News

Who's Who: Freddie Wehbe

Domino's Pizza franchisee Freddie Wehbe believes setting goals and giving to others are the keys to his extraordinary success.

March 19, 2003

At 36, Freddie Wehbe has accomplished more than most pizzeria operators ever achieve in an entire career.

The Gainesville, Fla., Domino's Pizza franchisee has won nearly every significant company award multiple times, and his four stores generate a combined average $4 million in annual sales.

He wants to open two more next year for a total of six: a number he believes would seal his dominance of the Gainesville market.

"When I reach that, it'll be time to lay back and do the family thing," said Wehbe, who's still looking for his life's love.

Freddie Wehbe accepts Domino's National Manager of the Year awards in 2000. He also won the award in 1999 and 2001.

Only time will tell whether the hard working, goal-driven Wehbe really will turn down the wick, but it's a certainty that until then he'll continue perfecting his business, his systems and himself.

"If you study successful people, you find out that they had a game plan," said Wehbe, who reads one to two motivational or business books per week. "And every single day for the last 20 years, I've analyzed every move I made that day and figured out whether I did my best."

Wehbe launched his pursuit of pizza perfection in 1988, working as a Domino's driver while attending Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Three years later, and after graduating with a degree in engineering, he became a store manager in Merrit Island, Fla., and doubled that unit's sales in a year.

In 1995, Wehbe became manager of Domino's store #5150 in Gainesville, home to the University of Florida's 48,000 students. The year before, its weekly sales averaged $5,671. After a year under Wehbe's leadership, sales nearly tripled to $14,500.

The effort won him Southeast Region Manager of the Year, plus a nomination for National Manager of the Year.

By 1997, store #5150's weekly sales averaged $30,880, which helped Wehbe win his first National Manager of the Year award. Two years later the unit was the busiest conventional Domino's store in the U.S., and in 1999, he accomplished his five-year goal of becoming that store's franchisee.

Both 2000 and 2001 saw even greater success for Wehbe. In both years he won the chain's National Manager of the Year award and was named a Domino's Golden Franny (given to the company's top 1 percent of franchisees for excelling in 10 different critical areas).

How did Wehbe rise to the top so quickly?

By never looking down.

"As far as character goes, Freddie Wehbe's the pizza archetype," said Raymond Sather, a former delivery driver of Wehbe's, who now owns Sano Healthy Pizza in Gainesville. "He's extremely focused and concentrated. He has one point of attention: to succeed."

Sather called Wehbe a stickler for details who insists his stores are always sparkling clean.

Notices hang in Wehbe's stores to remind drivers they'll be terminated immediately for driving with an unlit car sign. And one of his "help wanted" fliers reads: "If you are a slacker ... drive a car that belongs in a junk yard, dress like a bum, show up to work drunk, wasted or late ... Then Apply for a Job With The Other Guys. ... A Serious Job For Serious Workers. ..."

The key to keeping employees, Wehbe said, is training. All employees get a minimum of 40 hours training and must score 100 percent on all written spec tests before they're made a team member.

And yet, the applications pour in at a rate of 20 to 40 each day.

"I only hire about 10 percent of our applicants," said Wehbe. "This is a great place to work, which makes it really easy for us to hire because of our reputation."

Employee turnover at his stores averages around 60 percent, most of which comes from employees graduating college, he said. Of the 180 workers on staff, 40 have worked for Wehbe more than five years, and 15 have been with him since 1995, when he took over as store manager of #5150.

Wehbe said he pays about the same as other Gainesville restaurants, but unlike other operators, he believes he works harder at respecting and motivating his workers. A fair shake and a fun job, he said, is what they want.

"Our responsibility as leaders is to find what motivates each person," he said. "Some need coaching, some need motivation, some need changing. It's our duty to learn what's going on inside of them ... and help them succeed."

Much of that game plan, Sather said, includes constant reinforcement of Wehbe's high standards.

"He's hard, but he's fair," said Sather, whose shop Wehbe visits at least once a week. "He has a tight grip on his people, but he doesn't choke them.

"I'll say this, too: If any one looks for a mentor in the pizza delivery business, he's the one. You can't deny Freddie Wehbe's results. They speak for themselves."

Give and give

Wehbe said his success strategy is nothing others haven't already written or spoken on thousands of times. What makes him different, he said, is his all-encompassing devotion to what he learns and his devotion to his Lord.

"I believe in God and pray to Him every day," he said. "Without his blessings I can't do this. He gives me the mental and physical power to do what I do."

God also motivates him, he added, to give to others, a trait that has earned him a reputation for generosity and marketing savvy in Gainesville.

"Whenever you go to him, whatever it's for, he's quick to ask, 'What do you want from me? What can I do?' " said Galen Unold, corporate manager of donor recruitment for Life South Community Blood Bank. "You don't have to sit there and sugar coat some message about 'doing good for the community.' He understands his role as a local business owner who can help others."

Wehbe, who loves developing marketing ideas, came up with one of the blood bank's most memorable promotions, Unold recalled.

"He was our sponsor for the month of October, and everyone who donated blood in Gainesville that month got a free medium pizza from Domino's," Unold said. "He gave out about 3,000 of those things before it was all over."

Scott Zarenchansky, corporate relations manager for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central and Northern Florida, said Wehbe has worked hard to convince other Florida Domino's franchisees to support his charity's "Make-A-Wish Wednesdays." For an entire year, an operator commits to donating $1 from the sale of every pizza to the foundation. In theory, Zarenchansky said, this allows each store to raise at least the $5,000 needed to pay for one child's wish.

Ever the planner, Wehbe asked for some time to consider how he could best participate in the program. What he came back with, Zarenchansky said, was an inspiring commitment.

"He went above and beyond the call of duty to promote this by realigning all his print pieces -- coupons, banners, boxes -- and put our logo on them," Zarenchansky said. "He's been incredibly generous in every sense of the word."

Wehbe's also generous with his knowledge of the business. In an average week, two or three business operators will request time to tour his operations and watch him work with his staff. Wehbe also travels to speak to organizations about his business' success, and often to other Domino's operators.

"I don't charge any Domino's folks to go and speak," said Wehbe, who had just returned from a key franchisee meeting with the company's top brass in Ann Arbor, Mich. "We're one big family, one big team, and if it makes it easier for them to sell pizzas, then the company will get stronger and it will be easier for me to sell pizzas."