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When you’re in Tom Ferguson’s kitchen, these are the rules:
Be clean. Be on time. Go fast.
He’ll be teaching those tenets to many more North Carolina cooks in the coming months, as new franchise locations of Tom’s Rise Biscuits & Donuts pop up across the state. In addition to North Raleigh, Morrisville, Cameron Village and the original Renaissance Village location, there will be biscuit havens in Carrboro and on Foster Street downtown. Three will open in Charlotte, he says. And Rise will soon be known in the Lone Star State: Tom’s brother and several partners have secured six locations in the Dallas area.
All of this has given Tom an unexpected new bonus of being the big boss: more time to teach. In this new phase of his career, he’s able to watch, train and correct new staff before every store opening – and before they’re hit with the legendary Rise weekend breakfast rush. It’s “extremely rewarding,” he says.
“I’m enjoying this opportunity to purely train somebody,” Tom says. “I’m seeing this really gentle side come out of me. . . . Being able to tell them these things now, before they mess up, is me setting them up for success.”
Early in his own culinary career, Tom crisscrossed the country nine times, chasing down who might be willing to mentor him. He often relocated without a solid job offer, determined to learn from the best.
When it came time to work with partners to open his own businesses – highly successful ventures like OnlyBurger and Durham Catering Co. – “maybe it sounds a little cheesy,” he says, but he found that the most important elements are love and respect. He’s kept that at the forefront of every business decision since, right down to this decision to franchise Rise.
“If we’re respectful at each crossroads we come to . . . maybe it slows down the progression a bit, but it feels better,” Tom says. “I can sleep at night that way.”
So far, they’ve turned down 40% of franchise applicants – Tom wants to make sure every Rise franchisee shares his ethos wholeheartedly.
He’s also working behind the scenes to make sure all locations are reliably tasty. A special online portal for chefs ensures consistent recipes at every location. He’s personally overseen the opening of all locations in the Triangle.
And even as he teaches others, Tom still searches out mentors himself. But it’s the skill sets he’s seeking that have changed. Now he looks for insight from professionals who have successfully opened multiple restaurants, for example – new mentors for a new chapter in his career. “I don’t have this need to be perceived as knowing everything,” Tom says, “so I’m not afraid to ask for advice.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Tom’s Top 5 Lessons
Biggest surprise: “It was a pleasant surprise – being able to get the quality of managers we’ve hired.”
Biggest lesson: “Don’t forget why you do this. Scott Howell told me that a while back – he was my mentor at Nana’s, and my partner when we started catering.”
Biggest warning: “Don’t be scared to bring on partners because you can’t do it by yourself. And don’t be scared to bring on partners you’re already close with. We’ll get to be friends anyway if we become business partners.”
Biggest regret: “I was looking too far ahead to see what was happening right in front of me. For the first [franchise] opening, I wasn’t in the kitchen – I was trying to say, ‘I’m the CEO, and I only do CEO things.’ And that’s not how I got to where I am right now. I got here by locking arms with people and getting work done; it didn’t matter whose ‘job’ it was.”
If I could do something over again: “I would tell people I’m proud of them sooner.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]WANT TO START A RISE?
You’ll need about $500,000 out of pocket, which covers items
like equipment and rent. You pay 6% of sales, and another 2% of sales must go toward marketing. To learn more, go to their website, risebiscuitsdonuts.com/franchise.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
