With a new menu, new prototype, and a new service style driving a sales turnaround, Fazoli’s CEO and President Carl Howard announced the addition of James Franks as vice president of franchising.
Franks is a 22-year veteran of franchising with a strong reputation for launching and relaunching brands and their franchise development programs. Most recently, he served as Red Mango’s vice president of franchising.
“James Franks has a strong track record of helping to expand established brands,” Howard says. “With his hiring, all the pieces for Fazoli’s growth are now in place.”
Prior to Red Mango, Franks served as the national director of franchise sales at Dunkin Brands. “I’d been following the positive changes Carl and his team were making to the Fazoli’s brand,” Franks says. “Fazoli’s is one of the best franchising opportunities that I’ve seen in a very long time. Consumers love its uniqueness, the model works, and there are virtually endless opportunities in both traditional and non-traditional markets.”
Franks’ initial priorities are to create a strategic franchising program that appeals to current franchisees, as well as to operators of other brands. He intends to announce soon a list of focus markets for growth and to launch a new franchising website.
He will be working closely with Fazoli’s owners, Sun Capital Partners, which has developed a program to jointly market its restaurant brands to operators of non-traditional locations.
