How did you arrive at the goal of 500 units by 2010?

Morocco: The first time we met Shane, he said he had to have 500 stores by 2010.

Really?

Morocco: No, I’m kidding. We do set some lofty goals like the goal of 500 units. We’ll obviously have that many sold and under development, but the question is, Will we secure enough real estate and get the proper permitting to get new stores open? What we have found is that the whole permitting and developing process has taken a lot longer.

So, is real estate the main challenge to overcome when trying to achieve that number?

LaMastra: We think our immediate challenges with Shane’s are similar to those that we find in our other concepts. That is: finding the right franchisees, buying the right real estate, and making sure we execute on our concept everyday. But there is nothing unique about Shane’s from a challenge standpoint in terms of growth. In other words, great food and a great consumer experience is universal and will be accepted all over the U.S. We’re fully confident in that, but I think the challenges that we’re going to see are the common ones in our industry.

A number of franchised concepts have experienced strained relationships between franchiser and franchisee. How will you avoid this?

LaMastra: If there’s a good flow of information there and a good flow of dialogue there, that’s the foundation for everything. Layered on top of that we have regular weekly and monthly communications in the form of e-mails and communications from the brand leader. In addition, we also have a periodic newsletter. And at the top level we at Raving Brands have periodic communication about the enterprise and overall business. It’s pretty multi-layered, but what we’d rather have is our franchisees say, “We’ve heard enough. You’re over-communicating with us.”

Thompson: We even have meetings with our brand leader and go store by store about once a month, looking at any challenges they may have. We’re big on helping them financially. We stay on top of it. If we have someone who’s having problems with food costs, we send someone in there without any hesitation.

Have you ever been to a franchised unit where your concept wasn’t executed to your standards?

Thompson: I’m not going to lie. I have had an experience or two where I was displeased. But any experience I’ve had that hasn’t been up to my level, we’ve gone back and changed dramatically.

What do you say to critics who say you sold out when you teamed with Raving Brands?

Thompson: I heard a little bit of that initially from my own fan base, but I think we’ve proven ourselves because we smoke all of our products on site, our meat comes in fresh, we hand chop to order. All we’ve done is really taken a small mom and pop and made it into not only a barbecue that can go national but it’s a clean restaurant with controls in place.

You might have liked the old pit master, but he didn’t always cook it to the right temperature, or when he’s out sick, who is going to be the one cooking? Even though it is a corporate structure there are things we’re doing at each individual site. It’s not boil-in-a-bag pork or anything. It’s all cooked on site and I think that’s what sets us apart.