How do you turn around a franchise? According to Jimmy John Liautaud, the founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich shops, you do it through pure hard work.
In a November 3, 2015, interview with Samantha Bomkamp for the Chicago Tribune, Liautaud said, “You go inside the restaurant, pull all the equipment, pull it away from the walls, you scrub the walls, paint ‘em, patch ‘em, fix ‘em or do whatever has to be done. You push everything back against the walls, you blow out the compressors, you replace your disposables and any of your cutting boards and whatever isn’t good, you fix your refrigerators, you sharpen your blades, and you get back to business. And that’s pure hard work.”
The Jimmy John’s sandwich chain has been around since 1983, starting with one lone location in downtown Chicago. That business has since grown to over 2,300 stores nationwide and a five-year-plan that has hopes for international stores and the company going public. With a large part of those 2,300 stores that are open (and the 1,300 that are in the pipeline) being franchise stores, Liautaud and the brand he created are an inspiration and fountain of knowledge for all current franchise owners and those considering a franchise career.
To read more of this entrepreneur’s success story, check out this link.
“Could we grow faster? Yes. But I don’t want to be the biggest. I want to be the best at what I do.” ~Jimmy John Liautaud
