HOMETOWN: Sharon, Pa.
EDUCATION: Cornell School of Hotel Administration
PERSONAL: married, with two children ages 27 and 25
HOBBIES: "Reading, travel, golf, playing bridge and other card games — if I had time"
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: founding Bristol Hotels and Resorts in 1981, which was sold to InterContinental Hotels in 2000; serving two terms as mayor and two terms on the City Council of Plano, Texas
John Longstreet is proof that you can go home again. A native of Sharon, Pa., the headquarters of Quaker Steak & Lube, Longstreet’s first job was washing dishes at the casual-dining chain’s inaugural location there. After a career in the foodservice and hospitality businesses — as well as two terms as mayor and two terms on the City Council in Plano, Texas — Longstreet returned to Sharon in 2010 as president and chief executive of the then-37-unit Quaker Steak.
How would you rate 2011 so far for Quaker Steak & Lube?
2011 has been a pivotal year. Among other things, we built a new, full-size prototype in Springfield, Ill. We also opened a smaller prototype in a shopping center end cap. We call the Springfield store Lube Classic II, and the smaller prototype is called Power Lube. We were going to call it Mini Lube, but it does too much volume. We were able to take significant cost out of both of them.
Did you meet your growth targets?
We didn’t open as many franchised restaurants as we expected. We will have opened five franchised locations and two company-owned restaurants by the end of the year. On the other hand, we started off the year with lagging same-store sales, but we put some initiatives in place, and they have risen dramatically.
What were the initiatives?
We have a new program to energize sales. In each restaurant we have a position called a MAC — a Marketing Activities Coordinator. MACs work 20 to 40 hours a week and focus on four things: local-store marketing, social media, four-walls marketing and event planning. But the MACs are not always getting to devote enough time to the effort, so we created the MACRO, or Marketing Area Catalyst for Revenue Optimization, program. We now have four field market specialists who work with the MACs to help support them. One works with company restaurants, while the remaining three work with franchisees.
What are some of the challenges you’re facing with growth?
The biggest, without a doubt, is franchise financing. Franchisees are struggling with financing. It’s probably the biggest holdup for growth so far. Site selection is a problem, too. We were growing rapidly in New England, but that has slowed down there. A third challenge is staffing. We’re trying to help the franchisees with their staffing, but we’re also adding four company restaurants, so we need four general managers for those. So we’ve implemented a couple of new recruiting tools — campus recruiting and a website.
How is 2012 shaping up for you?
We should end up the year improving EBITDA. This year, it will be just shy of $5 million. Next year, we’re looking at $6 million.
Next year, we’re looking to open 10 to 12 franchised restaurants and at least three company-owned [ones]. We’re finalizing a deal on two sites in the Dallas area — we plan to focus on the [Dallas/Fort Worth] area in the next few years as a company market. We’re also looking for a site in the Philadelphia area.
Contact Paul Frumkin at paul.frumkin@penton.com.
