My customers come and go, cycle in and out. They eat others' foods, too. It's cool. They move on, and they come back. My quality, in food and execution, speaks for itself.
We're not going to be the fastest-growing or the biggest. I think there's plenty of room for a little old sandwich shop like ours.
I assumed when I was first selling the franchises that everyone would be as excited as I was to wake up in the morning to bake bread and slice vegetables.
We deliver. We are consistent. Customers trust us. Our restaurants are cleaner than most. Our meats are natural, the bread is best in class, the chips are best in class, and we are a group of very systemized and disciplined operators.
I changed the rules for allowing people to buy into my system as a franchisee. I explained in detail how tough running a Jimmy John's can be. I explained the long hours, the unforgiving weather, the late nights, the weekends, and all of the sacrifices that go along with the industry. I made it tough for people to get into the system.
I could sell more franchises than I'm selling right now, but we're pretty deliberate about where we're going.
We will continue to pursue anybody who violates our franchise covenants, trade agreements, or anything, for that matter, that is ours.
I think I'm in the service business. I mean, our sandwiches are pretty good; I don't know if they're extraordinary. But our service is.