The way the Interim Manager program worked back when I was trying to earn a store was you’d
go for a few months and then they’d send you to another store. My first stop on that path was
University Mall in Bloomington, Indiana. You don’t hear me talk about it much because there
weren’t many lessons learned there. It was a very well run store and my role was just to not
mess it up. Seriously. That’s what they told me. Just in
between owners. The original guy, Rick Johnson, had opened a store in Indianapolis and the
next guy was still in operator training. I had about 2-3 days notice that I was going to
Bloomington. And it was a beautiful place right on the edge of the campus for Indiana
University.
Fast forward just a bit to the last few weeks of my time in Milwaukee (after Bloomington) which I hope you’ve already read about. I got a call from a friend that was an operator in GA. He was giving me a heads up. “Tony, they are going to ask you to run Memorial Drive FSR. I’m just warning you. It’s a beast.” He was discouraging me from accepting that offer.
Here’s what I knew. I wanted to be back near Atlanta because Kaylyn and I were getting married on Sept 20 and it was August then. I also knew I wanted an FSR as an operator but up till then I’d had no experience in anything but a Mall. I also knew that the worse the store, the easier it is to create a track record of growth. Sure enough, maybe a week later, Chick-fil-A calls and asks if I’d run Memorial Drive. Because I knew what my long term goal was of having an FSR and being in Atlanta during that season, it was an easy decision. Back then, IMs only went to malls. I had never heard of an IM going to an FSR. What an opportunity! YES! I’ll take the Beast.
And it was a beast (another story). I still remember a few friends commenting to me that they thought my decision wasn’t the smartest BUT I knew where I wanted to be and Memorial Drive was a step toward that. I remember running into my travel baseball coach during this time and told him what I was doing. His response in a very heavy NY accent: “Tony, you got a degree from Oglethorpe University and now you are running that restaurant? What a waste.” I liked this coach. Great baseball coach. Fortunately, I knew he was wrong this time.
When you know where you want to be in 3-5 years it makes the tough decisions today a lot easier. Whatever gets you closer to that goal is the right next step. 10/10/10
Fast forward just a bit to the last few weeks of my time in Milwaukee (after Bloomington) which I hope you’ve already read about. I got a call from a friend that was an operator in GA. He was giving me a heads up. “Tony, they are going to ask you to run Memorial Drive FSR. I’m just warning you. It’s a beast.” He was discouraging me from accepting that offer.
Here’s what I knew. I wanted to be back near Atlanta because Kaylyn and I were getting married on Sept 20 and it was August then. I also knew I wanted an FSR as an operator but up till then I’d had no experience in anything but a Mall. I also knew that the worse the store, the easier it is to create a track record of growth. Sure enough, maybe a week later, Chick-fil-A calls and asks if I’d run Memorial Drive. Because I knew what my long term goal was of having an FSR and being in Atlanta during that season, it was an easy decision. Back then, IMs only went to malls. I had never heard of an IM going to an FSR. What an opportunity! YES! I’ll take the Beast.
And it was a beast (another story). I still remember a few friends commenting to me that they thought my decision wasn’t the smartest BUT I knew where I wanted to be and Memorial Drive was a step toward that. I remember running into my travel baseball coach during this time and told him what I was doing. His response in a very heavy NY accent: “Tony, you got a degree from Oglethorpe University and now you are running that restaurant? What a waste.” I liked this coach. Great baseball coach. Fortunately, I knew he was wrong this time.
When you know where you want to be in 3-5 years it makes the tough decisions today a lot easier. Whatever gets you closer to that goal is the right next step. 10/10/10
