America's Mega Franchisees

Getting laid off by United Airlines in the 1982 recession was perhaps the best business move Regina and Jerry Lillie ever made (even if they didn't actually make it themselves).

Gary Hoyle thought there might be a good concept for franchising at a Florida restaurant he knew. So he ate there every day for three monthsâ€"soaking in the atmosphere and dining on the delicacies. It was enough to convince him it could work.

Multi-unit operators are a sophisticated culture within the franchise industry. They typically are streamlined, aggressive, think big, plan ahead, and are focused on continual growth. So why would a successful area developer want to sell a particular brand or chain of units? Lots of reasons: retirement, health issues, liquidity, a change in direction, a more aggressive growth strategy, a better opportunity, or simply the desire to "try it again with another concept."

The human voice has remained notoriously difficult to capture and convert accurately into text using computers. However, superb programs exist today that, in their ninth and tenth iterations, are finally pretty accurate at transcribing your dictation - once they have been properly trained.

A study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress's watchdog agency, attributed the majority of the whopping number of errors discovered on almost every tax return prepared by the outlets of the major tax preparation firms to the complexity of our tax laws. If the pros make that many mistakes, what chance does the owner or manager of a small business attempting to prepare their operation's tax returns have of properly labelingâ€"and deductingâ€"expenses that are not mentioned in the tax laws?

Kelly Saxton thinks big. He's the largest McAlister's Deli multi-unit operator, with 30 units throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Kansas. Prior to that, he was the largest Mazzio's Pizza multi-unit operator, with 50 units throughout Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.