OPERATOR AT HEART
And soon to be a franchisor? Written by KERRY PIPES
T
im Gayhart is a hands-on every day kind of guy. That’s how the multibrand operator describes his work ethic and operating style. “It’s important to me that my staff and employees understand how much I care about this business. Because if they start to feel like I don’t care, then why should they care?” The 50-year-old entrepreneur operates 1 Gold Star Chili restaurant and 7 Snappy Tomato Pizza locations in rural Kentucky communities. He also is an area developer for Snappy Tomato and has 13 franchised locations operated by other owners. From his home base in Wa lton, Kentucky, Gayhart faced the Covid-19 pandemic, survived it, and is now coming out the other side. He says the pandemic deeply affected his buffet business, but he also had to overcome increased competition from third-party delivery. “It increased our competition from just what’s nearby to including every other restaurant in the delivery range,” he says. Gayhart and his team fought back by relying on their drive-thru window service at Gold Star, offering delivery, and promoting their restaurants as safe places to eat and work, which he says gained the trust of the local communities.
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Multi-Unit Franchisee
Gayhart says he’s wanted to be in the restaurant business as long as he can remember and decided at age 14 he wanted to own one. He’s done that and more. He’s still an operator at heart and loves staying active in his business. “I don’t want to be the stuffed shirt walking into the restaurant. I want to always be lending a hand where it’s needed and training my staff to do the same,” he says. Gayhart’s career trajectory has progressed from multi-unit franchisee to multi-brand franchisee to area manager. Next up, he says, is becoming a franchisor. One of his goals this year is to purchase Snappy Tomato Pizza. Within a few years, he says, “I’d like to be sitting at the head of Snappy Tomato Pizza and have 100 restaurants open and moving toward 200.” It’s all in a day’s work for Gayhart. “When you’re doing something you love, a job’s not a job, it’s a part of your life, and that’s how I handle all of this.” PERSONAL First job: I started young, raking leaves and shoveling snow for schoolteachers and neighbors as a kid. My first paying job was a newspaper route. My first job in the restaurant industry was in May 1985 at a local pizza place. They didn’t have positions, so I ISSUE 2, 2021
did everything: made the dough, the sauce, answered phones, everything. I started there before they opened for business, and I have been in the pizza business ever since. Eventually, Snappy Tomato Pizza ended up buying the company and I continued with them. Formative influences/events: I think a lot of people who are self-driven come from a place of not having a lot. I had to be the one who helped my parents out. From an early age, everybody was already turning to me to provide or solve issues that came up. I had to be the person who either provided—or didn’t. The experience definitely catapulted me to where I am now. I was always depended on to be a provider, and the desire to provide has never left. Key accomplishments: My greatest accomplishment has been the ability to recognize opportunities. I was able to purchase my first store because I recognized that an existing store was suffering. I took that opportunity to the board of directors and requested their assistance in purchasing the store if they let me reopen. From that point forward, it was just a matter of working hard. Biggest current challenge: I’m working to purchase Snappy Tomato Pizza in its entirety and also to expand the number of