Never Say Die
How a family beat the odds (and the weather) to improve a franchise
They started out 10 years ago with no experience and an
out-of-place Back Yard Burgers restaurant. But Scott Prewitt, 33,
brother Steven Prewitt, 39, and brother-in-law Tony Mansoor, 31,
overcame the obstacles . . . and revolutionized the Back Yard
Burgers franchise system along the way.
"One of our goals was to move as a family to the mountains
of western North Carolina," Scott explains. The Jackson,
Mississippi, natives began researching Back Yard Burgers as a means
to realize their dreams.
In September 1992, they opened their first Back Yard Burgers in
Boone, North Carolina. Though they were inexperienced, Scott says
that potential deficit "was a benefit." With nothing to
unlearn, the family easily adapted to Back Yard Burgers Inc.'s
system.
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Another potential negative the family turned into a positive was
the weather. Their Back Yard Burgers location consisted solely of
double drive-thrus with no inside dining. In the snowy mountains of
North Carolina, that was a problem. "We were doing everything
we could just to survive," Scott says of their first year. But
the next year, the family convinced Back Yard Burgers to let them
close one drive-thru and build a dining room. Sales more than
doubled, and today, nearly all Back Yard Burgers locations have
followed its lead.
The family's Boone restaurant pulled in just under $2
million in 2001, becoming the top-grossing Back Yard Burgers for
the sixth year running. Now Scott, Steven and Tony are the
operating partners of Family Only Inc., through which they run
three Back Yard Burgers restaurants and planned to open a fourth by
press time.
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