Interview With Matt Linse
What Sets Village Inn Apart
In a recent interview with Matt Linse, Director of Operations at Village Inn’s franchisor BBQ Holdings, we delved into what makes Village Inn such a compelling franchise opportunity, and what he thinks makes the ideal candidate for our franchisees. Here are some highlights:
What would you like a potential franchisee to know about Village Inn?
We’re a very data-driven franchisor. We don’t just go on a whim or a feeling, we really try to vet our decision-making, and that starts with the operations teams—the field does a great job of giving feedback and we listen to our franchise partners. So as they’re bringing challenges that they’re facing in the current environment that we’re working in, we try to react to that, isolate those issues, and attack them immediately. That way, we can sustain the longevity and not revisit these issues down the road when they’re currently a huge hamstring for the stores.
We’re very, very bottom-line-focused, we drive very good sales, labor and food costs, and we really give a lot of guidance to our operators on best practices if there are opportunities for them to do better, perform better, or maybe they’re just not doing something the way we’re doing it or vice versa. We’re all learning together to make the best version of ourselves. We’re open minded and very much keeping a collective in the room, and that’s outside of the support team that we offer.
What makes Village Inn stand out?
Although we’re masters of the pancakes and breakfast menu items, we also do pies, and we do them very well. When you talk about local communities, local involvement, a lot of that is also tied to our pies, and our bakery. We have these amazing-looking pies that are always available. We also do free pie Wednesdays, and we get massive quantities of people that take advantage of that. That’s our way to touch the community a little bit and get in there, get involved. I think, when it comes to the community, specifically, our involvement is a legacy, just like our brand is.
We’ve been around a long time, and it’s because we do have that buy-in and that trust from our communities, which is kind of endless. It goes from generation to generation, where you have the grandpa, the daughter, and the daughter’s daughter and granddaughter all come in for breakfast on a Saturday afternoon, and we see him every week. I don’t know a lot of brands that can say that three or four generations have always gotten a pie on Easter Sunday from Village Inn, or go every Christmas Eve for dinner or breakfast at a Village Inn.
What type of person is ideal for operating a Village Inn franchise?
I think success would come from somebody that has a passion to serve. I really believe wholeheartedly that if you don’t enjoy what you do, and you don’t have ‘love for the game,’ as they say, you’re not going to do as good a job as you possibly could, because you’re just not fully in it and invested in it. It’s very much a lifestyle. We love getting up super early and cooking pancakes at six, seven in the morning, and starting our day with our community.
From an operator’s lens, you really have to be involved on a daily basis and appreciate every guest that walks in the door. It’s not rocket science, or certainly not a hard concept to execute, which I think is a really good thing to offer for franchisees—this is a somewhat simple operation. There aren’t a ton of mechanics behind it from an execution standpoint, but it really is driven by the passion. Anybody that would be a franchisee of ours has to have that passion, that fire, that desire to really take care of every single guest. It’s all about how bad you want it. Our franchisees are some of the best. And I really think they’ve taken to that. And that’s why this brand has carried on so long.
Franchising with Village Inn Starts Here
We invite you to explore our research pages for more information about this exciting franchise opportunity with Village Inn. When you’re ready to get in touch with our team, fill out our inquiry form here, and we’ll start a conversation with you about your business goals. We look forward to hearing from you!