Besides serving up slices of pepperoni pizza to customers, CiCi’s Pizza franchisee Bob Wiggins of Atlanta has been offering management and business training to his employees. Eight of the workers have since become franchise owners in the pizza buffet chain. Wiggins puts employees through the Dallas-based chain’s management training program, and he has certified trainers in his four Atlanta branches who focus on developing general managers.
Managers don’t just learn how to run a CiCi’s Pizza unit, they also learn how to manage a business in general.
CiCi’s Pizza recently recognized Wiggins, a 10-year franchisee, for his philosophy on developing employees by presenting its Legendary Operators Award to him.
Why so much emphasis on management training?
What I get in my business is a much better run restaurant. They are much more driven, much more motivated to do the right thing. Guests are better taken care of and hopefully they come back, talk to other people about CiCi’s and sales go up. I have a simple philosophy: When you help other people get what they want, you get what you want.
When did you did you realize the importance of training your employees to become managers?
It was when I was moving on to a second unit. I opened two in six months. I needed to have some really strong management, very quickly.
But aren’t you also training your best people to eventually leave you?
If you don’t create an environment where people are able to reach their goals, guess what? They are going to somewhere else to accomplish those goals. That’s just common sense and human nature.
Does seeing their managers excel affect other hourly employees?
They see the opportunities these people have. And [the managers] should be running the business in a manner that makes it conducive for [hourly employees] to succeed. There are three things I expect in my organization regarding my staff: Treat them with respect, give them a competitive wage and provide a good work environment—a good place where they don’t mind coming to work.
