From 7 Arrests to $55M+ Franchise Empire

“Between the ages of 17-20 I was arrested 7 times,” Ben shares. Today, he runs 14 high-performing Zaxby’s units generating $55M+ in annual revenue and most recently a cryotherapy franchise Sweathouz. With the No. 1 and No. 3 top-performing Zaxby’s stores in the country, 700 employees across the portfolio, and 10 years in franchising, Ben is a multi-unit multi-brand operator(MUMBO) superstar.

In this webinar, Ben shares tactical insights he used to build his franchise empire.

The first two years are a gauntlet.

There is no minor league in franchising. The second you step your foot on the playing field, you’re playing with the the best of the best.

Building your first unit is the hardest because you don’t know what you don’t know. You quickly have to learn many roles within a restaurant: a cook, a cashier, a cleaner, and a manager. That’s why most single-unit franchisees are so operationally involved: you don’t make enough to hire manager yet.

Ben during training

There will be a lot of late nights and early mornings within the first two gauntlet years. “It’s not impossible to skip that phase and be successful. But most top performers didn’t skip that step, or hire people who didn’t skip that step.”

How to scale from one to fourteen

You must scale past the first unit to build any serious wealth.

Here are the main parts of scaling Ben outlines:

Breakdown of Ben’s revenue year over year

1. Real estate strategy: “You can pay for a location once—or pay for it every day in lost sales.” Ben uses a PropCo/OpCo model: one entity owns the real estate, the other runs operations. Even if the franchise business fails, the team still owns the real estate.

2. Operators: Ben spent years figuring out how to make team members act like owners. He came up with this system: a base salary plus 25% of net operating income. “Whatever you have to do to make it their business—do it,” he says. It’s a hands-on, high-engagement model.

3. Choose a good market: similar to selecting real estate, you have to pick your territory well, or “pay for it forever”. Ben’s units are in booming Greater Raleigh & Las Vegas areas.

4. Continue to be involved: despite this impressive expansion and a network of managers, Ben still closely manages the team and oversees the locations in-person.

Ben shares his revenue on Twitter

The difficulty of QSR is the moat.

Fifty employees per unit, 1,000+ daily transactions, and a bunch of angry assholes.

QSR (quick-service restaurants) is unglamorous, tough, and crowded—but that’s exactly what makes it powerful. No one goes to college and dreams of frying chicken, yet even a single unit of a well-performing QSR can make a ton of money (which Ben admits is different for different people).

Ben’s son behind-the-kitchen preparing for a Zaxby’s popup

Ben contrasts Zaxby’s with wellness models like Sweathouz, where the number of rooms and square footage cap your revenue. “It’s nice income, but not enough to retire on even if you’re a top performer,” he explains.

With QSR, the upside is theoretically unlimited. There’s no ceiling on how much chicken you can fry if your drive-thru moves fast. As Ben puts it, “Topline revenue isn’t fixed—it’s about throughput,” something great brands prove every day.

Partners. How do you meet them?

You can view the Operating Agreement as the prenup of franchising.

Good partners bring one—or more—of three things: capital, operational expertise, or sweat equity. But before any deal moves forward, Ben insists on alignment: “You have to sit in a room and think through every worst-case scenario—bankruptcy, exits, death, everything.” It may feel awkward, but it’s how you protect the business—and each other—when things go sideways.

Ben with his business partner Richard on the right, and Sweathouz founder Jamie Weeks on the left

Advice for prospective franchisees:

Some stores made money day one, others took a year to break even.

“Month-one profit is the exception, not the rule.” His advice? Double your startup cost estimates, be conservative in your projections, and never run out of cash. “Don’t go broke,” he warns. “And make sure both you and your spouse are ready for what’s coming—it’s a grind.”

For the full recording and more Q&A, check out the webinar: