Brothers Josh and Luke Bergeson have spent their lives immersed in the restaurant industry, following a three-generation legacy that began with their grandparents. Growing up working in their father’s Subway, they developed a passion for food and operations that shaped their career paths. Now, as franchisees of Layne’s Chicken Fingers in Wisconsin, the Bergesons are leveraging their extensive experience to expand the beloved chicken concept, following a decade of success as MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes multi-unit franchisees.

In a recent episode of Nick Powills’ “Meet the Franchisee” podcast, the brothers shared their journey as franchisees and discussed their plans for the future. They delved into how their operational expertise and family values have guided their approach to building a successful franchise business.

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

Nick Powills: Before I say these words, I'll put the disclaimer that I do love the franchisors that we work with. But above our franchisors, I love talking to franchisees because you guys have done something phenomenal — making the decision to invest in a business and go into business for yourself. So, Josh and Luke, thanks for doing this.

What I'd like to start off with is just your accidental franchise story. How did you even get into franchising? Whoever wants to go first.

Luke Bergeson: We’re a restaurant family through and through — three generations going strong. My grandparents had restaurants, my dad grew up in it, and Josh and I grew up in it, mainly in the franchising world.

We got that taste early on. We both worked at our dad’s sub shop. As soon as we were tall enough to reach the far back of the condiments section to build people’s subs, we were on that line at a very young age.

We caught the bug early. Later, we both went to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. After graduating, we called up our dad and said, “Hey, I think we’d like to join the ‘family business.’” That’s how we got started.

Powills: When you guys made the decision that franchising was going to be your life, talk me through that journey. What brands did you look at? Obviously, we’re talking about Layne’s today, but what was your journey to getting to Layne’s?

Josh Bergeson: I went to college thinking I was going to go into the finance world and wanted to get away from restaurants—not follow in the quote-unquote family business. But the more I worked for people post-college, the more I realized this really isn’t for me.

I saw what my dad did growing up and thought, "OK, I think that’s what I want." He worked his butt off, but he had some freedoms and really loved what he did.

Luke and our dad, Randy, were looking at concepts when Luke was coming out of high school, exploring ideas. They looked at a ton of different concepts before finally landing on one.

My dad wanted something centered on burgers and chicken fingers. We started with burgers when we opened our MOOYAH, and now we’re focused on chicken fingers. Luke was always the one who wanted to get into restaurants with my dad. I came in later, realizing this was something that fit who I am — and it definitely does.

We looked at a lot of different brands, both initially with burgers and then again with chicken, as we considered growing into another franchise to diversify.

Powills: I’m going to lead the witness with this statement, but I want you to challenge the process. Whenever I’ve talked with franchisees, I simplify the post-purchasing decision-making process like this:

First, I have to believe in the vision—who’s the leadership behind this? Even above the product, I need to trust that they’ll take care of my investment and have my back. Second, I have to believe in the product. There has to be differentiation so I can market it to a customer base, or it must have cravability or demand.

Next, the cost to get in has to make sense with what I can earn. I need to be able to open in the market I want—I can’t be rejected from it. Lastly, the validation has to be there. When I do my due diligence, I ask franchisees, "If you had the opportunity, would you do this again?" The answer has to come with zero hesitation.

How does that relate to how you guys went through the process of deciding that Layne’s made sense for you?

Luke: That’s a good way to outline it — very well said. Since we had already gone through that process once with our burger brand, we knew that some things you can only learn by doing. You learn from your own successes and failures throughout that process, so we had a pretty good idea of what we were looking for.

We’ve always said that whatever we sell, we want to be able to stand behind it. We have to be as good as or the best in class at whatever we’re doing. We looked at a lot of chicken restaurants and almost landed on one. We were really close.

Then Samir Wattar, the chief operating officer for Layne’s, gave us a call. He’s an old friend who worked with us at a previous brand, and we had built a strong relationship and trust with him. That was the biggest kicker. He invited us down, saying, “Hey, come check out Layne’s, join the team. I think you guys might be interested.”

The first thing we did was a taste test. We conducted a side-by-side blind taste test with our ownership group, and Layne’s won unanimously — no bias, no dog in the race. That was step one: it was the best product we had tasted, and we’d tried a lot of chicken while vetting different brands.

We trusted Samir, so we went in and spoke with [CEO] Garrett Reed and the rest of the team at Layne’s. Yes, every CEO, president or C-suite executive will have passion for what they’re doing, but this felt different.

I’ve talked to prospective franchisees that Layne’s has been vetting, and I’ve told them: you’re getting the equivalent of a founder-led company. Think of the great companies that have really exploded, like Jersey Mike’s — having that founder-led approach in the growth process ensures the integrity of the brand.

It’s clear that Layne’s prioritizes taking care of franchisees and customers while also choosing the right franchisees who will protect the brand, the guests and the franchise as a whole. You can tell by the way they talk and how intentional they are in sharing their strategy. They start every meeting by saying, “Protect the brand, protect the franchisee.” It’s not just a fluff line — it’s genuine.

And so far, it’s proven to be true. Josh, would you agree?

Josh: One thing we always look for in our people and ourselves is being “genuine.” It’s a word we use a lot, and Luke used it early on.

We don’t expect everyone to be over the top or super bubbly, but we do expect everyone — whether front-facing or in the kitchen, working together — to be genuine and real. That’s what we saw when we went to Layne’s. We saw a group of people who were genuinely passionate. Nothing was forced.

It wasn’t just about coming in to do a job, doing their best to move up in their career or eventually switching to a different brand. Everyone there seemed genuinely passionate about taking Layne’s from a small operation to a national presence, and they truly meant it.

That stood out to us, and it’s what we preach ourselves. After visiting a lot of different companies and meeting good people, it was refreshing to see that genuine passion from the team at Layne’s. It was exactly what we were looking for.

Another thing that excited us comes from being in the restaurant world: we’re operators at heart. We look for a brand that understands the importance of bringing in new franchisees and marketing to new customers while also prioritizing streamlined and easily duplicable operations.

If the operation isn’t smooth, it frustrates our people. At the end of the day, as franchisees, we sell food, but we’re really in the people business. We don’t succeed unless we have a great team at every single restaurant.

We focus on operations and look for a system that our team can execute well — whether it’s busy or slow — and do it right every time. That consistency is a game-changer in both the franchise and restaurant spaces. There are so many restaurants that come and go, but if you can consistently do things well and get it right every time, that’s incredibly important. That’s something we definitely saw with Layne’s.

Powills: So take me through this process. When you guys went to Texas, I assume you had not tried the product since it’s not in Wisconsin, right?

Josh: Correct.

Powills: So, step one is getting on a plane to make sure this thing actually tastes OK. But behind the scenes, at what point are you saying, “Yes, this is what we’re going to do?” Obviously, after looking at so many other options you didn’t pursue, when in the process did you know, “OK, this is us?”

Josh: Overall, I think it was relatively quick. We went down after trying a lot of different brands and chicken concepts. At the end of the day, when you’re in the restaurant world, every time you go out to eat — and this frustrates my wife — I’m never just happy or satisfied.

I’m always nitpicking little things, whether it’s the décor, customer service, the food itself, how it came out or how long it took. You develop a knack for recognizing when something is different, something you can duplicate and something people will come back for because it’s craveable. Or, you realize it’s just good but doesn’t set itself apart.

It didn’t take super long. We took a couple of weeks to go home, make sure we weren’t being overexcited — which we can be at times — and talk to our families. I think our dad even took our mom down to check it out and get her perspective.

She’s outside the restaurant world. She’s been around it her whole adult life, but it’s not her thing. She’s more like, “I’m here if you need me, but this is your thing.” So it was good to get her perspective. Is that right, Luke?

Luke: Yeah. We met with them in October, did a taste test, and got all of that out of the way before we even met with the team. Then we met with them, saw their operations and got a feel for how they worked.

Like Josh said, when you’ve operated enough restaurants, you know what works and what doesn’t. A bit of backstory: when we opened our first two restaurants, we were the general managers. We ran them ourselves. For three years, we were running the actual restaurants.

When we opened our third, we were still heavily involved, working with managers on day-to-day operations. So we know what works and what doesn’t. We can look at an operation and say, “That’s really inefficient,” or, “That looks like a nightmare,” or, “This could work.”

With Layne’s, it was like, “Could it really be this easy?” That was a big key for us.

We met with them in October, and by December, we signed our development agreement. So it was just a couple of months.

Powills: And now, how many do you have open right now?

Luke: We opened our first in April of this year. We’re planning to open two more next year and two more the following year. That’s the current projection.

Powills: This might be a silly question, but going from one to five in such a short period is aggressive. That suggests it’s meeting or exceeding your expectations, and now you’re doubling down.

Do you wish you had started this earlier, now that you’re in it? Or is it more, “We’re going to continue to press”? Where’s your mindset now from a scaling standpoint?

Josh: It’s easy to look back and think, “What if I had started here?” But it wouldn’t have been as easy as it is now without going through the trials and tribulations of the past. It’s tempting to think, “Wow, this is so easy,” but the reality is we know more now than we did when we opened our first restaurant.

Even growing up in restaurants, there’s a big difference between being a son working for your dad and saying, “This is my livelihood. If this fails, I have to start from scratch.” It’s a completely different level of responsibility. It becomes your life — you almost have to be married to the franchise and the business to fully understand the ins and outs of running it.

So, while it’s easy to look back and think, “If only we had found something this easy first,” the experience we’ve gained along the way has been invaluable.

Luke: That’s a good perspective, and it’s the right answer. But in a vacuum, yes — I do wish we had started with this brand. Not that we don’t love our other brand. We’re still involved with them, and they’re doing great.

One thing we’ve always focused on is reducing friction. Anytime operations or marketing teams introduce new processes or products, I always emphasize that it has to be easy to train and easy to duplicate. That’s something Layne’s does exceptionally well.

For example, our next location is an hour and a half north in a completely different market. Part of that decision comes down to real estate, but we wouldn’t take that step if we weren’t confident in the operations being easy to train and easy to duplicate, even at that distance.

Powills: As an outsider-insider with Layne’s, I’ll say this: early McDonald’s was all about burgers, fries, and shakes — consistent, easy to train and easy to onboard. Everything you just said reminds me of McDonald’s in those early days.

But now, it’s almost like McDonald’s has become the Cheesecake Factory — driven by greed or the pressure of increasing year-over-year economics. Even though simpler operations might yield stronger profitability, there’s this mentality: if we’re not growing, we’re dying. So they add a million things to the menu and overcomplicate everything.

When I think about Layne’s, I remember Samir saying, “We only have 125 SKUs, and that includes the toilet paper.” I thought, “Alright, that’s pretty good.” He also said, “I’ve had days where the easiest $10,000 I’ve ever made was by dropping fries and chicken into the fryer.”

If we really evaluate what makes a good franchise opportunity, these other brands that try to be overly innovative with their products often hurt their franchisees and staff by overcomplicating things. To me, simplicity is the win when it comes to restaurants. What are your thoughts on that?

Josh: I think that’s true, and we’re actually seeing a reversion to that. A lot of brands are starting to simplify.

Part of it was the pandemic, which forced businesses to reduce SKUs due to supply chain issues. But I think it was going to happen eventually. One of the biggest complaints we hear is about inaccuracy. With fewer SKUs to focus on and less product to build or make, you significantly reduce the potential for errors.

This trend is happening across the board — not just in fast food, but also in fast-casual and casual dining. I remember going to a local brewery that served food. Their menu used to be four pages long, but now it’s a single sheet.

Supply chain pressures played a role, but it’s also about competition. We need to do things right every time and make it perfect for the customer. If we strive for perfection, we’ll land at “really good,” and that’s exactly where we need to be.

Powills: I think you’ve landed in a rare scenario — a brand that’s been around for 30 years but is still emerging. It has the right leadership, takes the right approach to real estate and for you to be growing from one to five locations is impressive.

That said, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add this: I think you’re in great shape, but my real hope is that your Packers start to struggle so my Bears can take over the NFC North. Just saying — I had to throw that out there. If I didn’t say it on a podcast, I wouldn’t be a true Bears fan.

Luke: Fair. So, we can’t really find someone as their next head coach.

Powills: Exactly. Look, it’s a prime example of a bad franchise — poor leadership, poor product, no validation. Everything we just talked about is basically a Chicago Bears show.

Josh: That’s fair. That’s fair.

Powills: Thanks, guys, for doing this. I really appreciate it. For Luke and Josh, I’m Nick. That wraps up another episode. Thanks again!

Watch the full interview on YouTube.

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/layneschickenfingers.