’s family-oriented,” says Andy Kuntz, the company’s president and CEO. “We strive to make the experience at Andy’s in other locations very similar to what it is in Springfield.” 

Successfully creating this customer experience at an Andy’s locations in 11 states involves a lot more than signing paperwork. As Kuntz discusses this approachable, friendly company culture—a culture that has been growing ever since Andy, his parents, and his wife, Dana, started serving frozen custard at the first location in 1986—he repeatedly goes back to one thing: community. “When we get into marketing, there’s a major grassroots aspect,” Kuntz says. “Here in Springfield, we go to charity events. We donate to schools. That’s part of our DNA—we want to be involved in the community, and we have all of those things here because we live here. But when you go into a new market, you don’t have those things. You have to help build that brand. You have to get ingrained.” 

This grassroots marketing holds major importance at all Andy’s corporate stores, and it’s also shared with all franchise stores. But long before these grassroots efforts can be put into action, you must make sure you have the correct leaders in place. “You have to find people that truly want to buy into your culture,” Kuntz says. “You have to figure out their ideal culture, their way of thinking and the kind of people they want to hire.” Finding individuals who can truly lead is the other half of the battle. “These individuals have to be willing to have tough conversations if needed,” Kuntz says. “They have to make sure that the business is running like a business, because there’s a lot more to it than just scooping custard.” 

This was one of many lessons Andy’s learned when it began franchising 19 years after first opening its doors. “It would have been very helpful for us to have gone and opened a corporate store outside of Springfield before we started franchising,” Kuntz says. “Franchising, in my opinion, is harder than running your own stores. You’re going from being a player to a coach. To open up a few stores in the market you live in is one thing, but to expand in different markets is an entirely different game. You have to really dig deep and think of all the things you do to make your company successful, and then you have to communicate it to your franchisees. The more you can expand your business on your own dollars before you franchise, the better.”