Franchisee Voices: Jerry Holt, Jr. of Checkers & Rally's

Jerry Holt, Jr. has spent close to 25 years in the fast food industry as a regional manager and a consultant. For 19 of those years, Jerry worked at Arby’s helping settle franchisees in, and regionally managing the area. Once he moved on from that position, a former franchisee he had helped reached out to Jerry to gauge his interest in opening two Checkers* & Rally’s locations in central Kentucky. Jerry’s been owning and operating his own stores – six stores in total – in Kentucky and Tennessee. Recently,  Jerry and two partners decided to take over and reopen three separate Checkers locations in the Nashville area. They’ll open one by one over the course of the next three months.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

While I was attending the University of Alabama in 1990, I took a manager position at the nearby Little Caesar’s. After I graduated, I took a job at an Arby’s, where I worked my way all the way up the chain, from a manager to a regional manager to all the way to a regional consultant. I was there for about 19 years and decided it was time to move on to the next thing. I’ve been working in the industry for 25 years – working my way up ever since I started back at Little Caesar’s.

I live in Glasgow, Ky. currently, but I plans to move to Nashville soon to be closer to the market where I’ll have the most stores. I have a wife, Diana, and two children, ages 15 and 20. 

How did you learn about Checkers & Rally's, and what made you decide to open Checker's locations?

At my previous job, I worked alongside some franchisees and helped them out as they got their new businesses ready to open. But when I left Arby’s, I decided to take some time off. Soon after, an old franchisee I worked with in the past contacted me about an opportunity he had. He purchased two Rally’s in central Kentucky and wanted my help with running them. Those stores opened in December 2013 and March of 2014. We opened our third store this past October. Today, I operate two Arby’s and a Little Caesar’s in addition to my Rally’s locations.

Do you have any plans for expansion?

We hope to re-open three Checkers locations we recently purchased in the Nashville area. One in January in Goodlettsville, one next month in Madison and one in March in Murfreesboro.

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