Facts for NFA’s Jade Year

For 35 years, the National Franchisee Association (NFA) has connected hundreds of franchise owners, vendor partners and corporate officials. Here are 35 facts about the association:

1The magazine you are reading right now, Flame, was first published in 1990 as the official magazine of NFA.

4 Today, NFA is headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia, a suburb outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

5 The mission of NFA is “To improve, preserve and ensure the economic well-being of all members.”

6 NFA is split into 12 regional franchisee associations that spread across the U.S. and Canada.

7 NFA members own 86% of restaurants in the U.S. and Canada BK® system, representing 6,086 stores.

The first issue of Flame was published in 1990.

2 The first Flame magazine was only 12 pages long and was printed in black and white.

3 Originally, NFA’s headquarters was located in Napa, California.

8 Eighty-one percent of BURGER KING® franchisees are NFA members.

9 The first mass gathering of NFA members was the NFA Convention in 1993 with 900 attendees in San Francisco, California.

The general session room at the first convention.

10 Don White was the first president (chair) of NFA.

11In 1997, NFA, alongside BKC, was called upon by former U.S. President Bill Clinton to establish a welfare-towork coalition.

by JARED JOHNSEN

12 Formerly known as the National Franchisee Association Government Relations Conference, the Day on the Hill was first held in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

13

NFA was instrumental in forming the formal agreement between BKC and the purchasing cooperative Restaurant Services Inc. (RSI) in 1992. Some members who majorly acted in this benchmark were Jack Eberly, Larry Kohler, Joe Anghelone, Dick Fors and Wayne Thompson.

14 The NFA Procurement Committee, a now inactive NFA committee, was the genesis for what RSI is today.

15 NFA membership was opened to Canadians in 1996.

16

There have been 13 NFA chair positions filled since 1988.

17 Only two NFA members, Dan Fitzpatrick and Steve Lewis, have served two non-consecutive terms as chair.

18

NFA was born with three committees: the Marketing Advisory Committee, the Franchise Relations Committee and the Operations Technology Committee.

19

In 1991, NFA established its first by-laws, which, with minor edits, have stood tall to the present day.

20

NFA spearheaded Project Jennifer, an agreement between BKC and the association, giving NFA certain rights as franchisees.

21The Image Task Force was formed in 1995. Renamed the NFA Image Committee, this council is still active to this day.

22

NFA’s website was launched in 1999.

23

The NFA staff member with the longest employment is its Executive Director, Christy Williams, with 21 years.

24

The first NFA monthly communication was started in the late 90s and called Flashpoints

25 NFA was started by only 12 franchisees.

28

The first newsletter NFA distributed was called the “King of the Hill,” and it covered legislative initiatives affecting franchisees.

29 In the early 2000’s, NFA provided a business credit card, health discount card, safety equipment purchasing and drug testing and background screening programs as member services.

30 Elevanta, NFA’s association management company and health insurance provider, was previously called the National Association Management Group (NAMG).

31 The BURGER KING Franchisee Political Action Committee, started by Larry Baker in 1997, has raised over $3 million since its inception.

32 NFA started with regional associations in California before the association spread across the country.

Former Government Affairs Committee Chair, Tony Roland, dresses in American-themed flare to support the early years of the NFA PAC.

33 Tony Versaci is the only active NFA member who contributed to the association’s inception.

34 A catalyst that caused the birth of NFA was Grand Metropolitan’s purchase of the BK brand in the late 80s.

35 Elevanta Health first started as NFA’s Health+ program. n

JARED JOHNSEN is the NFA communications specialist. You may reach Johnsen at 678-439-2291 or jaredj@nfabk.org.

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26

The first executive director of the NFA was Frank J. Capaldo.

27 The NFA developed its modern governance model under the leadership of Julian Josephson.