John Schissler is Founder of J&M Hospitality and was created to open and operate Chicken Salad Chick restaurants in the Fort Worth, TX area. John and his wife Meggie currently own and operate 5 locations in North Texas.
On this episode, John and Chris discuss the process of franchising a restaurant. John breaks down what conversations with franchisors & founders look like, financing, finding store locations, the hiring and training process, and operations. John tells some great stories about the realities of a franchisee, growth plans, how he navigated the pandemic, and more. Enjoy!
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John on Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/JohnmSchissler
00:21 - John’s Story and Early Career
02:00 - How did the opportunity come up to start franchising Chick Salad Chick?
03:47 - How do you become a franchisee of a restaurant?
06:47 - When did you know that you had found your first location?
07:55 - How did you finance your first location?
10:29 - How do you design locations?
12:43 - How long was it from the day you signed the lease to the day you open?
12:59 - What was your job going to be and Meggie’s job going to be when you first started?
14:13 - When did you start prepping to hire?
17:25 - Training, Testing Days, and The Logistics of the Restaurant
18:13 - John’s First Grand Opening Day
23:01 - How/what does 200-300lbs of chicken look like?
24:05 - At what point did you know store #1 was going to make it and how long before you moved on to opening stores #2 & #3?
26:38 - Are there any tricks new operators can use to get landlords to pay attention to them when finding a location?
28:56 - How does the relationship work with the franchisor?
29:43 - What resources do franchisors provide to you?
31:30 - Do you ever meet with other franchisees?
32:52 - What do Yelp & Google reviews mean to you?
37:29 - How do you go about getting more stores?
39:37 - How does hiring above-store operators work?
41:48 - How many stores will you open up in the next 24 months?
42:12 - What’s happened in your world since March 2020?
44:22 - How long did it take for you to get to a pandemic way of operating?
Goot to Great - Jim Collins Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066620996/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0066620996&linkCode=as2&tag=mywebsit0c1a3-20&linkId=f3d1a5a65fc2ac45c9664dbb529e20a4
47:05 - How did you staff the restaurant?
48:14 - Why are restaurants having trouble hiring?
49:53 - Are you realizing if y’all can run stores leaner than previously thought?
51:28 - Are there certain cleaning practices that will stick around after the pandemic or new regulations you’ll need to abide by?
52:28 - Were you getting any signals early on from other parts of the country that the pandemic was coming?
54:44 - What have you learned about keeping your staff in tip-top shape to be successful?
56:16 - The Realities of Being a Franchisee
56:52 - What’s your goal over the next 5 years?
58:30 - What are the questions you’re now asking to join a brand as a franchisee?
1:01:01 - Are there things you would avoid in the restaurant world or things that are very attractive to you?
1:03:05 - Do you like working with mobile delivery services?
1:06:03 - Are you thinking about Ghost Kitchens?
1:08:02 - How do large orders make their way through the system?
1:09:22 - How does product delivery logistics work?
1:10:34 - Is there private equity in this industry?
1:11:50 - Do you need corporate approval to sell to private equity?
1:12:38 - What are you seeing in the retail market?
1:15:49 - How do you mitigate the risk of being in a multi-tenant property where your neighbors suck?
1:17:17 - Do you have a childhood experience that shaped who you are today?
1:18:29 - What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
1:20:01 - How do you separate working, parenting, and marriage with your wife?
1:22:05 - How can people support you?
https://www.Chickensaladchick.com/Locations
https://www.linkedin.com/company/j-m-hospitality/
https://www.Twitter.com/JohnmSchissler
The FORT with Chris Powers is produced by Straight Up Podcasts