Franchise Interviews

We are meeting with the VP of Primrose School franchise, Chris Goethe.  Primrose Schools is an accredited private preschool that provides a premier educational child care experience. As the Leader in Educational Child Care®, we partner with parents to help children build the right foundation for future learning and life. Our goal is to help children have fun while building Active Minds, Healthy Bodies and Happy Hearts®.

We have a great show today.  We are meeting with Summer Vasilas and Alex Arlotta the founders of Waxing the City. As the upkeep of individual body parts such as eyelash extensions, facials, body waxing and pedicures spurs growth of offshoot single-service salon concepts, fitness industry giants are starting to dip into the lucrative niche beauty business. One example is 3,000-unit international co-ed fitness chain Anytime Fitness, the world’s largest and fastest growing co-ed fitness franchise, which recently acquired the emerging wax-only franchise, Waxing the City.  In part 2, we hear from franchise expert Karol Mercurio on our Great Quotes in Franchising podcast.

Today's show is all about marketing.  A woman tests out a local fitness franchise, has a horrible experience, and never returns. About three months later, she receives a marketing piece thanking her for being a loyal member. Meanwhile, another customer receives an email stating, "We've missed you! Recommit to your fitness plan and we'll give you a 10 percent discount on personal training." The problem is the customer is an active member who's been to the franchise three times a week for the last six months. What happened? Both of these "marketing-gone-bad" examples did more harm than good by wasting a franchisee's local marketing dollars, damaging a relationship with a loyal customer and further frustrating a disgruntled one. Automated marketing solutions provider m2M Strategies has zeroed in on this increasing problem, introducing franchise systems to "intelligent marketing" that uses a local franchisee's POS and CRM data to target the right customers at the right time, with the right message, with measura

Did you know over 1,000 companies were hacked in 2014 alone, and that doesn’t even touch the number of individuals that had their personal information compromised? Between May 2013 and May 2014 the Ponemon Institute estimated that over 432 million people were hacked, which roughly translates to about 47% of adults in the US.  We are meeting with Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security, Inc.  Keeper Security, Inc. is the creator of Keeper, the world’s most downloaded password manager and digital vault.  We will discuss the topics of security, franchising, and entrepreneurship with Darren.

 If you are a fan of Undercover Boss, you will enjoy today’s show.  We are meeting with Executive Vice President, International for BrightStar Care Anthony Padulo.  BrightStar Care is the home care/senior care franchise opportunity that is transforming the lives of our franchise owners, clients and their loved ones.  Brief bio: Anthony Padulo has successfully expanded brands such as Dunkin’ Brands, BP Oil and Aamco into global markets. As Executive Vice President, International for BrightStar Care, Padulo is focusing efforts on securing deals with Area Developers to own and operate multiple locations at a time, or Master Franchisees, who can sub-franchise after opening two to five of their own locations.

We are meeting with Gigi Schweikert, the Chief Operating Officer for Lightbridge Academy.  Lightbridge Academy was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the Leading Edge Franchisors that are innovating in Big Ways; Lightbridge Academy provides early education and childcare to children from six weeks of age through Kindergarten.

We have a great show today.  We are meeting with Chris Larocca, the founder of Crushed Red.  Based in St. Louis, Crushed Red is carving out a distinct niche in the fast-casual restaurant segment dubbed "Artisan Fast." Founded in 2012 by award-winning restauranteur Chris LaRocca, Crushed Red began franchising in 2014 and serves up chopped-to-order salads, artisan-crafted whole-grain pizzas, all-natural soups and savory appetizers in an elevated fast-casual atmospher.  Find out more by listening to the show. 

We are meeting with and Jim Ryan, COO of CREAM.  Headquartered in Millbrae, California and recently named one of "27 Ice Cream Shops You Need To Visit Before You Die," CREAM is a rapidly growing fast casual restaurant business that specializes in high quality ice cream sandwiches and other confections. Founded in 2010 and franchising since 2012, CREAM currently has eight locations open and operating throughout California's Bay Area and plans to expand its national footprint over the next several years.

We are meeting with Dan Chaon, CEO of Native Grill & Wings.. The mission of Native Grill and Wings is to provide their guests with excellent service, exceptional food, and a memorable experience, while continuing to be the "Coolest Place for the Hottest Wings.

We are meeting with Nate Malloy, COO of Profile by Sanford.  Profile® by Sanford® is a comprehensive weight management program designed by Sanford Health physicians and scientists, as a Simple, Effective & Sustainable solution.   The program makes use of a Profile coach and offers integrated complementary technology to directly connect the coach and the member through their journey. Clinical & Scientific protocols have been designed to assist the coach to implement an individualized plan for each member. Their plan is designed with a focus on Nutrition, Activity & Lifestyle adaptations required for short and long-term success.

From preventing nursing home evictions to providing ongoing health monitoring, My Elder Advocate offers families peace of mind knowing a plan is in place to ensure the best possible care for their aging relatives. The company's business model guarantees that the elder individual's best interest is in mind because it receives 100 percent of its compensation directly from clients. We are meeting with My Elder Advocate CEO Jack Halpern and My Elder Advocate COO Claudine Halpern

We start off today's show with our most recent interview on WVOX with the Marketing Dr. John Tantillo.  Next we are meeting  with the President of the Tilted Kilt and star of Undercover Boss Ron Lynch.  The Tilted Kilt is a Scottish and English themed sports pub that provides traditional American cuisine. With LED flat screen televisions and attractive women as servers, customers are greeted with a fun and free atmosphere often associated with the traditional American sports bar.

We have a great show today - We are meeting with Michael Haith, Chairman of the Board for Raintree.  RainTree is a team of outsourced franchise sales professionals to help emerging, mid-size and mature brands increase unit count with a comprehensive set of services. The Denver-based company provides the industry’s most experienced franchise development staff that generates the quality lead flow that previously only more mature franchisors could afford. The proven systems and processes ensure that limited development budgets recruit the highest quality and the highest quantity of franchisees that best match the culture and profile of the franchisor’s ideal franchisee.  In parts 2 and 3, we are going to play clips of interviews we had with several of RainTree's portfolio.  They include Teriyaki Madness and Wag N Wash.  

We have a great show today - We are meeting  with John Twist, VP of Franchise & Business Development at Batteries Plus Bulbs.  In business since 1988, Batteries Plus Bulbs have evolved with the expanding electronics and light bulb industries to become the nation’s largest and fastest-growing franchise in this specialized market. Entrepreneur magazine has ranked Batteries Plus Bulbs as one of the top 500 franchises in America for the past 20 consecutive years and #1 in the battery category.  They have also been recognized by Forbes as the #4 franchise in their mid-range investment category.

We have a great show  today.  We are meeting with Tony Lutfi, CEO of the Marlu Investment Group.  The Marlu Investment Group are franchise owners to systems like Arby’s, Church’s Chicken, Jack in the Box, Sears Appliance & Hardware Stores, Sears Home Appliance Showrooms, Sears Outlet Stores, Little Caesars, Sizzler and more.  In segment 2, we play a clip from our interview with the Franchise King Joel Libava from our Great Quotes in Franchising Podcast.  

Special Prime Time Episode We have a great show today.  We are meeting with franchise expert, franchise author and consultant Tom Scarda and Tom is going to talk about his recent book, The Magic of Choosing Uncertainty.  Tom will answer the following: Why did you write the book “The Magic of Choosing Uncertainty”? From your experience, what types of characteristics make successful franchisees? What do you like about franchising? What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to buy a franchise? In part II, we hear ther President of Franchise Interviews' (Marty McDermott) interview with another NY personality Dr. John Tantillo to discuss branding and franchising.  

We are meeting with Scott Nichols, Director of Franchise Business Development for Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores.  The Outlet stores (Sears Outlet) are designed to provide customers with in-store and online access to purchase new, one-of-a-kind, out-of-carton, discontinued, obsolete, used, reconditioned, overstocked and scratched and dented products across a broad assortment of merchandise categories, including home appliances, apparel, mattresses, sporting goods, tools and lawn and garden equipment at prices that are significantly lower than manufacturers’ suggested list prices.   Sears Outlet is the oldest of the four store formats and was established in 1968. The newest format, Sears Home Appliance Showroom, was introduced in late 2007. The majority of its stores are Sears Hometown Stores, a format which grew from the legacy Sears catalog stores and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013.  

We have a great show today.  We are meeting with Leeward J. Bean, President and CEO of Big Frog, Ronald E. DeFrece, Vice President and COO of Big Frog, and Dr. Christina (Tina) Bacon-DeFrece, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Big Frog.  Big Frog's digital print on apparel capabilities make them a unique franchise opportunity - find out why by listening to the show.   In part 2, we hear a clip from our Great Clip in Franchising Podcast and learn why you have to almost work harder to fail than succeed in franchising.     

We have a great show  today.   We are meeting  with Adam Robinson, Chief Hireologist at Hireology. The Hireology selection management platform simplifies the hiring process for franchisees. The company’s award-winning Selection Manager™ includes everything an operator needs to manage their hiring process, including a fully-hosted career site, integrated job postings, compensation analysis, pre-hire assessments, interview guides, background checks, skills verification and more. Franchise systems, use Hireology’s web-based platform to deliver consistent and repeatable hiring decisions in the field - leading to lower turnover and increased profitability per location.

We are meeting  with Charles Hibble, CEO of the idropped franchise opportunity.  iDropped provides fast, on-site mobile device repair for the most popular brands of mobile devices with a specialization in Apple and the Samsung Galaxy series. The main reason that iDropped has been so successful is that consumers don't want to be without a cell phone for long, so they'll gladly drop it off for an hour to get fixed while running other errands.