Growth Articles

In his 45 years in the industry, Rich Batley has had the rug pulled out from under him more than once. Early on, he’d worked his way up to top positions at hotel and restaurant companies only to have them closed or sold. Then, after 21 years at a local hotel group where he’d ascended to general manager, a surprise sale again left him out of a job. He was 48, fed up and ready to take control of his destiny. Scanning a trade magazine, he spotted an ad for Ground Round franchises, invested $2 million and built a unit in Neenah, Wisconsin.

If you fantasize about selling the restaurant and spending the rest of summer at the beach, a new study provides a pinprick of reality about the payout you can expect. The median price of a restaurant sold between April 1 and June 30 was $125,000, according to BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace for buying or selling small businesses.

Venezuelan native Mario Contreras, 32, heads up his own multi-national company, Elbardi International Management, a Charley’s Grilled Subs franchise with units in Florida, the Carolinas, California,  Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. He was the first of the chain’s franchisees to enter Latin America and paved the way for big expansion there, clearing multiple hurdles to ensure brand integrity.

Meet Rita DeSanno. For 25 years she’s served in the Marines, feeding troops for three wars. Now the master sergeant is leaving the Corps and wondering where she’ll find a foodservice job in a private sector where roughly one out of 10 people is out of work. We decided to help Rita by calling attention to her and the 200,000 other veterans who’ll leave the service this year. Next year, with the step-down in Afghanistan, the number jumps to 300,000.

Second generation Wendy's operators bow out of Texas, Bagger Dave's bags its first zee, CKE Restaurants hires a new growth chief, more franchisors extend breaks to vets. Jim Near’s sons sell their Austin Wendy’s units Two sons of legendary Wendy’s leader Jim Near are selling their franchises back to the company. The units are located in Austin, Texas. A Wendy’s spokesman told the press that the market will not be refranchised, and that Austin will become a test market for the chain.