FRANCHISING: New Submarina CEO Sees Value, Quality As Key To Growth
Mimi Zeller, the new CEO of restaurant franchise Submarina, isn’t afraid to go the extra mile.
In 1990, when Zeller landed her first job as a franchise operations director at Domino’s Pizza, her commute took her 110 miles up the California coastline —- one way. She spent so much time talking on her cell phone that the resulting neck injury took 15 months of physical therapy to heal.
But the job taught her a skill that would define her career.
“I have to give Domino’s a lot of credit,” Zeller said. “That’s really where I felt I learned franchising.”
On Aug. 24 the board of privately-held Submarina, Inc. named Zeller their new chief executive following a change of ownership at the company.
Lynn Lowder, the company’s new chief operating officer, gave his boss high marks.
“Franchising is a different model; I’d say you have control, but you don’t have total control,” Lowder said. “You really have to work with positive leadership of the highest order if it’s going to work.”
Lowder said Zeller’s secret to success was a willingness to always reach out to franchisees, and keep an open-door policy no matter how big the company grows.
“It’s so old-fashioned it’s cutting-edge,” he said.
Indeed, Zeller’s hands-on approach has instituted a new tradition at Submarina: everyone from the CEO on down will learn how to make a sandwich, even if they only do it once.
Despite the recession, Submarina is slowly growing. The privately-held company says it made $20 million in sales last year, and $18 million the year before.
The company opened 18 stores in 2008, for a total of 63 stores nationwide.
When the national economic downturn hit, the company scrambled to develop a strategy to stay afloat, said Brian Kennedy, Submarina’s developer for San Diego County.
Kennedy credits Zeller’s philosophy of not cutting corners as a reason for the company’s continued success.
