How to Succeed as a Multi-Unit Franchisee: Kyle Norcutt, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®

Kyle Norcutt, the multi-unit owner of seven TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® locations across the country, has been with the 380-unit moving franchise for decades. He originally joined the brand after reconnecting with a friend from grade school who had seen success with the franchise in North Carolina. Over the years, Norcutt has owned a whopping 24 different locations within the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® system. He has learned about the ins and outs of multi-unit growth, how to motivate a dedicated team and how to find the path to success.

“There are a few key things that I’ve learned over the years,” said Norcutt. “Whether it be investing in employee development or otherwise, the approach needs to be data-driven, which takes time. You have to take initiative on those big decisions — look at the real facts that are impacting the first location.” 

While it is important to personally take initiative, Norcutt says the key to multi-unit ownership is also trusting location managers and giving them plenty of room to make their own decisions. “You don’t want to have to call anyone on a daily basis,” he said. “That is one of the hardest parts of multi-unit ownership — trying not to get bogged down in the day-to-day issues and staying focused on the big picture.”

For owners looking to expand into the multi-unit realm, Noructt says you have to get your original business running so smoothly that you are eager to challenge yourself. 

“Multi-unit ownership is a whole new way to operate — you can’t be there on a daily basis, everything has to run smoothly and you need to have a backup plan for cash,” he said. “If a location is far away and you lose someone, you have to have a backup plan, or it will impact the whole operation.” 

Although owners may be worried about taking on the risk, Norcutt notes there will always be certain locations that are doing better than others, but the key is instilling the basic principles that made the first location successful in all your subsequent units. 

“You need to be able to give up a lot of the efficiencies that you had as a single-unit owner,” Norcutt said. “Instead, you need to build infrastructure and scale so that each location can run as efficiently as when you were there on a daily basis.”

If a franchisor wants to find a dedicated multi-unit owner like Norcutt, they need to maintain good communication between themselves and the owner. “Franchisors need to have a proven process, a unique service, the ability to train franchisees and some solid experience and success already in place,” he said. “They need to maintain good relationships with the franchisees involved. It is always easier to scale if franchisees have more influence on the brand’s culture.”

Watch the full interview above, or click here to watch it on YouTube.