Communication Programs

The Franchise Advisory Council

It consists of approximately 13-15 franchisees and a select number of corporate executives. Every 12-15 months they come together. The chosen franchisees represent the best of the best. The purpose of the meetings is to hear what the franchisees have to say and then take that information to better our company.  We believe the franchisees are the best resource for that, because they more than anyone have their "thumb on the pulse." We encourage open discussion of problems and suggestions and really emphasize "advisory." To that end, we invite select executives to attend and inform the franchisees of the latest departmental developments.

As a company we believe very strongly in communication with our franchisees and we encourage communication among franchisees. So after each FAC eeting, we send the attendees the meeting minutes and they take the responsibility of "updating" the franchises within their region/area. In addition, this is an international program. We have been operating this program for years, and one way we are able to keep it "fresh" is we rotate members each session. For every meeting we replace 1/3 of the previous session's members. That way we are constantly getting new ideas and opinions.

Hall of Fame

This is the most exclusive group of franchisees who meet very strict criteria and are considered among the best franchisees in the system. We  value their opinion, as we do all of our franchisees, and encourage their participation in all that we do.

Mentor Program

We take select and qualified franchisees and designate them "Mentors" which we then pair up with new and existing franchisees. From there they are made available anytime to support that franchisee on everything from the challenges of first opening, technical questions to motivation when times are tough. We update these franchisees first, so that they can be prepared with any questions those they mentor may have (for example, if we update new store set-up procedures, we let them know first so that if a new franchisee calls them with a problem - they will be aware of the process). We suggest monthly calls to all mentored franchisees, but we recommend more than that. We have amazing success stories from this program - and it is one of the best systems of franchisee communication in the industry.