Franchisee Voices: Randy Hayes of Checkers & Rally's

Business ownership runs through Randy Hayes’ veins; he comes from a family of entrepreneurs and was instilled with the dream of becoming a business owner. As such, Hayes, an African American entrepreneur, has worked hard to rise from a Wendy’s crew person to co-owner of five Checkers* & Rally’s restaurants.

Hayes, 47, grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and went straight to work at Wendy’s after his high school graduation in 1984. Within three months of working as a crew person, Hayes was promoted to assistant manager and by the age of 19, moved up the ladder to become a general manager.

In 1988, Hayes moved on to work with Rally’s as a general manager before being promoted to training manager in 1990 and then district supervisor in 1992. After proving his worth and earning the trust of the owners of West Quality Food Service, Inc. affiliate; Coastal Express, Inc., the family-owned restaurant group that also operates various Yum! Brands restaurants, Hayes was made an operating partner of the Checkers & Rally’s locations in 1994. It was a natural progression to become a part-owner in the business, after running it for so long.

Since joining the franchise, Hayes has successfully maintained the restaurants’ profitability while also creating a dynamic and loyal team of employees; his management team has been with him since the early 90s, with the shortest tenure of his general managers being 12 years. 

How did you first learn about brand?

While I was working at Wendy’s, the prior leaders of Wendy’s and Coastal Express, Inc.,  and the West family discovered Rally’s and were interested in developing in Alabama and Mississippi. Rally’s was just starting up at the time so we wanted to join the brand early on to make plenty of money and be owners. The area director pulled his four top managers (me included) to train at Rally’s headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. We opened the first location in 1988 in Mobile, two Rally’s in 1990, another two in 1991, and Checkers in 2007.  

Why did you decide to take an opportunity with Checkers and Rally’s?

I was 21 years old and wanted to be able to operate and eventually have ownership of a business. My father was an electrician and business owner, and he instilled in us to go out there and get your own business or be at the top and run one.  

What challenges have you come across to get to where you are now?

In the early stages of joining Wendy’s there were some racial issues. Being African American, everything that came up missing, they’d blame it on me. People who knew me knew I didn’t take anything, and I was able to prove it. It was a product of the times and something I had to overcome. 

I rose from the crew level to management without being taught the ropes—I had to take data home and study the business on my own because the manager wasn’t helping me learn--I took initiative. When it came time for evaluation, the manager accused me of not knowing anything, but I retaliated and told them everything I knew. After hearing my story and noticing that I had learned the business, the manager of 15 years was terminated.

What successes have you experienced since joining the brand?

When I took over the Rally’s locations, sales were down. I was trying to figure out how to make a change so I put out an ad that we would give back to the community. We promoted a $1.99 combo deal and cars were lining up. I learned that it was important to appreciate and give back to the community. It was such a success that we decided to do it every Friday for an entire year.

We’ve also won various awards, such as Operator of the Year,” Best of the Best” in Quality, Top Dog Award, NASCAR Pit Driver $10k Presenter, and we have won a President’s Club cruise, and “Best of the Best”  cars and “ Best of the Best” cruises that were put in place by corporate to reward top-performing managers.