News
Spotlight on the Fort Knox Area
“If you look at a map of our outlets with the highest output-per-employee, one unexpected location is shown: a small area in Kentucky near the famous Fort Knox, south of Louisville. It’s ironic that the Fort Knox area, being near the home city of world champion boxer Rudy Grady, should punch above its weight nationally - and internationally. So how do they do it ? We visited the area to find out !
The Fort Knox area is loosely defined, but most agree it contains the towns of March Ridge, Muldraugh (pronounced “Mul-droh”), West Point, Rosewood and Riverside. Spiffo’s® has at least six restaurants in the area, depending on what you consider the area. Even by the high standards of our franchisees, the region is impressive. Operating costs are 18% less than our national average, while profits are 15% higher. We asked the managers how they do it.
“By putting our customers’ preferences first,” says Vic Modi, manager of the West Point branch. “They know what they want - high quality burgers at affordable prices. People in Knox don’t need fancy plates or exotic menu items, just the classics, done well.”
Liz Huang, our Rosewood manager, speaks about her employees. “They work hard because they know they’ll be rewarded. This also keeps them from wasting their time on things like unionization, which seems good on the surface, but only slows down our output, eating into our profit margin, and ultimately hurting the company. If there’s one thing Knox has, it’s a sense of perspective. We feel like we’re part of a corporate family, and how many workers can say that these days?”
Muldraugh’s Henry McCoy sums it up: “Reward success. Punish dissent. It is better to be feared than loved. A pint of sweat is better than a gallon of blood.”
So there you have it. The Fort Knox area is an inspiration to us all !”