Jimmy Sagiotis is the founder of Salty Rooster, a business that specialises in offering chicken burgers that are a little more gourmet that those you would typically find at a local take-away.

He currently has two stores in operation on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, one in Narrabeen and another in Manly, and he says a lot of people approach him about potential franchising opportunities. 

The interesting thing is, he feels most of these people are not suited to the business. 

“I look at them and think oh my god you wouldn’t last more than 40 hours in hospitality.

“What I find is none of them understand that hospitality is weekend work, and that you have to be in the business for the first two years so you can get it on paper, and once it’s on paper then you can hire staff,” he explains.

He says he would prefer to see his own staff play a part in the brand’s expansion, because they know how the business operates and they have proven to him that they can handle the fast-paced hospitality industry.

“People who spend more than six months with me learn the business much better that someone who I would train over a two or three week period to go and run their own business – it would take them years to actually understand it,” he says.

With this in mind, Jimmy plans to offer his most ambitious and hard-working staff the option to invest in any new stores he opens in the future.

“I would set the stores up as unit trusts and give them 100 shares from day one. I would still own the store, and every year when we pay out dividends they would have the option to take the money or reinvest it back into the store.

“They will be able to eventually buy me out and all that time they are not paying royalties and they have my support – they have me actually operating the business on top of them and they can learn from me” explains Jimmy.

The opportunity would allow young staff in particular to discover if they are truly passionate about the business and if this is their calling in life.

Jimmy says staff would be treated as business partners.

“They would not be paying royalties because they would be my partner, so they would basically split the bills according to their share in the business, so they are building wealth and I am helping them build that wealth.

“If they are happy to eventually buy me out the store just becomes a normal franchise,” he says.