MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes Puts Partnership First for Franchisees

Talk is cheap. Any franchise brand can spout words about how they support their franchisees and position them for success. However, when you speak about the same subject with Ardag Tachian, director of franchise development at MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes, you might notice something different from the get-go: his use of the word “partner.”

“The goal for a franchisor should be to streamline processes and make it as simple as possible for their franchise partners to experience success,” Tachian said.

It’s a simple and sensible outlook for franchise brands to take, but not everyone is so great about following through. For Tachian and the MOOYAH team, however, it’s paramount.

“We start with a development process and provide support and intelligence on the site selection side,” Tachian said. “While it’s the individual franchise partner’s responsibility to ultimately select the site, we’re on hand for the entire process, helping to secure a local broker, mapping the territory, looking at possible opportunities for locations, assisting with lease negotiations.”

And while restaurant operation is a centerpiece of training, MOOYAH also takes the time to offer suggestions for everything from affordable insurance plan vendors to discounted products suppliers. For Tachian, such attention to detail should be expected on the part of the franchisee.

“The benefit of an individual aligning themselves with a franchise company is to receive the learnings and the experience of the franchisor,” he said. “When they become a franchisee, they are looking to replicate the system. They should have access to everything that’s made the brand successful thus far.”

In addition to 12 days of training at MOOYAH’s corporate offices in Dallas – covering everything from proper hiring practices to inventory management – the brand also provides franchise partners with in-depth restaurant training.

Franchisees also become privy to specialized software tools they can use to help their businesses thrive.

Will MacIntosh, director of learning and technology at MOOYAH, shared a couple of the proprietary systems the company makes available to franchise partners.

“The first concerns talent selection,” MacIntosh said. “We partnered with a company called talentReef to allows us to search, assess and onboard new team members. The other big one is around data and business analytics. It’s called CTUIT, and it lets us pull from our sales and labor data, analyze things like food costs and inventory, and help with accounting.”

However, Tachian and his team know fancy technology is only as good as the people implementing it.

“Regardless of the tools or software that one has available, it comes down to execution, and the execution is done by actual people,” Tachian said. “I believe we have the best business support staff, from training personnel to new store openers and field business consultants. Everyone stands ready to meet with franchise partners, answer questions and offer the support they need throughout their experience.”

Tachian also believes in the waterfall effect supporting franchisees will have on the end product for restaurant Guests.

“When our franchise partners are respected and looked after, they’ll do the same for their team members,” he continued. “Then there team members will pass that on to Guests. Making sure our franchise partners are taken care of takes care of the entire company.”

Interactive training, proprietary tools, nationwide distribution channels – the list of what separates MOOYAH from the competition goes on and on. However, in the end, it all comes back to that word Tachian likes to use: “partner.”

He knows that creating a true partnership with franchisees is the best way for everyone to succeed, and it’s something he and his brand have put at the forefront of their expansion efforts.