Why This Sir Grout Franchisee Has Been in Business for Nearly a Decade

January 2023 will mark 10 years of franchise ownership for Sir Grout franchisee Jeff Miller. He owns two territories in Atlanta and one in Morris County, NJ with his wife, Dana in Atlanta, GA. 

The Millers came from extensive corporate backgrounds. Early in his career, Miller was in the sporting goods industry and eventually moved into the toy industry at Mattel, while Dana worked at DirectTV for many years. They’ve also lived everywhere from Los Angeles to England to Hong Kong and Malaysia before eventually settling in Atlanta, Georgia. 

After leaving Mattel, Miller spent about a year at another toy company in Atlanta before he decided it was time for a career change. While at the gym, Dana met Sir Grout founder Jeff Gill. After getting to know him and discussing the franchise opportunity, the couple was sold. 

“We thought he was terrific and that he was either a really good salesman or that he has something here that is going to grow, grow, grow,” said Miller. “It turns out it was a bit of both. There’s something special here.” 

The franchise was financially appealing to the Millers as well. “We're both numbers people as well,” Miller noted. “And when we started to look at the numbers and do our financial analysis, everything else that we looked at could not even come close, in terms of return on investment.

Sir Grout franchisees have the opportunity to tap into a lucrative model for a relatively low initial investment of between $121,830 to $146,710. This is largely due to the ability to operate a location without needing a brick-and-mortar retail space. Additionally, unlike other franchise concepts in the category, Sir Grout's investment comes with five service lines built in for the price of one: grout and tile restoration, stone restoration, no sanding wood floor restoration, slip resistant applications and high durability coatings. 

Now, Miller’s only regret is not starting franchising sooner. He noted that being able to control his own schedule is a major perk. 

“People always say ‘you can control your own destiny,’ but you really don't know how much you can control your own destiny until you do it on your own,” he said. 

Miller added that having Threshold Brands as a parent company has been particularly helpful in the process. “At the beginning, when you're learning, they’re there to answer questions 110%,” he said. “That's what you want. They had responses to the needs that I had.” 

At the same time, being a business owner allowed him the freedom to do a lot on his own, which he was not previously used to. 

“I was able to just figure out so much on my own in terms of processes and materials and how to do a lot of things,” he said. “If I had known that I would have been so free to run the business the way I wanted to, I would have done it much earlier.”

Miller has plans to keep growing in Atlanta, seeing it has a market with a lot of potential. “There are a lot of people moving to Atlanta. It has a growing population,” he said.

Being 10 years into the business, the franchisee noted they are not necessarily looking for rapid growth. “We're looking for more steady growth,” he said.