QSR April 2023

DEPARTMENT FRANCHISE FORWARD

Lessons from a Young Operator How a rising Inspire Brands franchisee is changing the game BY CALLIE EVERGREEN

very competitive segment. Typically, we see the ones that cannot staff delivery employees are the ones that don’t offer competitive wages.” Though raising wages can be expensive upfront, having a higher percentage of deliv ery roles staffed allows restaurants to be able to handle a greater volume of delivery sales, versus having to shut off delivery because of staffing shortages, Fulton explains. “People in this industry constantly high light how tough staffing is, but is your franchise appealing to be employed at?” Fulton says. “I think people have to look in the back lens and look at their business and employees and say, ‘Would I want to have a job here? And what can I do to make it appealing from a benefits, from a life-balance perspective, and from a compensation perspective.’” Fulton knew he had more to learn before becoming a franchisee himself, so he became a franchise operations consultant for Burger King’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, in the U.S. southeastern divi sion for 250 locations.

Jimmy John's has room to grow across the East Coast.

“From that point, taking that step into fran chising is not as challenging as it seems, and I always had people who wanted to back me financially, who wanted to back restaurants but remain absentee,” he says. While looking into opportunities towards the end of 2021, Ful ton came across Jimmy John’s, which he saw a lot of potential in to grow across the East Coast. “I wanted to join a concept that had a solid backing, and I liked it was owned by Inspire,” Fulton says. “I wanted the Inspire fam ily and beliefs, advantages from a tech standpoint, and leading the competition in a sense.” So in an impressive roll-up acquisition that took about five months, Fulton consolidated seven Jimmy John’s units—six in Maryland, and one in York, Pennsylvania—from three franchisees, which meant adjusting three separate teams to one set of systems, a challenge for even the most seasoned entrepreneur. “It was definitely unique and challenging to consolidate three franchisees and close them. We bought all of them on the same day, so that was fun,” Fulton says. “But it’s definitely paid off, and we’re seeing quick positive movement. We’ll be a success story when it comes to Jimmy John’s in this section of Mary CONTINUED ON PAGE 70

A s a 24-year-old Jimmy John’s franchisee with eight restau rants and counting, Maxwell Fulton doesn’t want anyone to think he simply inherited his success. “Sometimes peo ple think, ‘Oh it’s a young franchisee, he must have been handed this,’” he explains. But Fulton’s experience says otherwise. When Fulton became a general manager at Taco Bell at 18 years old, he already had his career path mapped out. He knew he wanted to “be in this business and make something of myself” as a future franchise owner, and he knew he had to align himself with the right leaders to help get him there. After joining Domino’s in 2020 as a district manager, Fulton quickly rose through the ranks and began running stores in the Washington, D.C. area as manager of corporate operations. There, he learned the important skill (alongside the rest of the restaurant industry) of managing staff during a global pandemic and subse quent tough labor market. “[Concepts] in the pizza segment are some of the ones having the toughest time staffing delivery,” Fulton says. “A lot of it comes down to what kind of schedules and wages you can offer them, as it’s a

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APRIL 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com