What Does It Mean to Be a Wealthy Franchisee?

April 13, 2021

Barbara Castiglia

building teams

data-driven decisions

franchise

+more

Barbara Castiglia

Food is serious business. Now, on The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia will invite insiders on the front lines of food to share their expertise, strategies, and forecasts for navigating the ever-changing restaurant industry.

Franchising is critical to the restaurant world, but not every franchisee is successful. So, what’s the secret recipe? Franchise expert, speaker, and author of The Wealthy Franchisee Scott Greenberg joined The Main Course host Barbara Castiglia to shed light on the subject.

Greenberg started his career as a professional speaker and leadership coach. Looking for a second stream of income and a “lab” to try out concepts, he ventured into the franchise world. For the next 10 years, he ran Edible Arrangements stores. His speaking career then moved into franchise events.

“Thinking is getting rid of subjectivity to make data-driven decisions. Leading is about developing others, and serving is building connections, not just transactional relationships.” – Scott Greenberg

“I was looking at the differences between struggling and top-performing franchisees. After a while, I kept hearing the same themes. A franchise is a scientifically sound experiment. You have people running the same business with different results. I wanted to define the variables.”

In doing so, Greenberg looked at the human element of success—how people think, lead, and serve. “Thinking is getting rid of subjectivity to make data-driven decisions. Leading is about developing others, and serving is building connections, not just transactional relationships.”

The human element to Greenberg also meant ego is the enemy of service. “If your focus is yourself, then you aren’t focusing on those that matter—your team and customers,” he added.

Greenberg’s speaking career and interactions led him to write the book as a resource and truly defined a wealthy franchisee. There are three parts to achieve this, financial return, controlling time, and quality of life. Without all three, true wealth is elusive.

He shared some stories from the book, including how a franchisee took underperforming locations and made them the top, dispelling the myth that success is all about location. He also spoke about Jersey Mike’s owner and his unique support for franchisees.

Greenberg also offered advice for franchisees in building their teams. “Define the most important traits for that role and ask questions to see if they demonstrate these. You also need to prepare them for the culture, not just train them for the job.”