Remember That Time I Threw Away Any Hope of Franchising a Pizza Restaurant?
After several years, the company was slated to sell two of its pizza restaurants. The two in Ridgecrest, one of which I had opened and was the current manager, and the other of which was an older unit, where Cindy was the current manager. Together, with a third seasoned and respected pizza restaurant manager named Chuck, we were actively in talks with the company headquarters to buy the two pizza restaurants. It would have been perfect. We were going through the financing process and were preparing to make an offer. We had multiple vouchers from company superintendents and all of our ducks were in line. It was just a matter of agreeing on a price.
Then, a powerful franchisee with close personal ties to the CEO/Founder of the company, took a look at the two restaurants and bought them right out from under us, along with all the company owned pizza restaurants in the Mojave Desert. It was company politics and there was nothing we could do about it. Just to add lemon juice to this paper cut, Cindy and I instantly became employees of this powerful franchisee.
At the time, I was the highest paid company pizza restaurant manager in southern California and I suddenly had a new boss who was asking me why I was making almost double his average manager's salary. I was being asked that in a meeting with his other managers. I looked right into his eyes and said, "Because I'm that good. I consistently work harder than anyone else and I make my numbers." Make my numbers is a restaurant phrase that refers to keeping your labor dollars and your food cost dollars within the company guidelines for a profitable return on investment. And I did that no matter what it took. I hit my numbers if I had to buy pepperoni out of my own pocket and add it to the inventory. I made my numbers if I had to work a sixty hour week, or an eighty hour week. I made my numbers if I had to go on the road and deliver. I made my numbers if I had to park my van in the Burger King parking lot and sell pizzas for $5 each.
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As it turns out, that made me a threat to those with less enthusiasm for hard work, including my new boss, the area supervisor. It also didn't make any friends for me with the other managers, who suddenly found out how much I was being paid.
One of the other reasons I was such a successful pizza restaurant manager was that my mind is so suited to crime, that I could see gaps in the company security practices. As such, I could see how delivery drivers could steal in ways that most managers missed. If you can cut employee theft, you can save a lot more money than most people would guess. But not only that, I could see many ways that theft could take place on a manager level, so I would work with the area supervisors to bust thieving managers. The area supervisors would routinely take me to other units in their area, where I could quickly find out how managers and assistant managers were stealing.
I wasn't going to be doing that with this new area supervisor. There was clear tension between us from the moment we were introduced. I wasn't going to do anything that helped him. He was every USMC pecker head I had ever known, all rolled into one rude jerk. And I'm sure he felt a similar feeling towards me, minus the USMC thing. Somehow, he found a way to threaten or insult me every time we talked.
Not long after the powerful franchisee bought us out, I visited their main area and their primary store where their main offices were located. Right away, I saw how a franchisee steals from the parent company. It's not that different from the way a driver or a manager steals. The franchisee just does it on a larger scale.
The tension and the politics continued to get worse and worse. Then, I caught wind of a plan to permanently close the brand new restaurant that I was managing. I could see the scam that was about to take place, so I took radical action. I rented a VHS camera recorder and I made a video showing how this powerful franchisee was ripping off the parent corporation, along with the IRS. In the video, I walked through all the steps he was taking, and how his plan to close my restaurant and fake a loss was a part of his scam. It was a bit complicated, but I think I explained it fairly clearly. Then, I sent that video cassette to the company headquarters.
Did I mention how powerful this franchisee was and that he was a close personal friend of the CEO/Founder of the parent corporation?
Benito Mussolini once said, "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." This is exactly the truth. Corporations survive in the market because governments give them advantages the Mom and Pop companies don't get. In return, corporations support key politicians and those in political power. Then, those corporations rake in unbelievable amounts of money from government favors. The State is a many-headed Beast, made up of all the governments of the world and the giant mega corporations, along with the powerful banking cartels and the small group of families whose names repeat on the charters and investor lists of the top of the top. But the State is also made up of lower tier Vogons and corporate fat cats, who are willing to bribe the right people so that they get their way.
The City of Ridgecrest had an annual "Taste of Ridgecrest" celebration where local restaurants supplied samples of their dishes. The powerful franchisee insisted that both Cindy and I attend, while his people ran our restaurants for the day. The pecker head supervisor ran my restaurant for the day, from opening to closing. About a week later, I was arrested in my home and charged with stealing some $700 from my restaurant. I didn't have the money to hire an attorney and I didn't trust the dirty local public defender, so I acted as my own defense. In court, I asked for the evidence of the theft, and was presented with the receipts. They were all dated from the day the pecker head ran my restaurant. I called the pecker head to the stand and got him to admit under oath that he ran the restaurant that day and I had no access to any of the money, nor any of the receipts. I didn't even have the keys to the store on that day. I rested my defense. The judge found me guilty and ordered me to pay some $700 plus another $150 or so in court fees.
Justice is whatever the powerful say it is.
Thus ended any hope of owning a franchise. And since owning a Mom and Pop restaurant is a huge investment with a ton of work and little return, due to the lack of an actual free market, a private business was out of the question. It was probably all for the best.
There is one good thing I should say about the pecker head. He had the good sense not to accuse Cindy of anything. I strongly believe that he knew that he and I shared a trait, specifically if anyone would have messed with his family in any way, he would have gone after them with everything he had. And I believe he knew that if he accused Cindy of anything, I would have rained Hell down on his head. When men of honor have a problem with another man, they go after that man. They do not bother the man's family.
First post & table of contents
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