Masroor Fatany has been in franchising since 2009 when he got his start with Sears Garage Doors, running a successful multi-unit business in Texas. Later, he shifted to the restaurant industry, opening seven units with The Halal Guys. Now, Fatany is focused on growing with Layne’s Chicken Fingers. With five locations already open and more on the way, he’s working alongside Layne’s to build a business that reflects their shared commitment to quality and franchisee support.

In this recent episode of Nick Powills’ “Meet the Franchisee” podcast, Fatany talks about his journey into franchising, the lessons he’s learned and why Layne’s has been the right fit. From navigating challenges to finding success in new markets, Fatany’s story is a relatable and inspiring look at what it takes to grow as a franchisee. 

A transcript of Powills’ interview with Fatany has been provided below. It has been edited for brevity, clarity and style.

Nick Powills: Thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. The first question is the easiest and the hardest. I’ve looked at your background, and I think it might be the hardest: How did you accidentally fall into franchising? What's your franchise backstory?

Masroor Fatany: You know, honestly, it started with my mom finding an article in the Houston Chronicle about Sears Garage Doors. Franchising appealed to me because I knew there was a playbook and brand recognition. At the time, Sears was a powerhouse, so I decided to take a chance on it.

Powills: So your mom finds this article, which proves that PR and advertising either work or don’t work. Kudos to your mom for making people like me look great! She finds this business opportunity — what were you doing at the time? What triggered you to think, “Maybe I want to buy a franchise”?

Fatany: I was in my first year at Ernst & Young, right out of college, working at a public accounting firm. This was early 2009, during the global economic crisis. Things were uncertain — I was being shuffled between clients like United Airlines and large oil and gas companies in Houston.

Companies were having layoffs. I wasn’t laid off, but it was fewer people doing the same amount of work. My mom showed me the article, but I initially ignored it. Eventually, I revisited it, and by Labor Day 2009, I was attending a Discovery Day with Sears Garage Doors.

Powills: That's crazy. I mean, I started our company in March of 2008, and some people looked at me and said, "You're insane for doing this." But I thought, "Or am I smart? Because if I'm going to make a leap, now’s the time."

Similarly for you, like if I were to poll every franchisee who eventually made the decision to go into this, it tends to be some sort of turbulence in their life or career that makes them say, "Well, maybe I’d like to be in charge of outcomes."

So you go through Discovery Day, you buy into it. Was it a whirlwind? Obviously, you know franchising today, but take me through what it was like when you opened your doors and became a franchise owner.

Fatany: It was me and one tech that I found online through job boards. Our phone rings — first customer. “Sears Garage Doors, how can I help you?” The guy says, "I’m stuck in my garage; I need some help."

We send out the tech and he comes back with some money. That was day one. We did a million dollars in revenue in our first year and then expanded into other markets around Houston — submarkets like Beaumont, Lake Jackson, North Houston and San Antonio.

In 2016, I wanted to diversify. My wife and I went to New York City, where Siri introduced us to The Halal Guys. Siri was kind of new back then, and I asked, “What’s the best place to eat in New York City?” It said, “The Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th.” We ended up there, loved it, and asked them about franchising. A year later, we became franchisees. When we opened the doors in Houston, Texas, there was a four-hour line. Around that time, I decided to sell Sears because gyros and garage doors didn’t have much in common. I wanted to focus on what had the longest runway.

Today, we’re at seven Halal Guys units. Then the pandemic hit in 2020. I had been following Layne’s Chicken Fingers for a long time and kept asking them to franchise. They weren’t sure if they wanted to franchise Houston.

I took a flight to Dallas — felt like a private plane since it was just me and three other people. Today, we have five Layne’s open, two under construction and two in conversations.

Powills: Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there. First of all, when you had The Halal Guys’ hot sauce for the first time, how bad did that kick your butt?

Fatany: Oh, yeah. I didn’t know — just totally. It was painful. It was really painful.

Powills: Now I just do one line. Thinking about my Halal Guys experience — and this will lead into Layne’s — it does feel like if I were to go into the restaurant business, a smaller kitchen and easier operations down the line would be appealing.

For someone coming from home service franchising into food, was there any fear? Obviously, when you went into home services, you hired a tech — it’s not like you were the garage guy. But was it more like, “I knew what it was like to do that, so food can’t be complicated if I hire the right person”?

Fatany: Not at all. I wasn’t even going to do it. By the time Halal Guys came around and said they were ready to franchise, I was over it. I was looking at another home-services-related disaster recovery franchise, which is now bankrupt — so I’m glad I didn’t go that route.

One of my mentors guided me toward Halal Guys at the time. He helped me see that it had a simple menu, a great story, a captive audience and the potential for a simpler operation to scale. The restaurant industry is much more mature compared to home services — especially disaster recovery, where you’re dealing with home floods, electrical, mechanical, plumbing and so many different trades. My mentor led me to Halal Guys.

So, no, there wasn’t a deep understanding at the time. It was more like, “This is a good brand, simple to execute. Let’s jump in.”

Powills: Did you start with one unit or did you buy a multi-pack?

Fatany: I always felt like with Halal Guys — I think I was one of the first handful of franchisees to sign on, maybe the first two, three, four or five — I thought, if I’m going to do the work to establish the brand with one, it’s all or nothing.

If one is successful, you’ll kick yourself for not buying more. And if you fail, you’ll just fail a little bigger if you buy a larger territory. So I bought a 12- or 13-unit deal with Halal Guys, and that’s still active.

Powills: Got it. There are so many moving parts as a franchisee, but I imagine burning cash on restaurant investments feels different than in home services. Did you almost breathe a sigh of relief when you saw that four-hour line?

Fatany: I mean, we were like, “This is my bank account.” And then we opened. We got saved, you know. I remember getting a call at probably seven in the morning on grand opening day.

They said, “Hey, we have a few people in line.” By the time it was nine or ten o’clock, the line was really long. By opening time, it wrapped all the way around, and it stayed that way for two days. It was crazy.

Powills: So you build it to seven. Another thing I’m curious about — something I talk about often — is that some people go into franchising with a multi-unit mindset.

You obviously went multi-unit with Sears; you scaled the business. But at some point, the financial side keeps climbing. I’ve found the number tends to fall somewhere between three and seven units, where you’re growing, but it takes even more resources to scale further.

There’s almost another dip that happens, and you have to have the mentality that this dip will lead to the hockey-stick growth that gets you much further. Was that something you had to prepare for? Did your experience with Sears help you get to that level? How did you navigate that?

Fatany: I think every brand has its strengths and weaknesses, and that’s true for everything. We focus on learning from the strengths. Sears taught me a lot about franchising and business in general.

We brought those lessons over to Halal Guys, and they helped me with Layne’s. I don’t think I could’ve convinced the folks at Layne’s to bring me on if it weren’t for my experience operating Halal Guys.

I didn’t go into it thinking about this multi-unit mindset. When you sign a multi-unit deal, everyone around you is geared toward scaling. The whole contract is designed for that — it wasn’t even a choice. For me, the mindset was, “If we’re going to be successful, we’re going to double down and carry this all the way through. If we’re not, we won’t be.” That multi-unit mindset was there from the beginning.

Powills: You said, “If I’m going to do this, why wouldn’t I go all in?” Even though that meant mentally battling through the first tranche — your bank account decreasing until the restaurant opens because you’re bleeding cash on the build-out.

So you build it up to seven units, and then you go into Layne’s. Before we dive into the Layne’s story, just out of curiosity: You got into franchising very young, made a million dollars in gross revenue your first year and for anyone watching, that’s not profit — that’s gross revenue. There are costs to running the business.

But did you ever feel wealthy at that point? Did you feel like a “wealthy franchisee,” or was there always this ghost behind you saying, “The sky could fall at any minute”?

Fatany: I think with any entrepreneur, the ghost is always present because it changes as you scale. Each level brings new challenges every year. I don’t think that ever goes away — maybe until you exit.

But to say I’ve ever felt uncomfortable in that sense? Not really. Even in our first year, hitting a million dollars in sales, it was just me and an office manager. You can imagine our overhead was low. That was the first step where we realized, “Okay, now we’ve got to take a step back to go forward.”

That happened many times over in that business. I think learning those lessons early helped. So when we got into the restaurant business — which requires significantly more capital to build each unit — I already had some muscle memory. I knew, “Hey, this is normal. I’m going to have to go through this.”

Powills: Yeah, a few comments. One is, I think the best advice I could give as a business operator — and I’m hearing it from you too — is: Don’t let the lifestyle be the tail that wags the dog. If you make a lot on unit one, you’ll have to make a little less to get to unit two, and so on throughout the journey. You’ve got to become comfortable with the turbulence.

The other thing I’m hearing from you reminds me of a sports analogy. I’m a big Chicago Bears fan. Recently, they were far out of the playoffs, but they played a rivalry team and had to show up excited to win this one game — even though their season was effectively over. Some people would think, “We’re failing, we’re done,” and just give up. But they found a way to say, “For this one game, we’re going to compete,” and they ended up winning.

I use that as an example because, for us, once you get over a certain financial threshold, financial success becomes part of the scorecard. The ghost behind us isn’t just about money — it’s about whether we’re truly successful or not.

The reality is, both you and I could probably retire tomorrow if we wanted to. But the scorecard motivates us, and the ghost of failure scares us. As long as those two forces pull at us, they drive us to keep going. Does that resonate with you?

Fatany: Yeah, 100%. With Layne’s, I have an aggressive development schedule and I genuinely enjoy working with them. That’s really the bottom line. At the end of the day, they have such a great team. Every single person I’ve interacted with there is just a 10 out of 10. That’s really important to me.

In our industry, if you have a solid franchisor that genuinely cares about your success — not just their own scorecard — it motivates franchisees to push even harder. Because we’re trying to build something together.

At the end of the day, I don’t need an additional unit or two. But if you’re working with a great team, having fun and enjoying the process, it makes everything a lot easier.

Powills: So I’m going to tell you what the question is, but first, I want to criticize it. The question is: Have you seen this? Not to put down the other franchisors you’ve worked with, but have you seen this level of franchisor?

And I’ll add this caveat: When I’ve looked at Layne’s, I’ve never seen anything like it. You have strong, capital-backed individuals who are genuinely good people. They brought in the right person to focus on operations, supply chain, and perfecting the model before even starting franchising.

They’ve said no to people, become real estate experts, private equity experts and shown a real passion for their product. On top of all this, it’s a super simple business to operate. I’ve never seen anything like it.

So the question is: Have you seen a franchisor like this? Not to put anybody else down, but is what I’m seeing with Layne’s similar to what you’ve seen?

Fatany: II couldn’t agree more. Everything you’ve said, plus they have a genuine interest in franchisee profitability, which is key. They’ve told me not to do deals — that’s rare in franchising.

Usually, you sign that form acknowledging that you’re making the decision and taking responsibility. But Layne’s has told me, “Don’t do it. We don’t like this one,” or, “It’s up to you.” They’re not chasing unit count as an important number in the [Franchise Disclosure Document], and that speaks volumes in our industry.

Powills: The word that comes to mind is how simple this philosophy seems. Every franchisor should follow it: Treat your business that way and your franchisees will treat the business that way, too. You build a culture of genuinely caring about the direction of the company.

I think it also comes down to how well-capitalized a franchisor is from the start. Take Sears, for example — it was a beautiful business for many years. If they had separated the home services division from retail, it could have remained strong for many more years.

Unfortunately, when capital constraints started impacting the business, even the good parts went downhill. Decisions became reactive, like choosing between hiring more corporate support staff for franchisees or saving cash to stay afloat. That’s when turbulence happens. With Layne’s, it feels simple: Every franchisor should take what you just said and make it their core philosophy. But many don’t, and I’d imagine it’s because they lack the capital to do so.

Fatany: No, I don’t agree completely. Of course, you’re right about capital being important. But it’s more than that.

You need a thorough understanding that if the franchisee is successful, then we’re successful. It’s not an “us versus them” situation — we’re in the same boat and we have to row in the same direction. You can’t have one side rowing; it just doesn’t work.

Layne’s has done a great job with that and it speaks volumes. That’s why they have so many units under development right now. I don’t know of any unhappy franchisees and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.

Powills: I know you don’t have to develop units, but when you attach yourself to something as special as this business, you get a sense of urgency. Is that pushing you a little because you know how special this opportunity is?

Fatany: I think for me personally, my development is well ahead of our agreed-upon schedule. That alone should tell the franchisor that we’re satisfied with the results and confident enough to keep putting our name on the line with every new unit we develop.

Powills: Is there anything that keeps you up at night?

Fatany: Nothing specific like that, but I do think about how we can better ourselves. The general things that keep any operator up, like: How can we deliver a better, more consistent product? How can we improve service accuracy? How can we open units faster? It’s all the general stuff.

Powills: The way I hear the team talk, they focus on protecting the brand, their franchisees and their customers. What you just said mirrors that — protecting the brand and ensuring the customer gets the best experience. You’re constantly listening to your staff and asking, “How can we continue to perfect this?”

That’s the same mentality Layne’s demonstrates and clearly what you’re showing with your vision for the company. I say this line way too often, but when I look at a successful business, I bet on the jockey, not the horse. For you to fit culturally with what they’re trying to accomplish means they’ve extended their philosophy into Houston, which will have tremendous impact.

You’re 100% right: too many franchisors focus on selling franchises instead of developing franchisees. But successful franchisees will sell franchises, and they’ll generate more royalties for the franchisor. It’s very simplistic, but that math equation is misunderstood far too often.

Fatany: At the end of the day, they have a great product and that makes everyone’s job easier. They’ve had a product established since 1994. The most prominent player in this industry, Raising Cane’s, actually came after Layne’s.

That helps tell the story and explain to customers who we are and what we’re doing. We also have a built-in audience. People are aware of the brand, at least regionally.

Layne’s started at Texas A&M, which now has 50,000 to 70,000 students rotating in and out of the university every year. That’s a huge number of people being introduced to the brand annually.

For those who don’t know the brand, like in new markets, it’s the product that draws them in. For example, we just opened a store in Pasadena, a suburb of Houston. That’s a new market, but at the end of the day, people come in because they like the product.

Powills: I love this story. I love your story — it’s awesome.

Thank you for sharing it. From quitting your job to home services, falling into restaurants and scaling with that mentality, I feel like there’s so much more to learn about your journey.

I’m really grateful you gave me some of your time today.

Watch the full interview above or on YouTube.

For more interviews with those influencing the franchise industry, check out these stories on 1851 Franchise:

• Bringing Luxury Spa Services to Her Backyard: Why Kayla Potts Bought a Woodhouse Spa
• How Two Mathnasium Franchisees Turned Passion for Education Into a Thriving Business in Park City, Utah
• How These Brothers Are Building a Layne's Chicken Fingers Legacy in Wisconsin