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Mel Hope, Chief Finance Officer of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen told CFO Magazine how his company helps its franchisees grow their businesses.  He says, “We started analyzing their P&Ls and picking out areas where they could do better on electricity, food, and labor costs.  We’ve stripped out about $32 million to $34 million of costs over the last two to three years.  Saving our franchisees that money is a good expression of our commitment to a partnership.”  He believes that the whole company will thrive if the franchisees can sustain their profitability.  Popeyes is the second largest quick service fried chicken restaurant chain with over 2,000 stores globally.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen CFO Mel Hope talks about collaborating with franchisees to grow the business.

Name: Mel Hope
Position: CFO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Previous Positions: SVP of finance and chief accounting officer of AFC Enterprises, the parent company of Popeyes; CFO of First Cambridge HCI Acquisitions, a real estate investment firm in Alabama; accounting, auditing, and business advisory professional for PwC.
Notable For: Being finance chief of the world’s second-largest fast-food fried-chicken chain. Popeyes has more than 2,000 restaurants in 45 states and 25 other countries.

His Take-Away: The Popeyes system is about 98% franchised. We have to be attentive to our franchisees and their needs in order for the whole company to thrive. We make money by capturing a royalty from their revenues. Some companies might simply drive revenues by doing a lot of low-price offerings that don’t make a lot of money for the franchisees …