What makes committed couples, either spouses or life partners, the ideal target for Potbelly’s franchising program?
That’s how our company started. It was a husband-and-wife team in an antique shop, and they got into the sandwich business. They ran it in their neighborhood and created a cult following. We think partner teams enriched in their communities and that know their neighborhood and want to make it a special place is very important. So that’s the model we’re going after, and Jeff and Susan Gibbs know their community [of Toledo] very well. He’s lived there since he was very young, and Susan’s been a teacher there for over 30 years. Does having so specific a target discourage otherwise-qualified operators from joining Potbelly? Definitely not. That’s just our ideal candidate. It’s a two-person model to run the business. So if my brother and I wanted to do it, or if there were two people with just business interests together, we talk to them as well. If it’s two people that know their community and understand their neighborhood, those are people we still take through the process. What is that p
