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Ziggi’s Coffee founder shares how 12 years building the business made him a great franchisorZiggi’s Coffee founder shares how 12 years building the business made him a great franchisor

Brandon Knudsen shares what he and his wife Camrin learned building Ziggi’s from scratch, and how it helps them better lead their franchisees

Sam Oches, Editor in Chief

October 10, 2024

Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. After all, starting a business from scratch is hard — very, very hard.

Just ask Brandon and Camrin Knudsen, founders of Ziggi’s Coffee. The couple spent 12 years working the frontlines of Ziggi’s and going through every conceivable challenge before they franchised Ziggi’s with six locations open.

That was in 2016. Eight years later, Ziggi’s is about to open its 100th unit. And Brandon Knudsen credits that success to the hard-scrabble days he and his wife spent getting Ziggi’s off the ground.

“Show me something that I haven’t gone through yet,” Knudsen said of relating to the challenges his franchisees go through every day.

Knudsen joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches to talk about how the first 12 years building Ziggi’s helps he and his wife excel at being franchisors and how Ziggi’s is standing out in an increasingly crowded coffee category. 

In this conversation, you’ll learn more about why:

  • Hard work does not go unnoticed

  • Partnerships aren’t for everyone

  • Some of the best ideas come when you’re backed into a corner

  • Customers sometimes come for the relationship, not the product

  • Every restaurant brand should see growth as a marathon, not a sprint

  • Even hot markets with lots of competition have pockets of opportunity

  • The grind of entrepreneurship is a great precursor to being a franchisor

Related:The top 10 episodes of Take-Away with Sam Oches

Contact Sam Oches at [email protected].

About the Author

Sam Oches

Editor in Chief

Sam Oches is an award-winning Editorial Director with Informa Connect Foodservice and editor in chief of Nation's Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. A graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Sam previously served as Editorial Director of Food News Media, publisher of QSR and FSR magazines. He’s a past president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC) and a past board member with the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). His foodservice insights have been shared in national media outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, National Public Radio, and CNBC. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three kids.

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