What a Day at Subway!

I had the amazing privilege of presenting two motivational/educational speeches at the Subway Worldwide Franchisee Convention this past Friday and Saturday. What a day at Subway!! There were 4500 people in attendance, from all around the world, including about 900 vendors to the Subway system. Subway currently has just over 33,000 stores in 90 countries!! Can you believe that? It's hard for me to even wrap my mind around! I learned a lot of interesting stuff through this opportunity (some "deep" things about me personally included), but one neat statistic was in regards to the frequency of people in North America eating out at QSR's or Quick Serve Restaurants. Did you know, that 31% of North American's are considered "heavy QSR users," meaning they eat at a QSR more than 12 times a month - TWELVE TIMES A MONTH!! But if you think about it, many who eat lunch out during the work week quickly fall into this category. Additionally about 34% are considerate "moderate" user (4-11 times per month) and 34% are considered "non/low" users in that they eat at QSR's 0-3 times per month. Which category do you fall in to? Depends on the month for me - if it is a busy travel month, I could easily be somewhere between a moderate and a heavy user. Thank you Subway for your subs under 6 grams of fat!!

The Subway system is made up of many family's, so they seemed to really relate to the family business side of Super Wash. I had a number of people approach me after the Saturday session, in particular, to tell me about their family business experience. For me, that's when we really start having fun!

And it certainly is a small world. After Friday's session, a Subway franchisee came up to me and said, "My mom and dad are franchisees of yours and I wanted to introduce myself." I had no idea who should could have been talking about because her last name did not look familiar (she's married). When she told me who her parents are, I just lit up! She has two super parents who have been a part of the Super Wash family since 1985 and we just adore them. It was a special treat to meet her at the Subway Convention.

Until next time, have a super week!
Susan

Next Generation of Talent

I had the pleasure of meeting two young guys this week who, like me and my sister, grew up in the car wash industry. Both Ryan and Kyle are doing some cool and innovative stuff to bring more awareness, via newer technology, to the car wash industry. What I especially liked about these guys is how both of them seem to have a real sense of need to give back to the industry in which they were raised. As you can probably imagine, car washing is very much a family business venture. It was that way when we started in the 70's and it's still that way today. What we are experiencing now though is the next generation coming into their 20's, 30's and 40's and really putting their mark on this industry.

Ryan and I had a chance to work together yesterday on a podcast focused on community involvement and fundraising, and he did a really nice job as the host. The podcast will likely be posted either today or early next week at www.washideas.com. It is also available as a podcast through itunes. Ryan produces this podcast as basically a hobby and his day job company, Wash Card Systems, allows him to do so on company time. Now that's thinking outside the box!! I applaud both Ryan and Wash Card Systems for their efforts to make this industry more inclusive. Thank you!

Kyle is creating "behind the scenes" looks at different companies in the car wash industry. He is posting those looks on his website www.carwashtv.com. Another great and innovative offering by some of the car wash industries next generation of talent.

Who's next up in your industry? What are they bringing to the table? Are you listening to what they are saying? How can you mentor them into being the next generation of leaders? All good things to be thinking about...

Until next time, be SUPER!!
Susan

1st Annual FoodRaiser a SUPER Success!

For the entire month of May, select Super Wash® car washes, hosted a Food-Raiser to raise money for local food pantries. I am very thrilled to report we collectively raised $52,460 with an average donation of $325.00 made to each participating food pantry! There were 162 participating facilities contributing to that $52,460 donation. All of the money raised will stay in the local community to benefit local families.

On their website, www.feedingamerica.org, Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, states, “For every $1.00 donated Feeding America can provide 7 meals to men, women and children facing hunger in our country.” This means that the $52,000 Super Wash donation will provide 364,000 meals to hungry families in the local communities we serve. If you are so inclined, please consider making a donation to Feeding America, or your local food pantry, to help those in need during these challenging times.

A big THANK YOU to all who helped make our first FoodRaiser a SUPER success!! It is our intention to make this an annual event. As Mary (my mom and co-founder of Super Wash) says, “A clean car does a body good!”

Until Next Time, Be Super!!
Susan

So Many Without Food

For purchases made in the month of May, Super Wash will donate $1.00 for every "Super Wash" automatic car wash and $1.50 of every 4-token package to local food pantries. We recognized a great need that we hope to be able to help fill in some small way, and what we have learned along the way has been very powerful. Did you know there are many families, kids particularly, right here in this country who go extended periods of time without eating? I learned that summer is one of the highest demand periods for Food Pantries because kids are not in school where they would otherwise have gotten state-funded lunch. As a kid growing up in a small farming community in western Illinois, I always cheered for snow days in the winter, even if we had to make them up later on. Do you know who doesn't root for a snow day? Kids who will not eat that day because they are not in school. Many of these kids do not have sufficient nutrition over weekends for this very same reason.

We have been so fortunate to talk with the wonderful volunteers who keep these Food Pantries running. What wonderful work they are doing! I got shivers the day we heard, "You have just answered a prayer for us." We are so grateful to be able to help local families in the communities we serve.

Please consider making a donation to your local Food Pantry - no matter the time of year. Food is great, cash is always welcome (in many communities, they use the cash to buy vouchers to the local grocery stores so families can buy perishable items the Food Pantry can't readily provide) and volunteered time is a very valuable commodity. These are tough times for many Americans. Let's commit to making a positive difference this May, and always! Until next time, have a super week!

Renewed Energy

Our annual Franchisee Homecoming was a success! Our theme was "Renewed Energy" and from the comments we have received back, our franchisees definitely left with renewed energy. How great it feels to be able to offer this kind of opportunity to our franchise partners!

There are times when all of us lose steam, when our "Passion Buckets" are empty. There is no harm in losing steam every once in awhile, but there is harm in not re-energizing when the time comes. When you're feeling low on spunk, do like we did at our franchisee meeting last week, surround yourself with people who have positive energy and believe in you. They will help fill your Passion Bucket right back up.

Have a super week!

Franchisee Homecoming - A Labor of Love

WoW! Our Corporate staff is caught up in the whirlwind of getting ready for our franchisees to be back at our headquarters tomorrow and Friday. For me, our annual Homecoming is a bit like preparing to welcome a new baby. The few days before "D-Day" are all anxiety-filled, you're exhausted, running around frantically making last minute preparations. Then, D-Day arrives and it's uncomfortable. You just want everything to go well, and according to plan. There is pain, there is excitement, there is more exhaustion, there is complete bliss when it's all over. Then, you go home and nurture this new baby and somewhere along the line you forget all the mania, the exhaustion and the pain and only remember the bliss. In the end, you sign up to do it all over again!!

I will make an admission that I am really looking forward to Friday afternoon. Not because it will be all over, but because it will be at that time that we can hopefully look back on our labor of love and bask in the glow of a job well done. Our programming is very interactive this year so I am anxious to see what our franchisees think. Additionally, almost half of our attendees are first time Homecoming attendees, so that will add a super dynamic to the group.

Wish us luck, cause this baby's comin', whether we're ready or not!! Thankfully, I'm pretty sure we're all set! Have a super week!!

Francheesor

It is very important for all of us to continuously expand our vocabulary. This week I learned a new word, "Francheesor". I was at a non-franchise industry event and the person I was talking was asking me about the different parties involved in franchising. After you say, "Franchisee" and "Franchisor" so many times, it apparently combines real nicely into "Francheesor". I thought this was hi-larious, but did manage to not embarass myself by laughing outright. I am wondering if I can use "francheesor" when I give speeches about franchisee/franchisor relationships??

Now that UFOC is defunct, I think francheesor should take over as the funnest word in franchising!

Until next time, have a super weekend!