Meet the Zor: Vinny Provenzano, Senior VP of Global Franchising at Express Employment Professionals

Vinny Provenzano, vice president of global franchising at Express Employment Professionals, was featured in a recent episode of the "Meet the Zor" podcast, where he spoke with Nick Powills, founder and publisher of 1851 Franchise, about his franchising journey, his plans for the future and the entrepreneurial spirit that drew him into the industry in the first place.

A transcript of the interview has been provided below. It has been edited for clarity, brevity and style.

Nick Powills: What is your franchise backstory? How did you accidentally fall into franchising with Express Employment Professionals?

Vinny Provenzano: I appreciate you saying "fall into it." I think most answers are about falling in. Uniquely enough, mine was right out of college. I graduated in finance and accounting and went right into franchising. At the time, I thought franchising was simply food, like many do. I enjoyed the role. I really liked the entrepreneurial spirit that a lot of the owners had — you know, betting on themselves, partnering in a system. I stayed in that career for almost 14 years, and I still very much enjoy it. The entrepreneurial spirit is what got me from the beginning.

Powills: So you fall into this thing. At what point are you understanding the framework or construct of franchising?

Provenzano: It was early on. It was an emerging franchise, so most would fully understand it’s a small, tight network. Owners are putting their life savings on the line, and every single one of them that finds success — that’s what keeps the brand growing. It was early because I saw how much support and satisfaction those franchise owners had in those early days. That was going to be our key for continued momentum.

Powills: Franchising is such a huge part of our economy, yet it’s so undervalued in how we educate people on how it works.

Provenzano: Completely agree, and it is now offered in course structure at many universities, but not enough, I would argue, to your point. It’s an incredible global franchise system that exists — not just in North America but across the globe. Businesses are investing in this franchise concept; individuals are investing in it. But, to your point, at a university level, teaching someone the basics of franchising? It wasn’t until I had a job offer that I thought, "OK, let me find out what franchising really is."

Powills: How would you describe the business model of Express?

Provenzano: From a business model perspective, Express has 40 years of history, and we have 100% franchise locations. So, every one of our offices out there — the 860 — are locally owned. That local owner works with clients, businesses in their communities that have open job positions, and they work with prospective employees — people who are looking for jobs. They make the match happen. They are the local matchmaker. Obviously, their revenue stream comes from putting those two parties together and servicing both sides from a customer experience perspective.

Powills: Do you find that you are somewhat of an educator of what franchising is as an alternative to a career?

Provenzano: As far as us playing educator on the franchising side, we do to a degree. But we find that especially in today's market, with IFA broker networks out there, there's a lot of individuals coming to us well-informed, understanding the industry as a whole. They have that entrepreneurial drive, but they don’t want to reinvent the wheel. So, they say, "Okay, franchising makes sense. I can buy into a system, invest capital, but I don’t have to create everything along the way." They’re going to show me — and, in many cases, teach me — what others have missed, failed, or made mistakes on so I can avoid those.

Powills: Are you competing with franchising on the customer side by helping align employees with employers, while franchising encourages employees to become business owners?

Provenzano: It’s a unique perspective. We’d argue that anyone who’s happy and satisfied in their role has a great job. Anyone who’s looking elsewhere is eventually going to move, or they’ll, as we've heard the term, silently quit within their existing role. So, we like to think that in both opportunities, we’re helping someone who wants to make a move — we’re just helping transition in a way that maybe benefits Express and them.

Powills: With your long-standing legacy, multi-generational operators, and large scale, does that make growth more challenging today? And what strategies lead to successful franchise growth?

Provenzano: Growth is always going to be everyone’s desire. I think right now we’re in a stage of brand maturity where growth looks different. It may not be adding more and more new unique territories — it may be helping, in some cases, second-generation owners transition through retirement and the sale of their existing very successful business to find that next generation of owners. Both, we would argue, are growth. Of course, a net new territory would be immediate growth, but we view it as someone who is looking to retire that has a succession plan, helping them find a resale.

I mentioned earlier we have over 860 existing units. To your point — longevity, a 40-year brand — retirements are happening, and we’ve found great value in streamlining that process, getting involved early, helping them with succession planning — thinking two, three, four years in advance. We see success with the new owner who comes in, new lifeblood, they’ve invested their capital, they want to grow. So, it can grow in a unique way.

Powills: Too many franchisors overlook the value of resales and succession planning, but that’s a key strength of your business. You create a clear path for succession and long-term success.

Provenzano: Absolutely. We actually begin with that during discovery, when welcoming a potential new owner. That’s one of the questions we ask from an executive level — not that we want them to sell two years in and flip it for an immediate return. We want them thinking about succession planning because a lot of it depends upon their people's development. They’re going to develop rock stars within their organization, future owner-caliber employees. That’s good for them, it’s good for us.

To your point, when asked by peers in the industry what opportunities exist in franchising, I would argue that yes, resales are a huge opportunity for a lot of franchisors. But there are few that are in that 20-, 30-, 40-year tenure. So, they’re not quite seeing the opportunity yet where transitioning existing owners is a huge opportunity for growth and potential risk if left to any buyer that comes forward with a check and a heartbeat. They become your next owner, and that can create challenges.

Powills: Out of the 860, how many different franchises are there?

Provenzano: It's a good question. Right now, we have around 600 individual, unique franchises. So, doing the quick math, 200-plus are multi-unit owners.

Powills: How big does the biggest get?

Provenzano: As reported in the FDD, and for all my franchising legal people out there, you'll see offices with top-line sales reaching up to $40 million.

Powills: And how many territories does that end up being? For a multi-unit, multi-territory franchise owner, how many territories will they own?

Provenzano: How many territories? Generally speaking, most people own one. That's the common approach — one unit. Out of the 200 or so multi-unit owners, the majority have two. A few have three, four, or even five units.

Powills: If you’ve created a formula, why not continue to swallow up existing franchises as they exit the system? Is there anything preventing them from scaling?

Provenzano: Uniquely enough, sometimes franchise owners are content with their current growth and performance. As you'll see in FDD-related items, the average unit volume for one territory is over $6 million, which can be a big business for someone. Some would argue that expanding to a second unit requires having the right people, building a bench of talent and being ready to reinvest, which, in some cases, means starting from scratch again. That's not something many are eager to do. Also, at 860-plus franchises, their neighboring territory might not be available — it may already be sold and awarded to someone else. This is where some of our resale opportunities come in. Many of our 200-plus multi-unit owners grow by buying out an aging owner.

Powills: I'm hearing it's much easier if you can build in a concentric circle, leveraging your relationships in that market.

Provenzano: Yes. And we're different from some other franchisors. We require 100% hands-on, full-time ownership. Unlike semi-absentee or absentee models, this requires full-time investment from the owner. When taking on a second unit, the challenge is ensuring you have key people in place to help with management, so that your previous unit, or the next one, continues to run smoothly.

Powills: What is the cost to get in currently?

Provenzano: About $200,000.

Powills: Does this require you to be more selective about who you approve as franchise owners?

Provenzano: That's exactly it. And we very quickly will bring anyone who's looking at our brand to that point of "what's the catch?" It’s a $200,000 investment, I can make six-plus million, average unit volume as reported in the FDD, small team, 40-year history. The challenge is that, exactly to your point, this is not a one-size-fits-all. Not only are we full-time, hands-on — yes, it's less expensive at $200,000 — but we do need you to be an owner-operator. And many people who are looking to buy a business aren't always saying, "I want to be full-time in the business, 8 to 5, 40 hours a week." And that is what our business requires. You've got to have that sales dynamic personality, be willing to build relationships in the community, and that's not for everyone. And it's in our best interest — both sides — to weed that out pretty quick.

Powills: Some people are content with what they have, which reflects a $200,000 mindset versus a multi-million-dollar mindset. Those with the latter eventually think, "How do I build a $40 million business?" For top owners, it becomes less about money and more about the scorecard — playing the game at a higher level. It's a completely different mindset.

Provenzano: The typical age of a franchise buyer for us is around 48. After 15 to 20 years in business, it becomes about life balance, grandchildren, and retirement. So when I say complacency, we're agreeing it's at having reached their goal: building the business, creating a generational opportunity if it's there or looking to sell. But to your point, large-scale, multi-unit, multi-territory owners — it's not about money. I've talked to many of them. Uniquely with our business, you can do well financially by doing good in the community — helping people find jobs, building staff. They find great value in creating future leaders. Expansions have occurred with people within the organization becoming owners in new territories or markets, and that brings them great joy.

Powills: How are you raising awareness in these markets that you do have some new territory available, but it's on a limited basis because you have size and scale?

Provenzano: Absolutely, yeah. We are in a — as I share with our team — it’s a targeted approach. Very targeted approach. Digital, even in-market community events to understand who in the community fits what we would see as being an ideal owner. Always got to give love to the franchise broker community — part of that, leveraging those large organizations. They come in contact with so many individuals. Those markets are very specific. We are right at about 100 open territories, North America-specific. So yeah, a very key list of areas that we focus on. It does us no good to broadcast a shotgun view across North America. We've got to get targeted.

Powills: With resales, succession planning, and new growth, there are many different areas to manage. Growth isn’t one-dimensional, and I'm sure it keeps the team busy on multiple fronts.

Provenzano: You nailed it, yes. It's new territory and resales. We've been in Canada and South Africa for the last 20 years, and in Australia and New Zealand since 2020. Our international growth is strong, and we're replicating the successful model abroad, which does draw attention and focus as well.

Powills: Election years create plenty of chaos. Are you able to extract data? Is there any insight you're seeing in job movement right now or anything you've pulled recently that's fascinating?

Provenzano: Yeah, election, jobs, inflation — some of the key topics we keep hearing about. We closely monitor jobs, specifically which jobs are available in North America or moving abroad. It's been unique to see how many jobs are coming back to the U.S. in skilled trades. The availability and demand exist. Anyone saying there's a scarcity in job opportunities is incorrect. Jobs are out there. People are still looking, needing employment. It's active. We have it, and business is good in that category.

Powills: If there's someone who's been watching this and is like, "All right, I’m intrigued," anything else you want them to know about the business?

Provenzano: I think if what they've heard is a good fit, obviously give us a call. We'd like to talk about the opportunities, the resales or new territories. To your point, it can be big business if it’s a good match.

Watch the full interview here.

About Express Employment Professionals

At Express Employment Professionals, we’re in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, employing 586,000 people globally in 2021 and more than 10 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.

For prospective franchise owners, the initial investment to launch an Express traditional model ranges between $144,000 to $220,000, inclusive of a $40,000 franchise fee. More details regarding franchise costs can be found at https://1851franchise.com/expressemployment/info.