How Strong Corporate Infrastructure Makes Penn Station a Franchise To Invest In

Last year, we looked at the five best reasons to buy a Penn Station. Now, we’re digging a little deeper into each of those points, arriving at the number four reason: strong corporate infrastructure.

Penn Station’s leadership team—comprised of CEO Jeff Osterfeld, president and CPA Craig Dunaway, VP of Operations Lance Vaught and Director of Development and Franchising Greg Goddard—provides reliable support to every franchisee in the Penn Station system.

The leadership team brings over 90 combined years of industry experience to the direction of the franchise, along with a joint commitment to operational efficiency, profit-maximizing practices and an “open door” policy for any and all questions a franchisee might have. This means that leadership can drive tangible improvements for their franchisees, and Penn Station’s continual steady growth demonstrates that the team is doing just that.

This protects Penn Station from the risk of becoming a company wherein leadership is insulated from the realities of the day-to-day operation of franchisees. In fact, Penn Station’s leadership heads a corporate team that prioritizes franchisee success over all else.

“Our strong leadership empowers our corporate team to be franchisee advocates,” explained Greg Goddard, Director of Development and Franchising. “The majority of our corporate payroll is dedicated to field operations, meaning we put our staff in the field to assist our franchisees by optimizing operational efficiency and proving them with tools to assist our franchisees in cutting costs.”

Field reps visit each Penn Station location to optimize operations and provide support, doing so about six to eight times a year—considerably more than most other franchise brands. And because, of 313 stores in 15 states, only one Penn Station location is corporate-owned, the brand’s corporate team can enjoy its primary function: the assisting of franchisee operations.

“With our model being structured around low food and paper costs, and our corporate team being specialists in that model, our franchisees know that they can reliably partner with the corporate office on resolving any pain points and strengthening their location,” said Goddard.

He continued, explaining, “We’re absolutely a data-driven business: we collect and welcome feedback from both multi-unit and single store owner-operators so that we always know what works well and what doesn’t, and we can offer support as quickly as possible. No matter what, our owners are the experts on their locations, and they can therefore provide the Penn Station corporate team with the most valuable information.”

Bolstered by corporate support, Penn Station owners can direct their attention toward service, community engagement/marketing and those other elements of the business about which they’re most passionate, without having to worry about the fundamentals.

“Our business model is all about operational simplicity because we know that streamlined operations drive growth, minimize costs and bolster franchisee satisfaction. To this end, our corporate team serves as operational liaisons and partners to our franchisees,” Goddard said. “The core of the brand is and always has been operational efficiency.”