Power Players

When Steve Foltz graduated from Eastern Oregon University in 1985 he thought he might be interested in city or government work. To bide his time and help pay bills while he was interviewing for jobs during the day, he took a night job at Rax Restaurant in Portland.

Growing up with a father who owned a Burger King gave Will Bigham an early look into the back room operations of fast food franchising, laying the groundwork for his own career.

For Bill Gellert, who currently owns and operates 14 franchise units across three brands, with a fourth on the way, business is "a constant mixture of fear and excitement." And he loves it.

Against a background of greater economic uncertainty in 2008, will franchise development become more difficult? In a word, yes. To be clear, the franchise business model is alive, well, and growing. This decade's accelerating growth in units and expansion of companies embracing the franchise business model are testament to that. However, it appears that more challenging times are awaiting us in 2008. Here are some of the reasons—and suggestions for what franchisors can do.

When Pat Williamson was a sophomore at the University of Georgia in 1969, he was home from school one weekend and heard about a summer job opportunity. A Frito-Lay route man stocking the shelves in Williamson's father's retail store had asked if there were any kids looking for a summer job. Williamson's grandfather overheard the request and passed along the info to young Pat.

Originally printed in Area Developer Magazines Issue II 2008, the 2008 Top 100 Power Zees examines the top 100 most successful franchisees by the number of units they operate.

Everywhere you look jobs are being replaced by new technologies and automated systems. We book our own airline tickets online. We fill our own gas tanks and pay at the pump. Touch screens at the neighborhood deli allow us to punch in our sandwich and beverage order. We can pick up a rental car and check into and out of a hotel without ever interacting with any of the providing business concern's employees. And don't even get me started on automated voice call-directing systems.

Florida-based businessman Peter Economys and New York entrepreneur Rob Tobias have a very special talent important to area developers: they're champion multi-taskers. But the concentration and mental agility necessary for the success of any area developer is doubly important for them--because each oversees multiple concepts.

"I love the action of the restaurants and the strategy of the real estate. This is the jackpot business for me," says Mike Scanlon, president and CEO of Thomas and King in Lexington, Ky., where he opened his first Applebee's in 1988.