the voice · ways to control or reduce our it hardware and software costs. the dfa understands and...

DFA Working for FranchiseesAdvocacy, Membership Benefits and Education to Increase Franchisee Profitability

o f D o m i n o ’ s F r a n c h i s e e s

TH

EVOICE

FEATURES:Franchisees Dan Cates & Kevin Shaw

Issue 1 2016

Hit ItOut OF The ParkIn 2016

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UpdatesVendor Cintas 8

Partners Foundation 18Vendor Ross4Marketing 39

Women’s Leadership Forum 48The Forum 50

10 Dan Cates“The DFA benefits me by having the systems and people in place to stay on top of the ever changing business landscape. The DFA has access to great legal and business resources and it’s comforting to know there are always people working in the background on such important issues such as the Affordable Care Act, mileage, new corporate initiatives, and so many other items that are important to our business.”

34 Kevin Shaw“The greatest impact on my life has been the realization of how much we as franchisees and business owners effect our communities and teams. My true goal is to make a positive influence on lives – an impression, comment, encounter, or a helpful hand can go a long way in people’s lives and affect positive change. We never know what battle others are facing – I challenge our team to make a difference every day in someone’s life! Feed the Power of Possible.”

Member Services52 Membership Letter: Chris Reisch54 Membership Form55 DFA Board Member Directory57 Vendor Partner’s Directory

Depar tments

FEATURES 6 Ken’s Korner Ken Peebles

16 A Guide To Surviving The Election Season In Your Store Adam Bridgers & J. Hagood Tighe, Fisher and Phillips LLP

20 Chairman’s Update Jim Gerety

24 1095... What? IRS Forms/Reports Franchisees May Be Required to File

Seth Denson

28 How May I Help You? Accommodating Disabled Employees

Brook J. Carroll

33 Safety Update Van Carney

40 The Training Room Dominic Benvenuti

44 Choosing ExceptionalMike McDermott

The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent Domino’s Franchisees, Domino’s Pizza Inc, and/or any of its agents. The Voice is printed quarterly and distributed to the entire Domino’s Franchisee Community.

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The Voice / dominosdfa.com

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FEATURES 6 Ken’s Korner Ken Peebles

16 A Guide To Surviving The Election Season In Your Store Adam Bridgers & J. Hagood Tighe, Fisher and Phillips LLP

20 Chairman’s Update Jim Gerety

24 1095... What? IRS Forms/Reports Franchisees May Be Required to File

Seth Denson

28 How May I Help You? Accommodating Disabled Employees

Brook J. Carroll

33 Safety Update Van Carney

40 The Training Room Dominic Benvenuti

44 Choosing ExceptionalMike McDermott

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Ken’s Korner

While I write this article, I am waiting with the rest of the world for the official results of how strongly our Brand finished in 2015. Through the third quarter, we were double digit positive over 2014 with our same store sales and there is no reason to think we will not finish the year just as strong or even stronger. Ever since we introduced our major advertising campaign in 2010 admitting to the world our product was awful, our Brand has systematically improved our Product, Service, and Image performance year over year.

Entering 2016, Franchisees are healthier than ever. The Brand’s success is a direct correlation of the immense effort of Franchisees who focused on improving daily operations. Keeping true to who we are as a national Franchisee driven chain, we depend on each other to continue working harder than ever to maintain our current momentum and to ensure the positive growth continues. Domino’s Franchisees have achieved current success the old fashioned way… “WE EARNED IT!”

Consistently, the DFA has shown its value when times were tough for Franchisees or when the relationship between our Franchisor was strained. In the past, when the Brand was underperforming and Franchisees were struggling financially, the DFA had a very visual role in finding ways to help Corporate leadership understand the Franchisee’s struggles. The DFA BODs focused our efforts in helping Franchisees find ways to drive sales, cut costs, and improve their bottom line. Now that the Brand and Franchisees are doing well and our overall relationship is good, the question arises “What should be the DFA’s focus and how do they add value?”

The DFA has evolved over the many years of its existence. Throughout our history, we have played key roles during some very difficult times championing to ensure Franchisee’s best interests were always considered. Some of the predominant issues we focused on include; our work on the Food Coop, Pulse POS, employee background checks, E&S pricing, and the advertising rollup.

The DFA continues to play a vital role ensuring a united Franchisee voice is heard during the difficult times as well

as the good times. Even today, during these great times, the DFA continues to work behind the scenes to assure that the well-being of Franchisees is considered when Brand effecting decisions are made. Even though the bottom line is strong and sales continue to grow, we must continue focusing on all of the various operational store costs.

For a while now, commodity prices have been favorable, which has allowed us to survive in the very competitive value menu segment our pizza industry has faced over the last few years. Franchisees, with the help of the DFA, must always be motivated to find different ways to control or reduce operating costs so we can keep our competitive advantage. During our recent DFA BOD’s meeting, your Board spent considerable time discussing and identifying key cost areas we can work on for 2016. The first area we focused on was recruiting, hiring, and retention. Elsewhere in this magazine, Jim Gerety shares how his organization is trying to improve the leadership skills of his key people. One of the motivating factors for his desire to find and implement a good leadership program is the positive impact it could have on improving his retention. The DFA is working in concert with Jim’s efforts as we search for the best leadership program(s) we can offer our Membership. If any Franchisees have discovered great leadership class options we should consider for the system, please let us know. The goal is to find and recommend a few great options for Franchisees to choose from, depending on personal needs.

Our second key cost area the Board identified is in the area of our store IT expenses. As great and innovative as our Corporate IT division is, we need them to try and find ways to control or reduce our IT hardware and software costs. The DFA understands and appreciates just how valuable our chief information officer, Kevin Vasconi, is for our Brand. His recent recognition by the National Restaurant News magazine as being number 6 on their 2016 top 10 powerful people in the restaurant industry is much applauded. Where he and his team have brought our Brand over the last 5 years has been phenomenal and key to our overall success. Now that almost 50% of our business is derived from digital orders, we understand how critical it is to invest and maintain our competitive

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edge. While we support having a world class technology strategy making our Brand #1 in the pizza segment and a respected leader in the entire restaurant industry, the DFA has reached out to our Corporate leadership about the importance of finding ways to control or reduce the IT charges.

The third area the DFA has decided to focus on during 2016 is how to minimize our food and equipment costs while trying to maximize our profit sharing revenue during these times of great sales. The DFA will continue to monitor pricing from the Supply Chain division and investigate other options whenever we believe the quality, pricing or service can be improved. The DFA encourages Franchisees to let us know whenever you come across an alternative provider/source that would be a good option for us to consider for the entire Franchisee system.

In addition to spending time during our meeting focusing on ways to control or reduce costs, we also spent time reviewing our 2015 performance plus set our 2016 priorities and goals. Here are some of the 2015 year highlights discussed at our meeting:

• Record Membership in 2015

• Record funds in our Member’s savings account in 2015

• World class 2015 National Meeting

• Continued support of national, regional, and individual Franchisee issues in 2015

• Staff Growth: new hire to oversee communication, training objectives and Vendor Partners in 2015

The Board voted to have the DFA focus on the following areas in 2016:

• Maximizing Profit Sharing program

• Offer Leadership training programs

• Offer Recruiting, Hiring, & Retention options

Another area I feel is important to discuss with Franchisees relates to how important it is for each Franchisee to protect themselves. More and more of the individual Franchisee issues I get involved in on behalf of the DFA center on the old cliché “He said, she said”. As I begin to help Franchisees in these situations, it becomes very hard to champion the cause for Franchisees who do not have any documentation of what they believe was discussed and agreed upon. Over the last year, these types of incidents involve anything from landlords, vendors, fellow Franchisees, to our very own Franchisor. Only so much can be done if both parties disagree on what was discussed during the conversation(s) unless it was put in writing. It is a shame, but too many times the Franchisee is working with someone they know and trust, but the situation ends up forcing a confrontation that ends up with a winner and a loser.

Remember, your priority must be to protect yourself, your family, and your business. No important conversation or decision should ever be left up to interpretation or memory. You need to protect both parties by insisting the discussion and/or agreement is captured in writing. This is not so much about trust as much as it is about protection and clarification. If the person(s) you are working with does not want to put your conversation in writing, explain why it is important for both parties and don’t give up. If the other person(s) refuses and you have another option, walk away. It may be a short-term pain but it is the best thing you can do in the long run. If you do not have another option and the person does not want to put the conversation in writing, then you must. Follow up any discussion with an email outlining the conversation. Make sure your written documentation includes your understanding of what the expectations are for both parties. It takes some extra time, but it will save you a bunch of time IF down the road an issue arises.

Before I can end this issue, I need to take some time to recognize Florida Franchisee Freddie Wehbe who has recently decided to sell his stores and exit the system. Over the years, I have watched Freddie contribute to the success of the Domino’s Brand by being a great role model to fellow Franchisees. His example of how relentless hard work, exceptional customer service, and world class community involvement can take an average performing single store market and turn it into a total Brand dominating definition of what it means to OWN your market. Freddie, thank you for all you did to help make this Brand so much stronger and showing your fellow Franchisees what determination and focus can accomplish. You will be missed.

Respectfully,

Ken Peebles

Ken PeeblesChief Executive [email protected]

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Domino’s Career Path: In 1982, I started off as a driver in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Shortly after being promoted to MIT, I took a transfer to a busy campus store in Boulder, Colorado, then to a busy residential store in Denver, Colorado. In 1983, my first opportunity for a GM slot came up in Lubbock, Texas. I was only there for about three months when the opportunity to go to Australia to open stores came up. Five of us went over and built a team who opened the first nine overseas stores in just nine months. When my one-year work visa expired, I moved back to the states, and ended up in Southern California supervising corporate stores for about six years. Because I took those stores from losing $20,000 in the first year to making $375,000 five years later, I was sure I could repeat that success with an eight store franchise opportunity in Canada. I was wrong. After two years of hard lessons, I had to throw in the towel. I ended up back in the states, married my wife Ann, and then moved to Hawaii to help a friend open a store there. About six months later, Ann accepted a job at a hospital in my hometown of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Shortly after, I accepted a job at the headquarters of a taco chain and my Domino’s days were over. Or so I thought. After five years in the taco business and six years with an amazing Arby’s franchise, I got pulled back into Domino’s. At the same time the 750 store Arby’s franchise was merging with the Arby’s parent company, my old friend Tim Hammer, whom I had either been working for, or around in Texas, Australia & Canada, was getting ready to take on 13 Domino’s stores in Oregon. In 2001, he invited me to help him run the operation. After working together for six years, he sold me two stores in Eugene which is south of his main market. About a year and a half later, I purchased the other store in that market from another franchisee. Then last year, I opened two more stores. One was a partial split that picked up about 8,000 new addresses and improved cDot in the two bordering stores. The other split emerged when the perfect site, ideal for showing off our new Pizza Theater concept, became available directly across from the University of Oregon.

Key Accomplishments: • Being selected for the Australian project. • Being the first supervisor in my corporate region to have all of my stores over 10k, it doesn’t sound like much now, but it was a pretty big deal back then! • Taking a store which had done $4,900 the week before I bought it, to a record week of $42,000 in just under five years. Then we split, and the two stores now average 50k out of the same addresses. • Being in one of the first DMAs to be #1 in market share. • Double digit AWUS growth every year until our splits. • The way our flagship campus store turned out.

Franchisee Name | Dan Cates

Title | Franchisee

Company | PRP, Inc. (Platinum Rule Pizza)

Age | 53

Family | Wife, Ann (Married 25 years), Daughters; Heather (23), Ashley (21), Jennifer (18)

Years with DP | 21

Years as Franchisee | 8

# Stores | 5

Store Locations | Eugene/Springfield, Oregon

#Team Members | 130

Boards | SCC Advisory Board, West Region Advisory Board participant

Awards/Accolades | $10,000 Cup, Multiple Supervisor of the Period Awards, Multiple Rolex Challenges, “A” Franchisee designation, Millio\] Dollar Club x 5

Dan and Ann on a weekend getaway

Dan Cates


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Biggest Mistake: Thinking I could take on eight stores in a new country as a new franchisee.

Formative Influence/Event: Formative Influence is, without a doubt, my dad. We butted heads a lot when I was younger but, his faith, honesty, integrity, self-discipline, and overall character continue to influence me to this day. One formative event that stands out; when I was 16 years old my mom and I were home when a tornado destroyed our house. I was pretty sure we were going to die that day. I definitely looked at things a little differently afterwards.

Local Organizations Involved In: • Children’s Miracle Network • Relay For Life

Three Highest Priorities in your Life: I subscribe to the airplane oxygen mask theory. I try to take care of myself first, then my family, then my team. It’s so much easier to be there for other people when you’re at the top of your game in as many areas as possible (Spiritual, Mental, Physical etc.).

Funniest memory while running a store? One night I got a phone call from one of my drivers in Australia who we called Rabbit. The reason he got that nickname was because of how fast and “darty” he was. He really took hustle to the next level. Back to the phone call; “Dan, I need you to make another pizza right away” Me, “what happened?” Rabbit, “Well, this one is really wet, and by the way, so am I!”. Rabbit was delivering to an address behind another house through some bushes. He saw a small break in the bushes and darted through it. Just on the other side of the bushes was a swimming pool, in goes Rabbit and the pizza! True story!!

Is there a Franchisee mentor who has attributed to your success as a Franchisee? There are two. The first one to really coach and mentor me was Tim Behm who is now in Burbank, California. The other is Tim Hammer who I consider one of my closest friends, and lives just up the road in Salem, Oregon.

What does it take to be a successful Franchisee in this day and age? First off, you can’t be successful without

having a bunch of awesome people, really caring about them and their success. Then, I think it is vision, flexibility and tenacity.

REIMAGING

How many stores do you have with the new Pizza Theater image? 3How many are reimaged? 0How many relocated? 1, the other 2 are scheduled for relocation this yearHow many new? 2

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? Thanks to a great architect/contractor team, I don’t think I would do anything differently. I really like the way my stores are turning out. I brought my general contractor to the Pizza Theater meetings. We talked to the trail blazers in Seattle and asked tons of questions & took a lot of notes. We visited 15 to 20 pizza theater stores, and also paid close attention to discussions & pics on the West Region Pizza Theater Facebook page. That saved me a lot of headaches.

Any tricks you can pass on to help your fellow Franchisee? Go visit other markets, see what other people are doing. Greg Keller and Mike Brown in Seattle, and Dave Orr in Longview, WA to name a few, have had a major impact on my market makeover decisions here in Eugene.

Surprise day trip from LA to Las Vegas with the bosses back in the day

Eddie (PRPs Driver of the Year), Amanda, Tamal, Sara, Dan

Dan with the “man who started it all”

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MANAGEMENT

As an operator, what are the two most important things you rely on from DPLLC? Technology and innovation.

What is your management method/style? First, my area supervisor and I try find the best General Managers possible. Great, self motivated GMs are a game changer! Then, we work on supporting them with complementary assistant managers and shift leaders. We meet on a weekly basis to celebrate wins and give them the training, development and feedback they need to keep getting better.

What has been your greatest challenge? Staying staffed at the management level.

How do you find capital for expansion? I’ve been using Capital Source. It’s a little slow because of the SBA paperwork requirements, but I like the rate/terms and I get great service.

Is there a specific best practice you have implemented you would like to share with fellow Franchisees? We try to use as many of the Domino’s systems as possible. For example, we started using the applicant tracking system back when it was Taleo and we signed up for menu management services as soon it was available.

We worked with the RedBook company to create a digital version of the Domino’s RedBook. Our managers love it because it’s available on phones, iPads & the web.

What safety procedures have you implemented in your stores? 1) We have monthly safety topics at each of our team meetings. 2) A few years back, we started Safe Driving Bonus. It’s $50 for every 2,500 safe deliveries & there’s no cap. Last month, one of our veteran delivery experts got a $400 check for breaking 20,000 safe deliveries (He’s earned $1,800 since the program started). We present those checks at our monthly team meetings to create excitement around safe driving. 3) We will install security cameras in all stores this year.

How does your membership with the DFA benefit you? By having the systems and people in place to stay on top of the ever changing business landscape. The DFA has access to great legal and business resources and it’s comforting to know that there are always people working in the background on such important issues as the Affordable Care Act, mileage, new corporate initiatives, and so many other items that are important to our business.

How important is networking with fellow franchisees to you? Incredibly important! I network with fellow franchisees every chance I get. I try to get to all the DFA meetings, Rallies, and other local and regional events, and always leave these events with great ideas and renewed energy. The Portland DMA uses GroupMe daily to share numbers, ideas, trade vendor information, etc.

Is there a service/technology that has had the most impact on your profits? Using the coupon assessment tool in PWR along with menu management services to keep our recipes and coupons cleaned up has dropped our ideal almost 1.5%.

Before serving 3,000 hot slices to incoming freshmen

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Dan Cates

After serving 3,000 slices... Dan, Skye, Amanda, Makayla, Tamal


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TEAM MEMBERS

With business growing across the country, what are you seeing in your market? Store count is growing and customer counts are growing

What tools are you using for recruiting, hiring, and retention? Recruiting: We use box toppers pop-ups, stickers, banners, and we still get a great response from Craigslist ads. Hiring: We use the Domino’s structured interview guide, and a minimum of two interviews. Retention: We constantly work on our culture by helping our management team with personal development and leadership skills.

What do you consider when recruiting? Most important is fit. They have to love people and be nice. We also try to keep in mind the personality of each store when

placing people. And of course, we do our due diligence including; background checks, reference checks and drug testing.

How do you train and retain? My Supervisor and I went through Trainer Certification to get familiar with the programs and materials and we are currently using the Domino’s Three Day Onboarding. A huge focus for us is developing our GMs in personal growth and leadership.The better the leader, the higher the retention. We are currently working our way through Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek at our weekly GM meetings.

How have you handled rising employee costs? We have attended Dan Hosseini’s labor seminar and are implementing those systems.

BOTTOM LINE

Overall, 2015 was a very good year for the Domino’s Brand. Are there any obstacles you overcame? Fast growth and unexpected management turnover. We had a few tough months but, led by Amanda Hebert, my Area Supervisor, the team pulled through. Our last round of OERs averaged 4.4.

Are there any obstacles you are facing in 2016? Management staffing and increased minimum wage. The Oregon Senate passed a bill last week taking wage up to $14.75 by 2022. If it passes in the house, the increases could start this year. Relocating all three of our original stores this year would definitely be an obstacle if I didn’t have Amanda watching over day to day operations.

How do you measure your growth? Against goals. Are we doing what we said we were going to do? In 2012, I read a book called The Double Double. The book turned out to be the perfect blueprint to help us get to where we wanted to go. It walks you through creating a two page document called The Painted Picture which we use to guide our growth. All of the GMs have input in where we’re going and how we get there. We revise and update it at our quarterly and annual planning retreats.

What is your current greatest need from DPLLC? A better/more up to date system of scheduling and labor control, and a lot of involvement in handling the upcoming minimum wage increases.

Where do you want to be in 5 years? 6 stores doing 30k & debt free!

Is there anything else you want others to know about you, either personally or professionally? Yes, I want everyone to know how supportive my family has been over all these years. Ann has run all over North America with me while I chase my restaurant dreams, and has always been incredibly supportive. It’s hard to imagine having done all of this without her. My girls have also been very supportive and encouraging. It’s so much fun to watch how interested and involved in the business they are.

Rallys with the team Dan, Ashley, Luke, Sara, Amanda Jennifer, Heather, Ashley, Ann & Dan

Dan Cates

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This presidential election cycle creates unique concerns for companies dealing with employees who wish to discuss politics at work. Regardless of what side they fall on, some of your workers could be more passionate, maybe even incensed, about the perceived inefficiencies occurring in the federal government.

Take the rise and surge of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, for example. The overwhelming majority of individuals who support these two candidates feel underrepresented in D.C. Some of their followers are your employees, and they are particularly passionate this election season.

With passions running high, even turning into anger, individuals run the risk of making comments and behaving in ways, which may be considered unprofessional, hostile, or even discriminatory towards each other. In fact, a recent study by CareerBuilder found that one in five employees who discussed politics at work had fights or heated debates with their coworkers over their political views.

This particular election cycle also brings other unique challenges. So far, we have heard presidential candidates comment on each other’s or their spouse’s treatment of the opposite sex, discuss plans for temporarily banning people from entering the country based on their religion, disparage people from specific foreign countries, and pronounce that people from a particular state have a different set of values. As you can imagine, these sorts of comments made in the workplace could have disastrous effects. So, what should you do?

The First AmendmentTo answer that question, it is important to first distinguish the differing obligations of public and private employers. Private employers have greater flexibility on whether to allow political discussion in the workplace. The First Amendment – which guarantees freedom of speech and association – does not protect the curbing of political speech by private employers. For public employers, it is a little different.

As a general proposition, the First Amendment prohibits non-political public employees (such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers) from being terminated or demoted for supporting a particular political candidate. Those public employees are free to support the candidate of either political party (or neither) without fear of repercussion. An employee who proves they faced retaliation because of such support could have a valid First Amendment claim against their employer.

So, as private employers, the First Amendment does not prohibit franchisees from limiting political speech.

The NLRAThe second consideration to take into account is the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This statute applies to all private employers, even nonunion workplaces, and in certain circumstances protects politically charged speech. In pertinent part, Section 7 of the NLRA gives employees the right to engage in “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.”

The “mutual aid or protection” provision covers not only interactions between an employer and employee, but also covers efforts by employees to “improve their lot as employees through channels outside the immediate employee-employer relationship.”

Therefore, the NLRA protects certain concerted actions by employees who are discussing changes to a workplace condition. As you can imagine, with political hot-button topics such as minimum wage and immigration issues, politics and workplace conditions can often run hand-in-hand. In fact, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concluded that an employer may not interfere with political speech where there is a “direct nexus between employment related concerns and the specific issues that are the subject of the advocacy.”

For example, employees are generally protected if they say, “Support Bernie Sanders because he will raise the minimum wage,” whereas other employees would not be protected if they simply said, “Support Donald Trump because he will make America great again.” Once

Adam Bridgers and J. Hagood Tighe, Fisher, Phillips LLP

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determined to be protected activity, the NLRB will then generally look to your policies regarding employee conduct during work hours and in working areas to determine employees’ ability to engage in that activity.

Federal Antidiscrimination LawsYour next consideration should be federal antidiscrimination laws. These statutes do not directly protect political activity or speech, but your workers’ activity or speech could lead to circumstances that trigger these laws, especially because other employees may be offended by the topic of discussion. The most common federal statutes – Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act – prohibit discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, and genetic information. Many of these protected categories fall squarely within political discourse. As such, you must be careful to closely monitor behavior, which may trigger a complaint of discrimination or harassment. Managers should take caution when discussing political candidates and issues to ensure that the discussion does not explicitly or implicitly discriminate, harass, or retaliate in any manner related to one of the protected classes mentioned above.

State LawsThe final consideration you should take into account is the law of your particular state. Some states broadly prohibit adverse action against an employee based on political expression, while others provide no such protections. You should look to the law in each state where you operate to determine the level of political expression protected.

In North Carolina, for example, it is unlawful for an employer, directly or indirectly, to intimidate, discharge, or threaten to discharge an employee on account of any vote the employee has cast or may intend to cast. Whereas, in South Carolina, it is unlawful to intimidate or discharge an employee “because of political opinions or the exercise of political rights and privileges guaranteed to every citizen” by federal or state law.

If you operate in a state that prohibits adverse action based on political expression, you should take extreme caution prior to taking action against any employee who has made their political expression known. Furthermore, as good practice, you should rarely discharge an employee for political speech outside of the workplace, even if the opinion runs counter to your company values.

Finally, many states require that employers provide timeoff to vote. Be sure you know what your state

requires.

ConclusionElection time can be fun. Employees who are passionate about candidates are also likely to be passionate about other things, which you can use to your benefit. That being said, even if your company policy requires workers to keep political discussions in the workplace to a minimum, such discussions are bound to happen over the next year. As such, here are a few tips to consider when dealing with your very own Donald or Hillary this election season.

Helpful Tips1. Encourage your employees to vote, but where possible, remain neutral. Voting is a good thing.2. Avoid inappropriate comments and jokes about political views. These can make certain employees feel singled out.3. Remind employees of your harassment, discrimination, and equal employment opportunity polices and retrain them if necessary. If you do not have these policies, get them!4. Consider amending your dress code policies to cover political apparel.5. Limit employee solicitations in general to nonworking time and distributions to nonworking areas.6. Deal with any productivity issues created by political discussions rather than the specific content underlying the speech, and make sure you are consistently applying these standards.7. Thoroughly and quickly investigate any allegation of bullying or harassment.8. Before disciplining an employee for political expression, check to see if the political expression is concerted protected activity; if the manner of expression is protected; and whether your policies, as previously applied, allow you to discipline the employee.9. Always check with counsel before implementing any plan or policy curbing political speech or before taking adverse action against an employee because of political speech or expression.

Hagood Tighe and Adam Bridgers are attorneys with Fisher & Phillips. They concentrate exclusively in the labor and employment area. Hagood can be reached at [email protected] or (803) 255-0000. Adam can be reached at [email protected] or (704) 334-4565.

Fisher & Phillips, founded in 1943, is one of the oldest and largest labor and employment law firms concentrating its practice exclusively upon representation of employers. For more information, please visit our website at www.laborlawyers.com

J. Hagood [email protected]

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How could leadership have anything to do with retention? I have written in past columns about the need for more leadership training in our Brand. It remains something I am very passionate about, and I believe now more than ever there is a correlation between the two.

While attending our January DFA Board of Directors meeting, the subjects of both retention and leadership came up as agenda items. We had a passionate discussion about retention. All of us agreed it is a HUGE (yuuuge) issue (thanks Bernie) for all of us. With the current 14 BODs representing the whole country, it is fair to say we all agreed that we have a systemic problem. Our Midwest representative, Steve Gfell, shared a book he had picked up for a whopping $5.00 at the airport. The name of the book is, “How Successful People Lead” by John C Maxwell. After a quick glance during a break, I decided to order a copy and read it for myself. All I can say is wow, wow, wow, (thanks Steve Gfell). This book does a great job in laying out the fundamentals of leadership and going from a positional leadership to a pinnacle leadership position.

The Board decided that the DFA needs to take a leadership position in this arena. In 2016, we will work on finding best practice retention opportunities to assist Franchisees in making their organizations stronger through leadership training. So more to come at a latter date on that initiative.

MILLENNIALSMy thought going in was millennials

cannot be led or are too difficult to lead. It must be a generational issue, right? Well, that is a yes and no question. The millennials are more difficult to lead as they are a self-focused generation (not all, but many). I think the current Presidential election is a good example, but I digress. Millennials are known to be mobile when it comes to their employment. They do not look at loyalty as an important part of being employed. And for that matter, neither do many employers. Maybe that too plays into the high turnover most employers are experiencing.

They tend to do better when led by a strong leader and when they are recognized as well as motivationally stimulated. The fact that they like having ownership of whatever they do may help to understand how to lead them. As I read the Maxwell book, I have learned that Team Member ownership is a natural progression of a strong leader. If young people feel important and have a sense of ownership in what they are doing, that may be a key to successful leadership. Successful leadership is all about others. It requires developing relationships. Relationships build bonds. Bonds can get stronger and formulate a team. When your team begins to feel part of something bigger or greater than themselves, they now have ownership and buy into the leaders program of success. OUR SUCCESS DEPENDS ON STRONG LEADERS IN OUR STORES.

We have some great potential leaders, but we need to commit to providing the necessary tools to make that a reality. Strong leadership

skills are an obvious necessity to be a successful General Manager in a Domino’s store. We have many General Managers who need our help to develop into strong leaders. For Franchisees with multiple stores, we need to rely on their leadership skills on a day-to-day basis to get the job done and to do it well. They cannot get the job done without the help needed to achieve the goal of running a successful store. So, finding the necessary tools for their tool kit is the least we should do as our concept becomes more sophisticated.

As all good Dominoids, we measure everything we do. Yet, why is it we do not give enough attention to improving a key measurement like turnover? Well, my Area Leader recently shared a turnover tracker with our team. After plugging in the new hires and the terminated employees, I found my theory had legs. The stores, led by strong General Managers, had better retention. Ok, so that is a big duh! Armed with data, I challenged my management team. I want to see our company make leadership the focus for 2016.

Now, we are going to take it a step further by having my management team read the Maxwell book and request feedback on it. Let’s see what it will bring to the table for us. My team understands we have a leadership challenge and a retention challenge. We are looking for ways to be a better led organization. We are in the process of reviewing the material as a team. In order to increase our awareness and improve our company’s leadership skill level, we will investigate various leadership workshops we would like to attend.

Jim Gerety | DFA Chairmanupdates |

Leadership and the Challenge of Retention


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Several years ago, we created a hybrid situational leadership style class based on the examples of poor and great leadership from the movie “12 O’clock High”. Our new trainer as well as our new supervisor, sat through the class recently. This is the one class that yours truly teaches since developing strong leadership is very close to my heart. After sitting through the five hour class, the three of us sat down and reviewed what they had learned. Each gave a critique of what would make the class better. My trainer said we need more of these type of classes. There should be more opportunity to teach leadership to new GMIT’s. My Supervisor saw a need for GMIT’s to get leadership training at an earlier stage of our training program. We all agreed that situational Leadership is more of an enhanced focus for leaders who are close to becoming a GM. But, there needs to be an alternative offered which would guide us as leaders to

help those who are interested in learning what it takes to become a good leader. This should be our first step in determining and developing a company strategy for identifying, selecting and training our next great leaders.

In the very near future, we have already decided to attend a leadership workshop being led by the author of the book we are reading, John Maxwell. I will report back to you about what we have learned and where we will go from there. It is this writer’s hope that we will find the keys to success in a well-rounded leadership curriculum. If any of you have found great ways to develop great leaders and/or have significantly reduced your turnover, I would love to hear from you. ([email protected]) Sharing best practices is key in helping all of us to continue the great success we experienced in 2015. As you can see, I believe our future success starts with finding and developing great leaders.

The DFA will continue to formulate a 2016 strategy for improving leadership and retention. As always, we will keep our Membership updated as we travel down the path to find resolution for this issue. Your success is our success!

Jim GeretyChairman of DFA Board

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If you’re like most, you may be a bit overwhelmed with all of the various documents and reporting the IRS is now requiring as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While some of the filing and reporting has been in place for more than a year, one key filing is coming up and regardless of your size, if you provide benefits (or even if you don’t), you may be required to file a 1095.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT 1095 REPORTS?IRS Sections 6055 & 6056 outline reporting requirements for both employers & insurers. The method by which required information is reported both to the IRS and to employees will be done so utilizing either a 1095-B or a 1095-C.

1095-BAs part of the ACA, the individual mandate requires all persons be enrolled in a health plan that provides Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC). As such, all insurance providers – Fully Insured carriers and Self-Funded plans, must report to their participants whether the plan meets MEC minimum standards. This is part of the 6055 reporting requirement. For franchisee’s utilizing a fully insured carrier, it is that insurance company’s responsibility to file the 1095-B with the IRS and to provide the 1095-B to each participant/member. The IRS will use this information to track persons complying with the individual mandate (not the employer mandate), thus identifying which individuals are responsible for paying a penalty. For employers with fewer than 50 Full Time Equivalent Employees (FTE’s) that have a self-

funded plan, they will also utilize the 1095-B to report to their participants and to the IRS whether or not their plan meets MEC standards.

1095-CUnder Section 6056 Applicable Large Employers (ALE’s) are required to report whether or not their plan met the ‘shared responsibility’ requirements – this is also known as the Employer Mandate. As you may recall, the ACA requires employers with more than 50 FTE’s to provide health insurance to their employees that meets both minimum affordability standards and provides minimum value (employers with more than 50 FTE’s, but less than 100 FTE’s were provided with a one year relief from this requirement). Applicable Large Employers will utilize the 1095-C to report this information to both the IRS and to their benefit eligible employees.

1094-B & 1094-CThe 1094 B&C is the transmittal form (or cover page) that will be used when submitting either the 1095-B or 1095-C to the IRS. For franchisee’s submitting a 1095-B, you will transmit that data to the IRS utilizing the 1094-B, and for franchisee’s submitting a 1095-C, a 1094-C will be used to transmit your information to the IRS.

HOW DO I DETERMINE IF I’M A LARGE EMPLOYER (ALE) OR A SMALL EMPLOYERThe first step in recognizing which form or forms you will need to complete is first determining which type of employer you are – Applicable Large Employer or Small Employer. Once you have identified that, you will be able to then identify which (if any) of the 1095 reports

apply to you.

Large Employer or Small EmployerFirst, you must determine if you are an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) or a Small Employer. Whether or not an employer is an ALE is determined each calendar year, and generally depends on the average size of an employer’s workforce during the prior year. If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is not an ALE for the current calendar year. However, if an employer determines they indeed employed an average of 50 or more Full Time Equivalent employees in the prior calendar year, then they are considered an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) for the current calendar year.

Full Time vs. Full Time Equivalent EmployeesA Full-Time Employee for any calendar month is an employee who has on average at least 30 hours of service per week during the calendar month, or at least 130 hours of service during the calendar month. A Full-Time Equivalent Employee can be determined by following these two steps:

1. Combine the number of hours of service of all non-full-time employees for the month but do not include more than 120 hours of service per employee; and 2. Divide the total by 120.

Once you have identified the number of Full-Time Equivalents, you can add that number to your total of actual Full-Time Employees and that

G. Seth Denson updates |

1095... What?IRS Forms/Reports Franchisees May Be Required To File


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gives your total count in determining whether or not you are an Applicable Large Employer (ALE). It’s important to note, an employer’s number of Full-Time Equivalent Employees (or Part-Time employees) is only relevant to determining whether an employer is an ALE. Employers are NOT required to provide access to benefits to Part-Time employees under the Employer Mandate even if those Part Time employees are utilized to determine their ALE status.

WHAT FORM(S) DO I NEED TO FILE?Once you have determined whether or not you are an ALE, you will then need to determine what (if any) type of health plan you provided your employees – a Fully Insured Plan or a Self-Funded Plan. If you know the answer to these two questions, what type of employer you are and what type of plan you offered, you will then be able to determine which report/form you will need to file with both the IRS and your employees. Below is a helpful guide to determining which form (if any) to file:

Small Employer: No Benefits OfferedIf you determine you are not an ALE and you did not offer benefits to your employees, you are in the clear as you will not be required to file any reports/forms with either the IRS or your employees.

Small Employer: Fully Insured Plan Offered If you are a Small Employer and offered a fully insured plan to your employees, you will want to confirm with your fully insured carrier, as they will be required to provide the 1095-B to both the IRS and to your plan participants. You should not be required to complete any reports/forms.

Small Employer: Self-Funded Plan OfferedIf you determine you are not an ALE (have less than 50 Full Time Equivalents), but offered a Self-Funded plan to your employees, you are the insurance provider, thus will be required to provide the 1095-B to both the IRS and your plan participants. You will not need to complete a 1095-C since the ‘Employer Mandate’ does not apply.

Large Employer (ALE): No Benefits OfferedRegardless of whether or not you provided benefits to your employees, if it is determined that you are an Applicable Large Employer, you will still be required to file a 1095-C with the IRS and provide the appropriate 1095-C forms to your Full-Time Employees. For employers who are determined to be ALE’s but are between 50-99 FTE’s, under the transition relief for 2015, you will not be penalized for not making a qualified offer; however, you must still supply the appropriate 1095-C report/forms to both the IRS and you Full-Time Employees.

Large Employer (ALE): Fully Insured Plan OfferedFor ALE’s who provided a Fully-Insured plan, while the insurance provider/carrier will provide the 1095-B to plan participants (as required under Section 6055), since you are an ALE, and the Employer Mandate applies (as required under Section 6056), you will still need to provide the 1095-C to both the IRS and Benefit Eligible Employees. ALE’s utilizing a fully insured plan will only need to complete Sections I & II of the 1095-C.

Large Employer (ALE): Self-Funded Plan OfferedFor ALE’s utilizing a Self-Funded plan, you will be required to fulfill both Section 6055 & Section 6056 reporting requirements; however, the IRS allows you to combine this reporting utilizing the 1095-C. Employers will need to complete ALL sections of the 1095-C to fulfill this reporting requirement and submit to both the IRS and Benefit Eligible Employees.

WHEN DO I NEED TO FILE?On December 28, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2016-4 which delayed the due dates for filing and furnishing forms under Section 6055 & 6056. The due date for filing these forms with the IRS has been extended to May 31, 2016 (or June 30, 2016 if filing electronically). As for furnishing employee statements/forms, the deadline was extended to March 31, 2016.

SUMMARYIn conclusion, almost all employers will be required to provide some type of report to the IRS and applicable employee statements some subset of their employees. Unless you are a Small Employer not providing benefits or a Small Employer providing Fully-Insured benefits through a traditional insurance carrier, you are required to file. First, determine which type of employer you are, and then which type (if any) plan you provide. For more information or help determining which type of employer you are and which type of health plan you offer, contact your Benefits Consultant/Broker or Insurance Carrier.

G. Seth DensonPrincipal & Co-Founder of GDP Advisors, LLC

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Accommodating Disabled Employees The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and various similar state laws require employers to plan ahead when trying to help employees perform their jobs. Most employers are aware of their obligations in cases of obvious physical impairments. But, what is an employer required to do when the potential disability is not an obvious physical limitation? How much information can the employer request from the employee? And, at what point is the employer required to get involved?

What is a disability? Under the ADA, employees or job applicants with a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting one or more major life activities, who have had such an impairment in the past if they do not currently have a disability, or who are regarded as having a disability even if they are not actually disabled, are all protected by the ADA. Some national statistics suggest that perhaps 1 in 5 employees (or about 20%) may have or develop a disability. An “impairment” may be physiological, mental, or psychological and includes conditions that impair a bodily system, such as neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, blood, etc. Mental and psychological impairments include mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness (including PTSD), and specific learning disabilities. Although pregnancy itself is not a disability under the ADA, pregnant workers may have or develop impairments related to their pregnancies that

qualify as disabilities under the ADA. And, state laws may include pregnancy as a covered impairment.

Given the breadth of potential conditions or impairments that can be covered by the ADA, it is important for employers to get specific, legal and useful information from their applicants as well as employees. An easy starting point is to make sure job descriptions provide the actual duties required of employees holding that position. For example, a job description requiring CSRs to “take an order with a smile” should also include specific phone skills necessary for the order taking process. Getting good information also includes not asking impermissible questions. An employer may not ask an employee or applicant if they have a disability, about the nature of an obvious disability, or specific medical questions. But, an employer may ask the applicant or employee whether they can perform the specific job duties without help and if they need any assistance to do so. For example, asking the employee if they can lift 20 pounds at least four times per shift is permissible. Asking the employee what medical conditions they have limiting their ability to lift heavy objects is not.

Generally speaking, if an employee discloses or self-identifies an issue that might be a limitation to their performance of a specific job-related task or if the employer has reason to believe an employee may need assistance, the employer is then required to interact with the employee about a potential “accommodation.” In the accommodation process, the employer can request medical documentation or an examination if the employer needs a doctor’s input

to support an employee’s specific request for an accommodation or if the employer believes (reasonably) that the employee cannot perform the job safely because of a medical condition. Exercise caution when receiving medical information – employers must keep all medical records and information confidential and in separate files from general personnel files.

What is an acceptable accommodation and what is the employer required to provide? Under the ADA, an employer is required to provide a “reasonable” (not necessarily the most perfect or the most expensive) solution allowing the employee to perform the essential functions of their job, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship (i.e., significant difficulty or expense). For example, the employer may not be obligated to buy a self-driving car for a disabled driver. On the other hand, the employer is probably required to provide part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a different position or to allow an employee to use accrued paid leave or to provide additional unpaid leave for necessary treatment of the impairment. Finding a reasonable accommodation requires the employer to communicate with the employee about the assistance desired or required. This involves asking the employee what they need and want in order for them to be able to do their job. This also involves dialoguing with the employee about different possible solutions and selecting one that makes sense for the employer and employee.

These discussions should be confidential (it’s best not to ask employees about impairments in a group setting). Each discussion must be documented by the employer,

Brook J. Carrolupdates |

How May I Help You? Accommodating Disabled Employees


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including written summaries and any follow up regarding the accommodations offered and accepted or rejected by the employee.

After the initial interactive process has resulted in the desired solution, the employer should be proactive and follow up with the employee. Circumstances change, and employees may not always feel comfortable telling their employer they need more. Periodic follow up discussions are a good way to ferret out brewing hostilities that, if left unaddressed, may turn into a claim or lawsuit.

There is also a practical lesson to be learned from this process – employers should not assume employees would ask for help directly. Instead, employees may tell their manager that they are “really tired” or that they are having

difficulty concentrating. They may explain they aren’t “feeling right” or they are “really stressed.” They may also tell fellow employees they are depressed or anxious because of a traumatic life event. Or, they may not say anything, but might start exhibiting negative work product which is out of the norm and uncharacteristic from their prior performance. All of these circumstances can require the employer to engage in dialogue with the employee. Vigilant employers will and should pay attention to these potential flags and follow up with the employee.

In short, it doesn’t take much for an employee to trigger the employer’s obligation to engage in the interactive accommodation process. Once this obligation arises, the employer has a duty to engage and come up with solutions, even if the employee is unclear or vague

about whether they need help. If the employee gives the employer any reason to pursue the interactive process, the employer should take advantage of it. Finally, documenting the discussions and potential solutions, along with periodic follow up are as important as identifying a circumstance where the employee needs help in the first place. By the time an employee’s concern turns into litigation, there are usually very unhappy people on both sides of the table. The employer’s goal in the ADA process should be to find solutions that keep employees happy and productive. Doing so will increase the employer’s bottom line and reduce the risk of lawsuits.

Brook J. CarrollAttorney at Clark*Everson, LLP in Westlake Village, CA

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On February 24, 2016, MARR Group held a one-day workshop focused on improving franchisee profitability and crime reduction prevention. The workshop focused on better preparing Franchisees and District Managers on how to create a safer working environment in their restaurants as well as on the road. The workshop was designed to develop safety & loss prevention awareness, open discussion and solutions among Franchisees and District Managers. Mauricio “Reece” Arroyave, COO/Partner of MARR’s who lead the workshop stated, “I am very excited by the turnout and success of the first Regional Safety/Loss Prevention Workshop! With the safety and security of our staff and stores along with the propensity for internal theft, the informational sharing by franchisees along with the information shared by the presenters (franchise, corporate and vendors) comes at a critical time for our business. I look forward to building upon this successful workshop and bringing it to markets across the system.” Ryan Berkey, Domino’s Audit and Loss Prevention Manager, spoke about Tiger Tools. He stated the New Tiger Scorecard Reporting series compliments the existing Tiger reporting and has three components. Focusing on common loss opportunities such as MPC’s, Bad Orders, Edit Down Orders, Abandon Orders and No Margin Orders, the report ranks these metrics within a Franchisees’ organization to pinpoint a potential concern more quickly. In addition, a Score Card Trend Report and Scorecard Graph have been developed.Franchisee Doug Baretz discussed how he worked with the local police to apprehend and stop a driver robbery. The session included topics such as food delivery procedures, team alerts, robbery prevention, and best practices when dealing with law enforcement and a real-life case scenario.Franchisee Guest Speaker Glenn Mueller of RPM Pizza spoke about numerous issues that can affect the security of a restaurant. The session included how to grow your business in an urban environment with security in mind and how to deal with the aftermath of violent/injury related incidents as it pertains to a victim’s family, DPLLC, and the media.Workshop Host Reece Arroyave, a MARR’s Franchise Partner, spoke passionately about security “Best Practices” on how to reduce in-store robbery. He stated, “Building a sound restaurant safety program is the foundation to reducing turnover and minimizing increasing insurance costs as they pertain to security incidents.” This session educated attendees on how to operate in areas with a heightened level of security. He discussed “best practices” that worked and what to avoid when creating a safety program to protect your team and profits.Domino’s InfoSec Director John Gift spoke about

Information Security and how it is a must in today’s business environment. He referred to current data breaches and the impact it can have on a company. Credit card fraud is a billion dollar business. The session provided “ best practices” on how an organization can protect information.CAP Index presented about comprehensive Crime Intelligence Analysis of the Chicago area. CAP Index is one of the world’s leading companies in crime forecasting. Franchisees were able to get insight into the causes of crime in the area, what lies ahead, and how to use this information to better protect stores and employees along with preparing to open new stores in areas with an increased potential for crime.Tad Dack, Domino’s Loss Prevention Specialist, spoke about how TeamUSA is using technology to defend against theft and robbery. All restaurants face many of the same challenges, including employee theft and fraud. With the advent of managed video services and other recent technological solutions being offered to the marketplace, many restaurants have reduced the number of threat and robbery incidents, as well as other security-related issues. The session explained how recent solutions and services are changing the way restaurant loss prevention, security and safety teams manage their areas of responsibility and add value to the overall business.If your Franchise Organization or DMA would like to host a similar event, please feel free to reach out to Mauricio “Reece” Arroyave, COO/Partner, MARR Chicago Pizza, Inc., at 847-846-9491 or [email protected] or Van Carney, Domino’s National Director, Safety, Security and Loss Prevention, 609-314-9215, [email protected].

Domino’s Safety and Loss Prevention Team

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Safety, Security and Loss Prevention Workshop Hosted by MARR Group

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Domino’s Career Path: I started my career with Domino’s very similar to many. I was going to community college in Roanoke, VA in 1986 and needed a job. Yep, a Domino’s delivery driver. My life had been challeng-ing as I lost my Dad to cancer at age 11. I was having trouble finding my “spot” – a place or thing I excelled at – then I found Domino’s.

I was working for franchisee Bill Morrow in Southwest and Central Virginia (25 stores). After less than a semester, I dropped out of school and entered the Management training program. I had my first store at 19 years old. I strived to be the best and took every store I could get with higher sales OR a troubled situation and took pride in turning them around and building a team.

After running Bill’s top store for a year in Charlottesville, VA, I took a position with National Systems Corporation (an up and coming Software Development Company in Chicago specializing in Domino’s POS systems) in 1992. I helped run that company for 10 years, but realized along the way my TRUE place and heart was with Domino’s. I grew up in Roanoke, VA and found out the stores in Blacksburg, VA (30 minutes away) were for sale and no one wanted them – my story began.

Key Accomplishments: - Marrying my wife Allison. I truly found my soul mate and counterpart. Took me longer than I hoped, but it was well worth it. She is one of my driving forces in life. She makes me a better man and businessman every day. Our blended family is awesome!

- Company turnaround. Most notably my story of the Virginia Tech Campus store (Blacksburg, VA) – my first week’s sales topped out at $3,500. Now we are one of the top campus stores in the country and recently broke the Top 50 busiest stores in the United States during 50% off week 2015!

Local Organizations Involved In: Chamber of CommerceDown Syndrome Society Children’s Miracle Network

Best memory while running a store? There are too many… some of the fondest memories of my life.

Is there a Franchisee mentor who has attributed to your success as a Franchisee? What is the best advice given to you? Ray Sellers has been a huge influence on me. Ray and I talk a couple of times a week primarily about numbers, ideas, accomplishments, and certainly areas for improvement. His positive outlook, kindness, and focus on TEAM are inspiring.

Franchisee Name | Kevin Shaw

Title | Franchisee

Company | New River Valley Pizza

Age | 48

Family | My beautiful blended family: Wife – Allison, Children: Lindsay (21), Allison (16), Chloe (11), Christian (10), Atali (9), Dakota (7), and Peyton (6)

Years with DP | 29

Years as Franchisee | 13

# Stores | 9 (and growing)

Store Locations | Blacksburg, VA / Roanoke, VA

#Team Members | 200

Boards | Current: People First Advisory Board, North Carolina Supply Chain Advisory Board, Board Member for New River Valley Down Syndrome AssociationPrevious: DMAC Member, TAB Member, Previous Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Board Member

Awards/Accolades | Gold Franny Winner, 1st Domestic Franchisee to run with the Olympic Torch (Vancouver Olympics)Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year (2004 & 2013)Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award (2011)

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Kevin Shaw

Blacksburg store after remodel


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Julie Gates (Julie Hepler), previous Area Leader (now VP Training and Operations Support), was also an influence. Her passion for the brand and excitement was felt with every visit. I never left a meeting or encounter where I didn’t learn something new OR was thinking about some way to get better. How would your childhood friends describe you during your “early days”? Would they be surprised by your success as a Franchisee? I always seemed to step into the leadership role with my friends, so I don’t think they would be surprised.

What does it take to be a successful Franchisee in this day and age? 1) Passion for the brand.2) Persistence and determination.3) High energy4) Ability to treat people and your team with RESPECT – PEOPLE are our KEY. During the years you have been with Domino’s, what experience/event has made the greatest impact on your life? The greatest impact on my life has been the realization of how much we as franchisees and business owners impact our communities and teams. My true goal is to make a positive influence on lives – an impression, comment, encounter, or a helpful hand can go a long way in people’s lives and affect positive change.

We never know what battle others are facing – I challenge our team to make a difference every day in someone’s life!

Feed the Power of Possible.

What has been your greatest challenge? My greatest challenge was overcoming the obstacle of turning around a community and team who had turned on the Domino’s brand. In 2002, when I bought my original 3 stores, including the Virginia Tech campus store, they were in dire straits - Baker Pride Ovens, old equipment, inadequate and untrained staff, horrible physical plants, and we had little to no customer base – but I always

try to find a positive. I DID inherit a good group or core people – a team who wanted to WIN, but just needed to be led. They rallied around the cause. As we put the tools they needed in place and showed them the basics of the business – they began to respond. Slowly at first… then quickly we started gaining market share AND momentum. The momentum was the key, the more we gained, the more we wanted, AND the more we dominated the competition.

We had a mantra - “One phone call, one Pizza, one Customer at a time” – we held true to that – winning over each one as they ordered with fantastic product, fast service, and top notch image. We joined our local Chamber of Commerce and began intense networking

with local businesses. We started getting into events on campus. We went to “gorilla marketing” on campus. Doorhanging under dorm doors, posting in breezeways, catering free RA meetings to get in front of students and hand out coupons, we researched every opportunity and attacked it.

I remember early on, a PJ’s General Manager asked to interview with me for a job. They were kicking our butts at the time. He said his franchisee was all over him because they were losing sales and he had been asked to work 80 hours a week to offset. He was tired and didn’t feel respected – he left PJ’s. Later in 2003, I ran into the

PJ’s supervisor at a campus event, she told me that she made PJ’s a million dollar store. I told her that would be the last year of the million dollars for PJ’s because we were taking the sales – she laughed. She no longer works for them… and to the best of my knowledge they never had a million dollar store since.

Is there a specific best practice you have implemented that you would like to share with fellow Franchisees? Our Leadership Team (Director of Operations, Director of Marketing, Training Manager and myself) tour stores as a group at least once a period. During these visits, we take the time to chat with team members about their

Kevin Shaw

Top: Kevin receiving Coats For Kids checkBottom: Make Your Own Pizza Camp

Top: Olympic Torch

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ideas to make Domino’s better, day to day operations, their families, hobbies, etc. Taking the time to make sure each team member feels heard,

valued and appreciated continues to strengthen our overall team and company culture.

We also hold a GM meeting once a period. We also have an AM Rally once a period. These meetings are intended to keep our team focused on our core values, communicate key insights and keep making forward progress to our goals.

REIMAGING

How many stores do you have with the new Pizza Theater image? 7 How many relocated? 1How many new? Potentially 3-5

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? Even though I have made MANY mistakes – I wouldn’t change a thing.

Any tricks you can pass on to help your fellow Franchisee? It may sound simple, but when you try something and it doesn’t work. Immediately get back up and try another approach. Don’t get down. Learn from your mistakes. Use your fellow franchisees as resources to guide and learn from.

MANAGEMENT

What is your passion in business? Making a difference in someone’s life. Helping others – The Power of Possible IS my passion.

How important is networking with fellow franchisees to you? Most valuable resource we have!

What impact has the connections with other Franchisees in your region made on your organization? Franchisees are the key to this business. The contacts and relationships I have built are so appreciated. I remember, my first month as a franchisee, Julie Hepler (Gates), told me to reach out to Mack Patterson to discuss an idea. (I don’t even remember the idea or topic) I do remember thinking why would this franchisee (Mack) with 45 stores want to talk to little me? I called Mack and an hour later was amazed at how much passion he had and how he had taken that time to speak to me. This brand is FANTASTIC!

TEAM MEMBERS

What tools are you using for recruiting, hiring, and retention? Recruiting, Hiring, and Retention have become the latest challenge in the system.

We are hitting it hard locally. My wife and Marketing Director, Allison, has been speaking at local community colleges, high schools, and trade schools talking about our job and career opportunities. We have seen the best luck there – although still not enough. Job fairs, radio, newspaper and even the online recruiters and tools just aren’t yielding enough results.

With that being said we are NOT stopping. General awareness is how we approach it – constantly on all channels hoping to break through.

How do you train and retain? To be the best, and remain the best we must have the best team. Training and Retaining is vital in that process. I recently promoted my Training General Manager to “Training Manager” for my

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Blacksburg store after remodle Festival in the park Kevin & AllisonKevin making pizza


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company. Her primary goals include: Building the Bench (Training Assistant Managers), coordinating Management Classes we teach at our new training center, and revamping our Assistant Manager and Certified Trainer (Driver Trainer) programs. She also spearheads our OER Training / Customer Readiness programs – ensuring we operate our store EVERY DAY for the CUSTOMER – not the OER.

How do you recognize top performing team members? We reward and acknowledge Team Members frequently. Most recently, we like to use Facebook and social media to do so. People like to feel important and what better way than with EVERYONE. It also allows our customers and community see what a great team we have and how much fun we have every day!

What systems do you have in place for measuring your success in 2016? We launched a set of core values and a culture statement in the last six months. We lead and hold our team accountable to these values. Core Values: Positive Attitude, Passion, Kindness, Fun, Integrity, Product, Service, Image and Caring for the Community. By putting these ideals into practice we establish a founda-tion that allows team members to strive for their best each day, which also puts them in a positive frame of mind to provide excellent service to our customers.Our kickoff meeting in January had a focus on these core values but also included a list of questions. We call them “Power of Positive” questions, which focus on how we should communicate with people and how we might handle situations in a healthier manner. We asked all Managers and Leadership to take a hard look at themselves and answer some questions.Some of these “POP” questions are included below…Look DEEPLY into yourself! Really be fair. Don’t think about someone else. No one, but YOU.

Ask yourself some questions:1) Do you TRULY use the Triple Filter around and with Team? Is it True? Is it Kind? Is it Helpful?Core Value: Kindness

2) Do you consistently set a positive upbeat tone and pace in our office / stores?Core Value: Positive Attitude

3) Do you try and create personal relationships with the team?a. Show an interest in them?b. Their career?c. Their opinions?d. Their personal life?e. Do you engage ALL Team Members? Not just the same folks each time?f. Are you making a DIFFERENCE in someone’s life?Core Value: Passion

4) Do you find yourself over talking team members? OR listening to them? Truly listen and understand what they are trying to say.a. Quote – “Treat Employees like they make a difference and they will. – Jim Goodnight”Core Value: Kindness

5) Are you truly approachable?a. Do you believe the team feels like they can talk to you?b. Confide in you?c. Count on you?d. Do you keep your commitments and follow-up?Core Value: Kindness

6) Do you encourage and uphold the Company Vision Statement and Core Values?

7) Do you set the example? Workload, pace, taking action?Core Value: Passion

8) PCP. – Praise. Correct. Praise.a. Uniform violations, language, actions, great pizzas, clean store, and incorrect procedures?b. Coach them on how to prevent it next time?Core Value: Positive Attitude; Kindness

9) Do you HELP them with tasks? Help them SOLVE problems not just point out what is wrong?

10) Are you providing the tools & support they need to achieve what you are asking? We are here for a primary purpose of being a problem solver,

store support, mentors, and teachers & coaches for ALL Team Members. If you

aren’t doing that EVERYDAY, you aren’t accomplishing OUR goal of being the best.

Note: There are many more, but this is a sample.

BOTTOM LINE

What is your current greatest need from DPLLC? A national recruitment campaign. We are on TOP of our game – King of the Hill. To get more customers/sales and maintain what we have, we need MORE team members – GREAT Team Members. Recruiting IS our #1 opportunity.

Overall, 2015 was a very good year for the Domino’s Brand. Are there any obstacles you overcame? Are there any you are facing in 2016? 2015 was an amazing year! I think we, as a company and brand, truly found the “NEW” Normal for sales. Years of focusing on SuperBowl as our BIG day / week has now become even BIGGER weeks and throughout the year – not just SuperBowl. 50% Off OLO and Carry-out weeks have set a new bar – what will be next?!?

Kevin Shaw

Top: Fastest Pizza Maker Bottom: Bocce Ball

Kevin Shaw

When I saw the Thanksgiving Week 2015 was stronger than SuperBowl Week 2014 – I knew we broke through.2016 is off to another fantastic start. We are better prepared than ever for the business and getting stronger every day. The obstacle is recruiting, hiring and retaining. If we can get on top of these as a brand, we will maintain and exceed our current sales levels.

Where do you want to be in 5 years?I would like to own and build as many Domino’s stores as I can in this area. (Southwest Virginia)

franchisee |

Is there anything else you want others to know about you, either personally or professionally? I would be remiss if I did not pass on our company’s new mantra… The Triple Filter.We use this in ALL stores as well as team member interactions (and at home) – try it. We are not perfect at it, but each day we get better.

The Triple Filter is you ask yourself these questions. If you can answer YES to ALL three you can speak – if you can’t, shut it. Is it TRUE? Is it KIND? Is it NECESSARY?

Kevin & family

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vendor | Ross

There are two ways to grow your business… #1) Add New Customers or #2) Get your current customers to order more frequently… preferably both.There are many reasons a franchisee may want to prospect for new customers. A brand new store or a newly relocated store may not have enough business. An existing store may be under performing, or not maximizing a franchisee’s expectations. Other reasons are more complicated like a problem manager or some other market condition.All marketing projects start out with a goal. Today, our goal is to prospect for New Customers using Direct Mail marketing. The main advantage of Direct mail is it can be targeted directly to a single store’s delivery area. The disadvantage is the relative high cost per unit mailed. However, direct mail can be tailored to push a high response rate, which makes the franchisee’s return on investment highly profitable.A store’s best prospects are people who best resemble existing customers. Technically they are people with “like” demographics. Every delivery area has certain neighborhoods with a high customer rate, these are your best customers. The demographics in those neighborhoods also represent your best prospective customer. These neighborhoods are broken down into carrier routes. The carrier routes with the highest number of customers, tend to be the best routes for prospecting.

Should a franchisee mail everyone in those carrier routes or just non-customers? Now, the franchisee’s goal needs to be more refined. Does the franchisee want to only add new customers or grow their store’s business overall? Remember, there are two primary ways to grow your store’s business, #1) Add New Customers or #2) Get your current customers to order more frequently… preferably both.If the goal of the franchisee is to grow overall store business, then you want to “acquire new customers and get current customers to reorder” sooner. The best direct mail tool for this is saturation mailing with EDDM by the USPS. EDDM is a tool the franchisees can self-administer because it does not require a physical address (see postal regulations) or hire a mail services provider. Offers can be either delivery or carryout, the advantage of delivery offers is the ability to capture household addresses for later conversion marketing. The typical response rate for these high performing EDDM carrier routes will be 7% to 10% response rates with a profitable ROI. The unit cost will typically be around 30 cents each or lower.If the franchisee’s needs are purely non-customers, it gets more complicated. By definition, a non-customer is a household who has not ordered in more than 180 days. So, how is this list created? You will take a saturation list containing those

best carrier routes and subtract your customer database leaving non-customers. The problem with mailing only non-customers is a low response rate, so you will need an extremely aggressive offer to make people respond. Giving away a FREE “Carry Out” Pizza is an effective offer. We have heard response rates of 15% to 25%, so prepare the store. The best way to balance this is to only mail 1000 to 1250 mailers per week. Giving away a FREE Pizza makes sense with a “customer for life” strategy. For any single purchase, giving away a free pizza cannot be justified but when you think of someone as a customer for life, it can. Keep in mind, carry out customers don’t often get added to your store’s database. Addresses may need to be hand entered from the mailers into your Pulse system. Cost for this mailer is typically about 45 cents each.These are powerful direct mail marketing strategies that can “Build your Business”. Both of the strategies can work for you. If you are looking for a print and mail partner to help you through the logistics of executing these strategies, call Ross4Marketing and let one of our expert mail representatives help you. Call 1-800-421-1684 to get the answers.

Prospecting For New Customers with Direct Mail...

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The year was 1989; I was a brand new Manager. My store AWUS was $11k. I had 4 Bakers Pride ovens that could be cleaned in ten minutes. My responsibilities included hiring and training Drivers and CSRs, door hanging, ensuring perfect product, service and image, plus running numbers. We took orders on door slips and calculated everything by hand. We had 14 makeline items, no sides and Coke/Diet Coke. We closed at midnight. I could cash out and finish inventory by midnight, sell the last orders of the night to the driver and he would deliver it on the way home after we went to the bank. Sun thru Thursday we were walking out at 12:15. Come on... if you know what a deck oven is, you were doing it too! I closed with one driver except for Friday and Saturday, when we had two. I worked Wednesday – Sunday, 4 to close and many stores had no dayshift! Internet orders were not even a concept! There were no OERs!

Fast forward to now!

Over a hundred items to inventory, if you count every night (and you should), extended hours as late as 3 or 4 am, pizza theaters with dining rooms to close down and clean. Triple the dishes to wash with squeeze bottles plus

pans and double the makeline bins at the least. Some of our stores close with 8 or more drivers, we all have dayshifts and over 50% of our orders magically appear on the makeline screen. This isn’t meant to date me as much as it is a nostalgic walk down memory lane.

Welcome to the new normal!

We now have 17 stores and last year, for the majority of the year, we ran a 4.23 OER average, sales were up 12% and we had a 16.5% EBITDA. We need 235 drivers and we only have 186! We need 39 MITs and have 27! 11 stores have extended hours and we open at 10am! We are now open up to 17 hours a day! We need people in the stores 19 hours a day or more and that’s if your not busy late night! Welcome to the new normal. 5 hours a day... that’s all the time we as Franchisees or Supervisors don’t have to think about the stores. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good problem to have vs not being busy or not making money. The issue and reason for this story is that many people are still running stores like the old days. Managers on 5 day weeks hitting close to 60 hours, Supervisors and Franchisees on call 24/7. Everyone is so stressed out... especially our Managers.

Let’s talk about you!

How do you structure your workweek? Do you structure your workweek? Do you have the same routine each week? Are you more reactive, always having to put out fires? Are you feeling like a hamster in a wheel never catching up? Where do

you spend the most training time and dollars? Hiring and filling the Driver and CSR revolving doors? Trying to develop MITs? I bet the minority would say strengthening my Managers.

Folks, I’m of the opinion that we can no longer let our Managers manage like they used to and we can no longer manage like we did before. In the past, our Managers could be glorified pizza makers and shift runners. Now, they need to be true GMs. On a weekend night in a busy store, a Manager should never make a pizza! They shouldn’t even be on ovens in a pizza theater doing over 25k. You may not agree but just think about all the things they have to do and how much doesn’t get done because they no longer have the time. Think about how much more profit they could create and how much they could take off your plate if they actually managed the business instead of the shift.

In 2015, we embarked on a mission to revamp the Mangers role in the store. In full disclosure, we are not finished, but I want to share some key things we did to improve things for the key person in the store.

1. Store trainers or a field trainer. I no longer want my Managers to worry about training. They don’t have time to do it right, so they shortcut it. We found a way to give this role to another person. Our Store Trainer Program pays a key person more when they train and follow the HPU training. So, training is consistent. All MITs are taught to do 13d as part of their steps to success so they can take

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Dominic Benvenuti


DFA 41

this role from the GM.

2. Hiring... All MITs are trained to interview and hire in level 2 so they can also take this role from the GM. In 2016, we are teaching key insiders and drivers to interview and hire as well. Why? Because, people looking for jobs WANT jobs! If someone walks into your store and they get told to come back for an interview, they may do so, but if they get an interview in the next place they walk into, you have lost them. We can’t lose them. The more people who can interview and hire, the faster we can fill the driver gap.

3. Cleaning crews. In stores doing over 25k who close with 4 or more drivers and several insiders, we hire outside cleaning crews to come in and do dishes, floors, counters, make lines, etc. Think it’s too expensive? Weekly, it’s the same or cheaper than

keeping people to do it. It also gets your team out 1 to 2 hours earlier. In our busiest stores closing at 2 and 3 am, people were getting home at 5 am. How do you fill that position? We eliminated it.

4. We reduced the Managers workweek to 4 days. They work 4 11-12 days and have 3 days off. A busy store has 4 people on this schedule, which in the long run reduces the OT we were having and keeps everyone fresh.

5. We taught our Managers to create weekly objectives and manage those objectives. My Supervisors were already doing so as do I. (Note; If you or your Supervisors do not do this, you’ll find a much greater efficiency if you do. Ask me and I’ll show you how.) We gave the Managers a list of just about everything they might deal with in a weeks time

including upper level MIT development, meeting staffing goals, improving numbers or a key OER area to name a few. They review their week on Sunday night or Monday morning and, based on that review, they set 4-6 objectives to focus on for the week. They update their progress on Thursday and their results on Sunday or Monday. Supervisors monitor the updates and reach out to assist or offer guidance where needed. This has increased Manager efficiency tremendously and has also increased company EBITDA by over 2%.

I’m aware that some of you may be doing some of this and others may think some of these ideas are radical or even overkill. However, if you, your team or your managers are over working or spinning your wheels then I’d say... you can’t manage the new normal the old way. Think outside the box! Reinvent the Managers position and maybe your own.

As always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated. If you want further information on anything you just read, just email me at [email protected].

Best of luck in 2016!

Train hard, fight easy.

Dominic

Dominic BenvenutiVice PresidentBoston Pie, [email protected]

Dominic Benvenuti

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With my second store converted to a full theater store, I am still uncertain if I am doing the right thing. The first store up north still does less than 1% in dine-in orders consistently. That store is super busy anyway. So, I guess it doesn’t really matter. The second store is at about 1%. To be fair, it has only been open for 2 months and dine-ins have been rising slowly. So far, I am not sure if having seating is a total waste. Carry out percent has definitely gone up. I think we have provided a much nicer place to wait for pizza. I still do not understand looking outside and seeing people eat pizza in their car though. With all of this retrospective thinking about the best direction to go with the last store I have to remodel, I began wondering about the best course of action for the future.As most of you know, I am not a spring chicken. From my photo in this article, it is really hard to tell because I look so good. In fact though, I am definitely not on the way uphill. However, I have been contemplating the idea of maybe slowing down, or downsizing. Over the last few months, I have become more and more bothered by lapses in the operation of our Florida stores. I was finding I was the one on call, every hour, every day, every week. I was finding that little things (that do in fact add up to big things) were not getting done. Sinks not being cleaned out at night multiple days in a row, drivers not hustling, and overall, just an unexceptional attitude in my stores. I don’t want

to paint the picture that we were running poor operations. Just that we were not the exceptional people I knew we could be. The part about me getting older was the icing on the cake to add a secondary level of irritation for me.With the choice of slowing down or making a concerted effort to affect change. I chose the latter. OK I know it may not be the smartest choice, but what the heck would I do with my time anyway. I sent out a 4-page document to my managers addressing the issues I had with their performance and the changes needing to be made. Again, we really weren’t doing that bad, sales were still up, OER scores were consistently good; I just wanted to have an operation that was special. Not that I wasn’t proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far, I really wanted my team to be able to feel what it was like to be exceptional. After giving them a little time to digest what I was trying to convey, we had small meetings with the GM and AM of each store to make sure they understood what I was talking about and to get their feedback. The reception was very positive. I am not sure what I would have done if they all told me to jump in the lake. Anyhow, they all had good ideas and we began to set a goal for each store we could all get behind, which would be representative of our strengths and would really transform the store.One store consistently runs super service. The area is a nice compact size and the store runs in the mid to upper 90% cDOT. That’s really good! One manager told me he didn’t understand what else I wanted from them; service was already in the top few stores in the DMA. I wanted to know if that was the best they could do? I thought it was not. What if we really focused on running an 18 minute delivery

time? Would that start the chain reaction of getting sales increases like the Gavitt organization has repeatedly seen? Could that be the transformational push we need to get our slightly below average sales to the upper level of our DMA? It seems it has happened in too many stores that have reached the 18-minute goal for it not to be real. It is less than 2 minutes better than what we are running now without really focusing. The hustle in this store is actually not very good. Hustle alone could drop our time by a half minute. We do OK at jumping the screen to make pizzas. What if we did a great job at it? Is there another 30 seconds there? How about making sure drivers are there ready to go when their order comes out of the oven? Is that another 10 seconds? I don’t need to go through all of the time savings steps for you, you are already aware of them I am sure. The key, I believe, is focus. Are the managers sitting in the office when an order comes in? Do they just sit there until the order hits the makeline? They need to be fanatical about getting that order in as fast as possible. When we are slammed, we are already going as fast as we can. When we are slow, I am quite sure that is not the case. I bet we can reduce the delivery time during lulls by several minutes without a problem. That could give us a little leeway for the times we get crushed. The other store has set a sales increase goal of 21%. We are still in the underperforming sales category so, I think it is achievable. We are just below DMA average. This is the store that we just moved and was converted to a theater store. These conditions make this store prime for a big sales push. Of course, they are going to have to do a lot of the things the first store is going to have to do to

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Mike McDermott

Choosing Exceptional


DFA 45

accomplish their sales goal. I don’t think sales will go up and continue to stay there if we don’t keep a service component in the mix. With dine-in, we open ourselves up to a whole new market. This store is on a busy road with hundreds of businesses on it. Can’t we capture just 1% of the employees there for lunch? That would give us a big boost. What about families? Can we pull in some families for dinner? The possibilities are even bigger for us now having this new segment. We have a really nice store now. We just have to get people to come in and check it out.Both of these goals are lofty. I don’t think they are unachievable, but it will be difficult. The biggest challenge we will face is going to be buy in from the entire team. There is no way will be able to achieve an 18 minute delivery time without concerted effort from everyone. We have a lot of long time employees who have been there since the store was only doing $7k a week. They will have to change their mindset now

that we are double the volume and want an incredibly low delivery time. The manager must adjust his thinking to believe he can lead his team to accomplish this. I am hopeful, that by hitting this delivery time, we will raise sales. A 21% sales increase at the second store that has had double digit sales increases the last two years will not be easy either, but no major thing in life is. That store will have to incorporate numerous angles to build sales. They will have to look at their operations, fix any customer issues that may be causing us to lose customers, then go out and get new customers. We will be thinking outside of the box. We are going to send out free pizza cards for carry out or dine in to get customers to come in and see our store. Once they are there, we are training people to just overwhelm them with friendliness. We are going to take a page out of Brent Medders’ Friends First program to keep our customers loyal.I am hoping to invigorate my team with these challenges (and reward

them if they achieve them) and to breathe new life into these two stores. I want to reiterate that we do a pretty good job already. I don’t want you to think I am unhappy with my managers. I have always been under the impression that if you aren’t going forward you are actually moving back. With that in mind, I hope we can get some forward momentum. I wouldn’t mind becoming rejuvenated myself. As the years go by, sometimes it becomes a challenge to keep pushing the limit. I hope I can do just that. As I mentioned in the beginning, I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

Mike McDermottFranchisee: PA, FL

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WLF Spotlight | Diane Barrentine

A Columbus, Ohio native, Diane Davis Barrentine grew her Domino’s Pizza franchise from a single store in Oxford to today’s total of 13 Domino’s Pizza stores in North Mississippi. Davis Pizza Enterprises, Inc. has been operating as a franchise of Domino’s Pizza for 30 years. She is a partner with her son Brett Brown, owning 4 stores together and her brother Rick Davis, owning 1 store together. She began her 38-year career at Domino’s Pizza at age 18, as a Customer Service Representative for Domino’s while in college. She is an alumnus of Ohio State University and Central Connecticut State University.

The number of stores she has owned and operated has fluctuated over the years as she bought and sold stores as her family responsibilities changed. Always a top performer, Diane’s store’s sales consistently beat the national average by up to 40%. During her Domino’s career, Diane has helped open hundreds of Domino’s locations, served as a regional Vice President of RPM Pizza overseeing 45 stores. As President of her franchise, she lends her leadership to several committees in Domino’s Pizza, including serving as an annual chairperson of Domino’s Pizza’s Campus Manager’s Meeting, Campuspalooza, and is a founding board

member of the Domino’s Pizza Women’s Leadership Forum, Pulse Computer Advisory Board and is Vice President of the Domino’s Franchisee Forum organization. She has served on 10 national boards for Domino’s including the Franchise Association’s President’s Council, which reported directly to the CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Inc., Tom Monaghan. Diane has sponsored 4 individuals into Domino’s franchise businesses of their own. These 4 individuals own a total of 25 Domino’s Pizza stores.

Diane is a member of the Business School Advisory Board at the School of Business for The University of Mississippi; she is past Chairperson of this committee. She is also a member of the Ole Miss Oxford Business Women’s Advisory Board and Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy. Mrs. Barrentine mentors a Domino’s Pizza General Manager, and a MBA student at the University of Mississippi. She has her Domino’s Pizza franchise sponsor the Women’s MBA Chapter at Ole Miss.

She serves as President of the Board of the North Mississippi Exchange Club Family Center in Oxford, and a member of the Exchange Club in Grenada. Mrs.

Women’s Leadership Forumupdates |

The WLF provides a forum for women within the Domino’s Pizza system to learn, share best practices, mentor and promote

the professional growth of women to a leadership role within our system.


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Barrentine has also served as a Board Member for the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association’s State Insurance Board. Over the years, Diane Barrentine has been recognized at the local, state and national level both personally and professionally. She was named one of the top 50 business women in Mississippi in 2006 and finished in the top 10.

Recent awards include 2010 Exchangite of the Year for the Mississippi State District, after being selected for the same honor by her Exchange Club in Grenada, both for the second time. In 2011, Diane Barrentine was named the first National Woman of the Year for Domino’s.

Ms. Barrentine competes with her Border Collie dogs in sheep herding trials in Mississippi and the Mid-South. Her dogs won 1st place in several events, including the Mississippi State Fair Trials in 2014, 2015. Her Nursery Dog, Bella, qualified for and competed in the 2013 National Finals. She lives with her husband Jarrod, on a farm in Carroll County, Mississippi. She is a life long fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes and her adopted Ole Miss Rebels. Her son, Brett Brown, is a 2005 business school graduate, who supervises the company stores and is a 7-store franchisee of Domino’s Pizza. They opened 3 new store locations in 2013 in addition to relocating an existing store.

We are always looking for enthusiastic people to volunteer their time to help us create tools to use and

help us coordinate events where we can gather your team. Contact us at [email protected]

We encourage you to go to our website on dlive https://dlive.dominos.com/group/wlf/home and have a look at all the great information you have available to you and your team with the WLF. Please consider joining our group, as we will be hosting events across the country in 2016 and beyond.

Our next WLF event will be at the Domino’s Franchisee Forum Meeting in Big Sky Montana. Ashley Vicos of Sweet Ashley’s, Atlanta GA is our featured speaker. This Louisiana native is going to share her can do attitude with the group.

We will be seeing you in Vegas. Come and see us at our booth and get your selfie with the Noid. We’d love to see you.

Not a WLF member yet? Join Now!https://dlive.dominos.com/group/wlf/home

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Osmin Qasim27 years in Domino’s 22 years Franchisee


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THANK YOU for the many years of unwavering service and dedication to the Domino’s

Franchisee Association. You will be greatly missed!

Rob Rivard30 years in Domino’s 22 years Franchisee6 years DFA Board Member

Brian Edler32 years in Domino’s 27 years Franchisee 4 years DFA Board Member

WELCOME to the Domino’s Franchisee Association

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Wow, what a great year last year was to be a Domino’s Pizza Franchisee! I know my franchise had the best year we have ever had and I have heard the same from many of you. With Patrick Doyle guiding us down the road to number one, an argument could easily be made that we have the strongest leadership in the history of our Brand. With Patrick driving and Russell Weiner navigating, we seem to have found the expressway around the traffic that seems to be slowing down our competition. In times like these, some would wonder, “Why do we need OUR DFA?”

A few weeks ago, I made phone calls to non-DFA Member Franchisees all around the country to find out why they had not joined. I wanted to share the feedback with my fellow DFA Board Members as we planned our goals for 2016. The most common response I received was “I am happy and don’t have any problems with the Corporation. Everything is pretty good overall and I really can not think of anything I need from the DFA.” I am in complete agreement regarding the high level of satisfaction I have with our Brand plus the current leadership’s overall performance. I also feel great about the direction we are heading. But know that we, as Franchisees, still have things to work on and need support in achieving. When I asked a follow up question, “As good as things are going overall, do you have any areas you would like to see some support?” Every Franchisee had some sort of response showing a need for resources to help them bypass traffic on their road to #1.

This response led me to ask how they felt about utilizing a DFA Membership as a resource for their current needs. The responses fell into 3 major categories; 1) “The DFA is too supportive of the Corporation.” 2) “The DFA is too combative with the Corporation.”

3) “I am not really sure what the DFA does.” The first two responses have been around as long as the DFA has been in existence. When our current Executive Director, Ken Peebles took over the day to day operations of our organization, he started working to find the right balance to make sure we are not perceived as being too one sided aka a lap dog or antagonistic aka an attack dog. He believes the balance between these two extremes is as a watchdog.

I, personally, do not believe the role of the DFA should be that of an attack dog. It isn’t in the best interest of Franchisees for the DFA to challenge and second-guess everything the Corporation does just because of the Franchisor/Franchisee relationship. We have far more common goals than differences in making sure our businesses are successful. That being said, The DFA should not be a lap dog either. At times, we might not be in perfect harmony with certain Corporate decisions and during some of those times, we may try to influence change by making DPLLC see things from our united perspective. These types of discussions tend to happen behind the scenes. The DFA Board and Ken are fortunate to have developed an open line of communication with Corporate leadership. We try to use the majority opinion and feedback of the Franchisee community to influence decisions. Having been one of the elected Franchisees to lead the DFA, I see firsthand that the DFA truly is a watchdog of sorts… watching over both the well-being and profitability of our Members as well as our Brand.

OUR DFA represents the interests of all Members and their stores… from single store Franchisees to 100+ store Franchisees. Sometimes, this prevents OUR DFA from taking a decisive stance on an issue when we find the Franchisees are divided 1/3 in favor, 1/3 against, and 1/3 undecided. Often, even in situations like that, OUR DFA can work together with our Franchisor through certain portions of an issue. Sometimes, if concerns are limited to a small segment of our Franchisee community it can be hard to put the issues of a few Franchisees or stores above the issues that affect the entire system. If you ever wonder what OUR DFA does for you, call one of your representatives or better yet, please run for the Board of Directors of OUR DFA. It will not take long to see all of the hard work going on to protect our Franchisees.

One of the biggest things OUR DFA does for Franchisees, that they don’t even realize, is reviewing contracts. Do you read all contracts before you sign them or do you pay an attorney to review them? One great example of how OUR DFA works for you is the Fifth Third credit card contracts. This was a contract between Franchisees and a third party facilitated by the corporation. The DFA was able to influence changes in the language, which was extremely important to us as Franchisees. If one Franchisee or a hand full of Franchisees had spoken up and said something needed to be changed or removed, I don’t think it would’ve gotten anywhere. But, when you have a large portion of DFA Member Franchisees recommending not signing it without our requested changes, it makes a huge difference. This is just one example of why I am so passionate about recruiting Franchisees to join OUR DFA and make it YOUR DFA too. Just having contracts reviewed with a high level contract lawyer more than covers the cost of Membership… whether things are good or bad.

Membership | Chris Reischupdates |


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As my conversations progressed with Franchisees beyond the immediate “All is great” response, we started talking about other issues needing attention in order to help make Franchisee’s lives easier, better, and more profitable. All of the topics having a system wide impact shared with me on my calls were discussed at the DFA Board meeting held the following week. Any Franchisee specific issues not related to system wide issues were shared with Ken Peebles so he could try and find a way to help those individual Franchisees. All too often, we as Franchisees don’t share our problems and if we do, we are a single voice. If we consolidate our voice regarding common issues and present them to the Corporation in a clear and concise fact based manner, as I have witnessed, they are more likely to work with Franchisees on finding solutions. The ATS breakout session at last year’s DFA’s National Meeting went a long way in getting the Corporation to understand the issues and start to improve the system.

I firmly believe someone else in our system has probably already faced all of the problems we come across. The answers are out there if we come together and find the right person to ask, and share best practices amongst each other more often. It’s like finding someone with experience to help you tune up your car and adding higher performance parts to drive all the faster on the R2N1.

In addition to talking about areas where Franchisees need support, it was great to discuss operations with other Franchisees outside my regular network. I quickly realized how valuable it was to be able to share best practices with Franchisees from

around the country. Some things we covered were; the “ideal size” for a Pizza Theater, how to “put butts in the store seats”, going ahead and using the brand new label printer you bought as a backup as soon as you get it so the warranty coverage is not expired before you start to use it, using two 6’ make-lines instead of one 10’ make-line, the advantages of using thumb drive menu boards, and the list goes on and on. I was able to learn as much as I was able to give which made the experience so valuable to me. Sure, some things were not new to either person, but you never know what everyday thing in your operation is a golden nugget to someone else or vice versa. After sharing this great experience with my fellow Board of Directors, the DFA has made it a goal in 2016 to create a best practice idea-sharing site for our Members. Having the ability to ask questions and share what is and is not working in their operations, will benefit everyone.

If you would like to learn more about any of the topics I mentioned above in my idea sharing conversations, just shoot me an email at [email protected]. I would love to continue the process with more Franchisees. If you have areas you would like to brainstorm with other Franchisees, send those to me as well. Also, if you have any great ideas on any of the topics I listed or any new ones… send those too. I will make sure to pass those on as additions to the site we are creating.

There are so many good things that come from a Membership in OUR DFA… making it YOUR DFA. We are definitely on the R2N1. Joining OUR DFA pulls us all together into a stronger unstoppable caravan sharing

best practices and ideas that will only give your franchise more high octane and higher performance! Membership is easier than ever. I personally put $15.39 each Period, for all 13 Periods, on each stores P&L for Association Dues. The DFA bills my Credit Card $16.67 each month per store. It auto renews each year so I don’t have to worry about whether or not I am a Member… I always am. If my credit card expires, they simply call me and get the new number. I personally prefer it this way as opposed to writing a big check once a year. Other options are to be billed quarterly, bi-annually (every 6 months) or yearly.

Join your peers nationwide! We need you to bring your voice and years of knowledge as we accelerate ever faster on the R2N1 by continually helping each other get better! If you have any hesitation whatsoever, please reach out to one of your 3 Board Members for your zone, which are listed in the DFA directory at the back of this magazine. Don’t be shy; these Franchisees are some of the nicest, most down to earth guys you’ll ever meet who voluntarily serve to better our Brand. If you can’t reach them, you can always call me. I always have time for fellow Franchisees knowing I usually learn 2 or 3 priceless pieces of knowledge from every conversation. Thanks for your time and I hope to see you in Las Vegas in June! June 21st is my birthday, don’t be afraid to wish me a happy birthday and start a conversation about OUR DFA and how it can better serve you on the R2N1!

Chris Reisch 7 Stores in KY502.867.7087 (office)502.316.3456 (cell)[email protected]

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DFA 55

Chris Reisch 7 Stores in KY

502.867.7087 (office)502.316.3456 (cell)[email protected]

Steve GfellDFA Board Vice Chair

19 Stores in OH419.706.8571 (cell) [email protected]

Your DFA Board MembersFor complete Board Member bios, terms of service and election process, please log onto dominosdfa.com.

Rob Jonas1 Store in NJ

609.846.6872 (cell)[email protected]

M i d w e s t C h a p t e r

Brent Medders21 Stores in AR

501.753.4111 (office)[email protected]

S o u t h C h a p t e r

Alan Murph73 Stores in TX & TNDFA Board Treasurer210.657.4043 (office)512.844.4594 (cell)

[email protected]

Mike Brown 8 Stores in SeattleDFA Board Officer

253.474.4831 (office)253.468.8557 (cell)

[email protected]

Jim Gerety15 Stores in TX

DFA Board Chairman432.570.1990 (office)


W e s t C h a p t e r

N o r t h C h a p t e r

Tareq Hishmeh84 Stores in AZ & CA

805.901.7407(cell)[email protected]

Peter D’Andrea24 Stores in TN, VA & AR

704.905.9220(cell)[email protected]

John B. Glass27 Stores in OH

513.886.2639 (office)[email protected]

Art Hurteau13 Stores in MO


Osmin Qasim37 Stores in NC704.223.1440

[email protected]

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F orum R epresentat ive

Mack Patterson41 Stores in North Carolina


Pam Tobie6 Stores in CA


B oard A ppointed

Your DFA Staff

Ken PeeblesChief Executive Officer

210.845.1072 ext. 1 (office)[email protected]

Jamie ReamsThe Voice Editor & Designer210.845.1072 ext. 4 (office)

[email protected]

Amy VillastrigoOperations Manager


Page Advertiser

58 Ansira/Connect Marketing

45 Ascentium Capital

8,9 Cintas

43 CIT Franchise Finance

2 Coca-Cola

3 Direct Capital

15 DirectTV/Streamline

42 Ecolab

46 Equipment & Supply

29 First Franchise Capital

19 GDP

26 Gnich Architecture

32 Horne

38 HTG

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41 Lloyd Pans

5 MaSSCorp

47 Mercedes

14 Middleby Marshall

30,31 My Domino’s Insurance

21 PLI

60 Ross4Marketing

22 Sprint

23 Sterling

27 The Bottom Line (TBL)

59 XLT Oven

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Advertisers Index

Ron PerryDirector Of Operations



DFA 57

Plasticard-Locktech Intl (PLI)Tracy Morris | 800-752-1017 ext.1299

Supplies & Products

Middleby Marshall OvenJason Bireta & Larry Bireta248-302-1199

SBM TechnologyRafael Lee | 855-726-4685

Hightech Grafix/dpReportingBR TechnologiesBryan Nichols | 817-268-4040

Technology

Ross4MarketingEileen Bromwell | 800-421-1684

Marketing Services

Fisher & Phillips, LLP Hagood Tighe | 803-255-0000

Labor Lawyers

XLT OvensNick Roths | 316-719-3722

Coca-ColaMidwest: Lisa Mayer | 248-318-7630 Northeast: Jennifer Goodyear | 410-330-4434 Southeast: Ryan Cochell | 404-676-6093 West: Stephanie Somenek | 480-797-4527

Cable, Internet & Phone-Services

Accounting & TaxHorne, LLP Michael Sassano | 866-281-3950

The Bottom Line (TBL)Marnie Feinour | 800-237-0704

Human Resources

Finance & Lending

Vendor Partner DirectoryLog onto dominosdfa.com for the most current list of partners.

Sterling Info SystemsVirginia Griffith | 800-353-3228

SFV-LLGC, LLC Arthur Rosen or Tim Rhode800-630-1021

My Dominos Insurance (MDI)Jason Upton | 800-251-7407 | 256-738-6752

Insurance [Business]

MaSSCorpJeff Murphy | 800-766-5677

PaychexKaren Sladden | 877-216-3655

Renaissance DentalTom Dimmer | 517-381-4222

Background Checks

Ovens

Cleaning Products

Ecolab / SSDCPhilip Perry | 859-312-4041

Cintas CorporationMarc Friend | 513-701-2014

Is your company interested in

partnering with the DFA?

Log onto dominosdfa.com and visit the Vendor section

for information about:

• Partnerships• Advertising• Sponsorship

or contactAmy Villastrigo

210-845-1072 ext. [email protected]

CapitalSourceDoug Bagnasco | 516-361-3769

Wizardline TechnologiesShawn Brunelle | 978-423-0875

Direct CapitalRichard Henderson | 603-433-9434

First Franchise Capital Karen Johnson | 402-562-5111

Ansira Engagement MarketingBrad Hagstrom | 972-663-1232

Construction & Facilities Management

Ascentium Capital LLCAngela C. Anderson | 281-902-1972

Gnich Architecture StudioJason Gnich | 503-552-9079

GDP AdvisorsJohn Powter | 800-473-8697

Priority Capital, Inc.Jeff Parker | 339-293-6113

National Custom, Inc. Peter Thomas | 770-441-1660 ext. 203

Streamline/DirecTVMartin Hornek | 877-780-8385

SprintGale Wilcox | 248-388-0014

CIT Franchise FinanceMatthew Goyette | 603-501-0788

Walton SignageCesar Cordova | 210-325-3612

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