When Gary Long signed his first Beef 'O' Brady's franchise agreement in 2004, he wasn't sitting in a corporate office celebrating a new business venture. He was receiving chemotherapy. After taking early retirement from Verizon, where he worked as a division manager, Long was diagnosed with leukemia. While undergoing treatment in Tampa, he was already thinking about what came next and preparing to open three Beef 'O' Brady's restaurants.
"I spent about a year at Moffitt Cancer Center, and I actually signed my franchise agreement to open three Beef 'O' Brady's while I was doing chemotherapy,” Long said. “It's kind of funny how this all took place."
After recovering, Long opened his first restaurant in Palatka, Florida. About a year and a half later, he opened a second location in Bushnell, followed by a third in Marianna. Each became one of the top-performing restaurants in the Beef 'O' Brady's system, with Bushnell and Marianna both reaching the No. 1 spot in sales.
More than a decade later, Long faced another battle with cancer. Concerned about leaving multiple restaurants for his family to manage if something happened to him, he sold his Bushnell restaurant to FSC Franchise Co., which continues to operate it today. Rather than walking away, Long remained as general manager for nearly 10 years to help preserve the culture he had spent years creating.
Before opening his restaurants, Long drove through towns across Florida for months looking for the right locations. Instead of looking at population size or traffic, he looked for places where relationships still mattered.
"I looked for towns that had a Walmart but didn't have an Applebee's, Outback or Chili's," Long said. “My thinking was that if a community could support a Walmart, it could probably support a Beef 'O' Brady's. I never wanted to compete in a big city where you're just another restaurant. I wanted to be somewhere we could become part of the community.”
Instead of putting most of his marketing budget into advertising, Long invested it directly into local organizations and the people they served. The first organizations he approached were FFA and 4-H, youth organizations that help students develop leadership skills through agriculture, livestock projects and community service.
“Then we got involved with Little League, high school sports and the sheriff's department,” Long said. “We sponsored teams, helped work concession stands and supported community events. We wanted people to know we weren't just doing business there. We were part of the town.”
In fact, there was a local tradition that grew out of those partnerships. Every year at the Sumter County Fair, Long purchased one of the pigs raised by a local FFA student. Before the auction ended, he posed for a photograph with the student and the animal. That picture was framed and added to a growing collection displayed throughout the Bushnell restaurant.
"If you walk into my Bushnell store, there are probably 100 pictures around the restaurant from kids we've supported over the years," Long said. "They're FFA kids, Little League players and families from the community. Now those kids have grown up, and they'll come in with their own children. They'll point to the wall and say, 'There's Daddy when he was in high school.' You just can't create that with advertising."
Long’s accountant didn't always agree with the amount of money he spent supporting local organizations. To him, though, those sponsorships were never just another business expense.
"The CPA would tell me, 'You spent $25,000 last year on sponsorships and community events,'" Long said. “I'd tell him the payback was well worth it. You gain loyalty from your community, and I don't know what else you need in a small business to be successful.”
That approach also caught the attention of Beef 'O' Brady's leadership. Long remembers executives visiting Bushnell and wondering how a restaurant in a town of its size consistently ranked among the highest-volume locations in the system.
"They'd come in and say, 'We don't even know where Bushnell is, but you're doing $2 million a year. How are you doing that? There aren't enough rooftops,'" Long said. "I'd tell them, 'We get 90% of the rooftops that are here.' In a big city, maybe you get 3%. That's the difference. If you support the community, the community supports you."
Long believes one of the biggest reasons his restaurants succeeded was that they were led by people who treated them like their own. "The biggest difference is the franchisee," he said. "When you're the owner, you're there because you care. You may work two hours one day or eight hours the next, but you're invested."
That's how Long approached his managers, too. When he hired Scott O'Brien to run the Marianna restaurant, he gave him an opportunity to earn a share of the profits and eventually buy the business. Years later, O'Brien purchased the restaurant and continued growing with the Beef 'O' Brady's brand.
"I always wanted people to feel like they were building something for themselves," Long said. “If they feel like they're part of it, they treat it differently. That ownership mentality is huge.”
Today, Long measures success differently than he did when he first opened his restaurants. Sales awards eventually fade. The photographs on the walls remain.
"I was talking to a customer not long ago, and right behind him was a picture of him from when he was a kid," Long said. “He was there with his wife and his own children, showing them the photo. That's something no marketing campaign can ever replace. That's what being part of a community looks like.”
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/beefobradys/info.
Beef 'O' Brady's
SPONSORED
After signing his franchise agreement while undergoing chemotherapy, Gary Long spent two decades building relationships that still bring families back through the door.
When Gary Long signed his first Beef 'O' Brady's franchise agreement in 2004, he wasn't sitting in a corporate office celebrating a new business venture. He was receiving chemotherapy. After taking early retirement from Verizon, where he worked as a division manager, Long was diagnosed with leukemia. While undergoing treatment in Tampa, he was already thinking about what came next and preparing to open three Beef 'O' Brady's restaurants.
"I spent about a year at Moffitt Cancer Center, and I actually signed my franchise agreement to open three Beef 'O' Brady's while I was doing chemotherapy,” Long said. “It's kind of funny how this all took place."
After recovering, Long opened his first restaurant in Palatka, Florida. About a year and a half later, he opened a second location in Bushnell, followed by a third in Marianna. Each became one of the top-performing restaurants in the Beef 'O' Brady's system, with Bushnell and Marianna both reaching the No. 1 spot in sales.
More than a decade later, Long faced another battle with cancer. Concerned about leaving multiple restaurants for his family to manage if something happened to him, he sold his Bushnell restaurant to FSC Franchise Co., which continues to operate it today. Rather than walking away, Long remained as general manager for nearly 10 years to help preserve the culture he had spent years creating.
Before opening his restaurants, Long drove through towns across Florida for months looking for the right locations. Instead of looking at population size or traffic, he looked for places where relationships still mattered.
"I looked for towns that had a Walmart but didn't have an Applebee's, Outback or Chili's," Long said. “My thinking was that if a community could support a Walmart, it could probably support a Beef 'O' Brady's. I never wanted to compete in a big city where you're just another restaurant. I wanted to be somewhere we could become part of the community.”
Instead of putting most of his marketing budget into advertising, Long invested it directly into local organizations and the people they served. The first organizations he approached were FFA and 4-H, youth organizations that help students develop leadership skills through agriculture, livestock projects and community service.
“Then we got involved with Little League, high school sports and the sheriff's department,” Long said. “We sponsored teams, helped work concession stands and supported community events. We wanted people to know we weren't just doing business there. We were part of the town.”
In fact, there was a local tradition that grew out of those partnerships. Every year at the Sumter County Fair, Long purchased one of the pigs raised by a local FFA student. Before the auction ended, he posed for a photograph with the student and the animal. That picture was framed and added to a growing collection displayed throughout the Bushnell restaurant.
"If you walk into my Bushnell store, there are probably 100 pictures around the restaurant from kids we've supported over the years," Long said. "They're FFA kids, Little League players and families from the community. Now those kids have grown up, and they'll come in with their own children. They'll point to the wall and say, 'There's Daddy when he was in high school.' You just can't create that with advertising."
Long’s accountant didn't always agree with the amount of money he spent supporting local organizations. To him, though, those sponsorships were never just another business expense.
"The CPA would tell me, 'You spent $25,000 last year on sponsorships and community events,'" Long said. “I'd tell him the payback was well worth it. You gain loyalty from your community, and I don't know what else you need in a small business to be successful.”
That approach also caught the attention of Beef 'O' Brady's leadership. Long remembers executives visiting Bushnell and wondering how a restaurant in a town of its size consistently ranked among the highest-volume locations in the system.
"They'd come in and say, 'We don't even know where Bushnell is, but you're doing $2 million a year. How are you doing that? There aren't enough rooftops,'" Long said. "I'd tell them, 'We get 90% of the rooftops that are here.' In a big city, maybe you get 3%. That's the difference. If you support the community, the community supports you."
Long believes one of the biggest reasons his restaurants succeeded was that they were led by people who treated them like their own. "The biggest difference is the franchisee," he said. "When you're the owner, you're there because you care. You may work two hours one day or eight hours the next, but you're invested."
That's how Long approached his managers, too. When he hired Scott O'Brien to run the Marianna restaurant, he gave him an opportunity to earn a share of the profits and eventually buy the business. Years later, O'Brien purchased the restaurant and continued growing with the Beef 'O' Brady's brand.
"I always wanted people to feel like they were building something for themselves," Long said. “If they feel like they're part of it, they treat it differently. That ownership mentality is huge.”
Today, Long measures success differently than he did when he first opened his restaurants. Sales awards eventually fade. The photographs on the walls remain.
"I was talking to a customer not long ago, and right behind him was a picture of him from when he was a kid," Long said. “He was there with his wife and his own children, showing them the photo. That's something no marketing campaign can ever replace. That's what being part of a community looks like.”
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/beefobradys/info.
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