By “movers and shakers”, I don’t mean the fastest growing franchises or the most driven franchisors. 

I mean people and franchises making a difference in the industry. Who are they and how can we be more like them? 

I’m going to start in New Zealand because, although I work with franchises in other parts of the world, that’s where I’m based. James Tucker is one of those entrepreneurs who started at an early age, delivering newspapers from age 12 and washing dishes at a local restaurant at 14. By the time he was 25 he was running a company turning over $2 million a year and discovered a tiny Wellington-based pizza chain called Hell. He bought the rights to expand in Auckland and within 18 months had seven new stores. “Hell is a really good New Zealand success story,” he says. He got the idea for the salad and sandwich bar Habitual Fix while travelling overseas and in 2015 purchased the New Zealand license to the Mad Mex Mexican restaurant brand. Although Habitual Fix didn’t hit his growth targets, it made the Deloitte Fast 50 with growth of more than 700% and Tucker is now eyeing international markets.

Cooks is unusual in that, although it is based in New Zealand, it has no franchise outlets here or in Australia. Due to a convoluted licensing agreement, the company has been able to pick up the Esquires Coffee franchising rights for the rest of the world, but the Australasian rights belong to Retail Food Group. But Cooks’ distance from its markets haven’t stopped it from expanding at pace. The company now has 100 cafes, 40 of them on the other side of the world in the UK and Ireland. Cooks now wants to push into China and the south-east of the US. Chairman Keith Jackson, pictured above with Chinese partner Wang Tian who plans to roll out 30 Esquires Coffee stores in Hunan province, says the south-east is the United States fastest growing region.

 

Healthy alternatives to fast food are a trend in franchising, and Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim (pictured above at left) is out to strengthen the 40-year-old franchise’s position as the originator of the healthy alternative market segment. Since taking over from founder Steve Kuhnau in 2012, Kim has instituted ‘Smoothies With a Purpose’, his programme to educate people about the nutritional benefits of smoothies, and is growing the 800-store franchise network at a rate of two new stores per week.

 

The founder and CEO of the Dallas-based 438-store Which Wich franchise prefers the title of Chief Vibe Officer. Sinelli believes that business should give back to the community it serves, and does that by making a donation to a local cause for every sandwich sold and staging charity events such as the recent ‘Spreading Party’, setting a world record while providing 26,710 sandwiches for people in need. Which Wich was named the 6th fastest growing restaurant chain by Chain Store Guide. 

 

Hashim is unique in this line-up as the only franchisee. However, after starting with one location in 1996, Hashim has grown an empire of multi-franchise operations across several high-profile brands. He recently founded NRD Capital, the first business fund both sponsored and managed by a multi-unit franchisee with the objective of acquiring equity within franchise concepts offering compelling unit economics and solid opportunities for franchisees. He is the immediate past chairman of the International Franchise Association and was named by Nation’s Restaurant News as one of the 50 most powerful people leading and shaping change in the restaurant industry.

Apparently, smashing a burger patty onto a hotplate gives it a better flavour. You may not buy that, but customers are. Literally. The claim that the burger market is over-saturated has been well and truly dispelled by the likes of Smashburger. Co-founded by Tom Ryan just ten years ago, the franchise is the 3rd fastest growing restaurant chain in the USA with more than 300 franchises in 7 countries, and has won a plethora of awards, including No. 1 on Fast Casual magazine’s Movers and Shakers list. With a food science degree and many years of experience in the food industry (he is credited with inventing Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza and McDonald’s McGriddles), Ryan is the antithesis of many ‘upstart’ franchise entrepreneurs. “It wasn’t like I went to my garage and did this stuff on my own,” he says. “I had very tenured partners, well capitalized, very focused on making a difference. It was a common fixed point on the horizon that a bunch of tenured old, wise guys went after. That’s how we did it.”