In 2019, Mike Nelson ate a sandwich from Mr. Pickle’s while on business in California. At the time, it was a cult brand with locations limited to a regional section of the Golden State owned since the mid-1990s by a husband-and-wife team approaching retirement.
So, what made Nelson — a veteran multi-unit franchisee — think he could purchase it and position the brand for national expansion as a viable franchise?
And how did he do it?
“The quality of the sandwiches at Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop hooked me at first bite,” Nelson says. “But from a business perspective, I was moved by the community’s love for Mr. Pickle’s and the brand’s dedication to positive customer experiences that matched mine. I saw more than just a sandwich concept, but a brand that was positioned to scale up and expand nationwide with the right decisions.”
Nelson, who has 30-plus years of experience in the franchising industry as an operator for Carl’s Jr. and as a developer for Subway in Arizona (which he took from 270 locations to more than 450), took the leap to purchase the brand in 2021 and enlisted the help of his longtime business partner, Dean Johnson, to serve as Mr. Pickle’s president and strategically determine who would lead the charge with them.
“After acquiring nearly 60 units, we created a robust team of seven pivotal players who bring their valuable experience in technology, business operations, economics, customer service and more to service our existing locations and reflect our expansion plans,” says Nelson. “Brands of our size may opt for smaller leadership teams for their unit count, but we made this decision to uphold our standards of excellence internally and externally as we continue to grow.”
Upon assuming leadership, Nelson preserved the identity of Mr. Pickle’s while bridging business model gaps that limit growth, starting with its technological infrastructure.
“After over a year of extensive research, we teamed up with industry leader Paytronix to bring the brand up to speed with the restaurant industry by optimizing our digital presence to help us reach more prospective fans and streamline store operations,” Nelson explains. “We developed a comprehensive technology stack that integrated order and delivery, mobile, gift and loyalty programs under one umbrella to be more manageable and cost-effective for franchisees and customers.”
Nelson adds that the digital revamp included a reconstruction of the Mr. Pickle’s mobile app to improve the ordering experience, and the launch of the Pickle Points Loyalty Program, which offers customers points on purchases that can be redeemed for menu items. Nelson also met directly with Mr. Pickle’s franchisees after the acquisition to gather feedback on technology. As a result, the brand implemented new and improved point-of-sale systems and virtual menu boards.
These tech advancements propelled the average unit volume of Mr. Pickle’s franchises from $625,000 to more than $1 million in 40 months of Nelson’s ownership, with a significant percentage of the increase stemming directly from digital traffic.
The Franchisee Support Center works around the clock to provide direct marketing, public relations, IT, brand management, human resources, supply chain logistics and more daily management support that empowers franchisees,” says Nelson. “We are evaluating economics and operations on a single location level to help franchisees make data-driven decisions, mitigate early risk, enact customer-centric ideas, and more real-time efforts that can spur business success and growth.
In another step to further support long-term franchise growth and optimize day-to-day operations for restaurants, Nelson built out the Mr. Pickle’s Franchisee Support Center with his leadership to be there for franchisees every step of the way.
In addition, Nelson introduced a Corporate Testing Center to continually determine and test franchise decisions, such as new sandwiches, updated hours and more, for overall franchise success before rollout by leveraging customer data and purchasing decisions from operations rather than just opinions.
“Our level of franchise support has been a game changer for us,” Nelson says. “I’ve always believed that a franchise system should empower its franchisees. If there’s any support that I wished I had received, I make sure it’s in place now.”
Since moving the headquarters to Scottsdale in 2021, he has successfully opened six locations across Arizona. Earlier this summer, he worked with a new franchisee to open the brand’s first-ever location in Los Angeles and plans to work with this partner to open several locations together in Central California in coming years.
Under his leadership, Mr. Pickle’s was also named among Fastest Growing Emerging Restaurants in the United States last year by Nation’s Restaurant News in its annual “100 Under 100” program. With this list of the top 100 emerging chains with fewer than 100 locations, Nation’s Restaurant News set out to quantify which emerging brands truly possessed the most momentum across the United States. Mr. Pickle’s, which is now offering franchise opportunities nationwide, came in at No. 70.
For Nelson, acquiring Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop fulfilled a lifelong professional dream of becoming a franchisor, and he credits his role as CEO at Mr. Pickle’s for bringing a new level of energy and understanding to his life as he guides franchisees in achieving success.
Did You Know:Mr. Pickle’s CEO Mike Nelson has remained true to the brand’s long-time signature eats while introducing tasty new sandwiches with personal meaning. One such item is the “Listen Linda,” a sandwich named after Nelson’s wife, Linda, whom he met while working as a meat cutter in high school, which features turkey breast, bacon, Swiss cheese, avocado and “the works” (mayonnaise, mustard, garlic sauce, tomato, onion, pepperoncini, lettuce and, of course, pickle).
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