Should a POS Co have ownership in a pizza franchise?

C

Charles

New member
While trying to decide which POS company to go with, we discovered that one of the major companies we were considering has an ownership interest in the franchise rights to Garlic Jim’s for our area. I was wondering who else would have this reaction --> :shock:

This shocked me because I do not want my POS company to also be one of my potential competitors AND because I think their focus should not be distracted by another significant business venture. I want my POS company to be in the POS business, not the pizza business.

What do you think?
 
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Intura Solutions of Arlington, TX was one of the finalists for our choice of POS. The salesman must have thought it was a selling point when he told me. It wasn’t.

As it was the salesman for Intura that told me it, I guess it is not some top secret thing. Though it is interesting that Gary Peek, Intura’s president/founder, is not in any of the press releases. He may be simply a financial backer of the venture. But it would seem to give Garlic Jim’s one competitive advantage over me – access to a decent POS at minimal cost. I certainly want my POS company helping me with my success and not building a business to compete with me.

I investigated and this is what I found:

From Pizza Today of August 2006:
Garlic Jim’s unveils expansion plans throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth market
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Garlic Jim’s Famous Gourmet Pizza has announced expansion plans into the Dallas/Fort Worth market. Dallas-based QSR Ventures Inc., a group of experienced industry insiders, has signed a franchise agreement to open 45 to 50 stores within the next seven years, with its first location to be opened by January 2007. The company is actively seeking real estate and pursuing franchisees.
“We believe the Dallas/Fort Worth area will be a great market for Garlic Jim’s,” says Dwayne Northrop, president and CEO. “It’s one of many potential market openings as we continue to strive to reach our long-term goal of becoming the first national gourmet pizza franchise.”
QSR Ventures was formed in 2004 with the primary purpose of bringing a restaurant concept to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
“The ‘Gourmet, Right Away’ concept is the differentiator between every other competing brand in our market,” says Shaun Crutchfield, vice president of store development for QSR Ventures. “We believe that Garlic Jim’s has the whole package – superior product and outstanding delivery and service.”
With more than 75 units sold and 32 opened Garlic Jim’s plans of selling over 100 units and opening another 13 for a total of 45 opened units by years end are on track. In addition to current locations in Oregon, Arizona and Washington, Garlic Jim’s will open units in California and New Jersey this year, with franchise sales planned for Colorado, Philadelphia and Canada.

Shaun Crutchfield used to work for Breakaway, the previous name for Intura before some corporate changes as you can see this cached article of 2003.. Gary Peek founded both.
Breakaway has promoted Shaun Crutchfield to Technical Communications Manager. Shaun served as Breakaway’s General Manager of Technical Services for the past 3 years, and brings extensive knowledge of our products and of our customers’ needs to the position. The Technical Communications Manager position was created to build awareness for the Breakaway Enterprise platform and its associated software products. The Technical Communications Manager will be the subject matter expert on the entire Breakaway Enterprise platform.
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QSR Ventures, Inc Website
Their Post Office mailing address is one block from Intura’s business address.

The WHOIS data for qsrventures.com lists the owner as Gary Peek and the address as Intura’s location.
Registrant:
QSR Ventures, Inc.
PO Box 394
Arlington, TX 76004
US
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Domain name: QSRVENTURES.COM

Administrative Contact:
Peek, Gary
PO Box 394
Arlington, TX 76004
US
+1.8179925021
Technical Contact:
Administrator, Host
201A East Abram St
Arlington, TX 76010
US
+1.8179440327

Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC.
Record last updated on 27-Nov-2006.
Record expires on 21-Dec-2008.
Record created on 21-Dec-2004.
 
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i believe that you should focus on pos and not pizza if that is what you are selling. if you sell pies cool…sell em but if you sell pos only sell pos.
 
I agree, major conflict of interest. There are plenty of other quality POS companys to choose from.
 
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Charles,

I saw your post on this subject quite a while ago and started to post in order to CORRECT your mis-information, but decided to just leave it alone. After seeing numerous posts on this issue regarding Intura from you, I thought that I would write a response in order to clarify for you and others about your statements.

The following is in CAPS to clarify only.

INTURA DOES NOT HAVE OWNERSHIP IN ANY OTHER COMPANIES, PIZZA OR OTHERWISE. AND IT NEVER HAS.

I am one of 5 investors with Intura Solutions. I personally made an investment into a project that some friends of mine were getting into with Garlic Jim’s. My personal investment has nothing to do with Intura and the other investors in our software company.

I personally know the owners of 5 other POS companies (large and small) that have ownership or investments in pizza shops and restaurants. It certainly helps us to understand the restaurant industry better which translates to improvements in the POS software. (If you own mutual funds, then there is a good chance that you also have ownership in competitive pizza companies that are publicly traded.)

What you got right ----

Yes - Shaun Crutchfield worked for me at Breakaway after having 8-9 years of experience with Domino’s Pizza. I brought him in for training at Breakaway due to his experience and how well it translated with my customers. He also worked for me at Intura for almost 3 years.
Yes - The QSR Ventures website was registered to me. I have a technology company. Go figure.
Yes - The PO BOX is close to my office. I thought it was a good idea to make it easy on me to pick up mail for accounting/financial purposes.

What you probably don’t know —

I spent 4 years working for Domino’s Pizza in the early '80’s. I spent several months driving and then managed for the rest of the time. I spent quite a bit of time turning problem stores around and worked in 21 store locations in 4 states. Most of that was for corporate and the final time period was for a franchisee. (This is where I got most of my experience and ideas for the original Breakaway system developed in 1990.)

Flower Mound is about an hour away from where you were planning to open your store. Doesn’t seem to be much competition in that. (If you opened, let me know where it is. I would love to come try your product.)

Our store in Flower Mound didn’t make it and we closed. (Three other national/regional pizza chain locations closed in our area as well. One before we opened and two after we opened but before we closed.) Expensive investment and bad timing with the economy, labor and food cost increases! This education will help me to keep my focus on the software industry.

I apologize that a new salesperson with my company “ticked” you off. Please forgive me for this and let’s move on to more important discussions about issues with technology and the pizza industry!
 
gpeek:
I saw your post on this subject quite a while ago and started to post in order to CORRECT your mis-information,
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I stand by the facts I presented. I do not want to get into a pissing match but will address your post.
gpeek:
INTURA DOES NOT HAVE OWNERSHIP IN ANY OTHER COMPANIES, PIZZA OR OTHERWISE. AND IT NEVER HAS.

I am one of 5 investors with Intura Solutions. I personally made an investment into a project that some friends of mine were getting into with Garlic Jim’s. My personal investment has nothing to do with Intura and the other investors in our software company.
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You are an investor and the president of Intura. You are also an investor in a Garlic Jim’s franchise. Either that introduces a conflict of interest with potential POS customers in the franchise area or means that your efforts are not 100% focused on development of Intura’s products.
gpeek:
I personally know the owners of 5 other POS companies (large and small) that have ownership or investments in pizza shops and restaurants.
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Want to substantiate that by naming them?
gpeek:
It certainly helps us to understand the restaurant industry better which translates to improvements in the POS software. (If you own mutual funds, then there is a good chance that you also have ownership in competitive pizza companies that are publicly traded.)
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One would learn little about a pizza shop simply by investing in it. You learn by operating one. As a supplier, you should learn about it from your customers.

And there is a big difference between passive investing in a mutual fund to active investment in a new venture. Not to mention your store was bristling with Intura’s products…
gpeek:
Yes - Shaun Crutchfield worked for me at Breakaway after having 8-9 years of experience with Domino’s Pizza. I brought him in for training at Breakaway due to his experience and how well it translated with my customers. He also worked for me at Intura for almost 3 years.
Yes - The QSR Ventures website was registered to me. I have a technology company. Go figure.
Yes - The PO BOX is close to my office. I thought it was a good idea to make it easy on me to pick up mail for accounting/financial purposes.
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I will let these facts speak for themselves despite your spin.
gpeek:
I spent 4 years working for Domino’s Pizza in the early '80’s. I spent several months driving and then managed for the rest of the time. I spent quite a bit of time turning problem stores around and worked in 21 store locations in 4 states. Most of that was for corporate and the final time period was for a franchisee. (This is where I got most of my experience and ideas for the original Breakaway system developed in 1990.)
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So?
gpeek:
Flower Mound is about an hour away from where you were planning to open your store. Doesn’t seem to be much competition in that.
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You miss the point.
gpeek:
(If you opened, let me know where it is. I would love to come try your product.)
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Hmmm…
gpeek:
I apologize that a new salesperson with my company “ticked” you off. Please forgive me for this and let’s move on to more important discussions about issues with technology and the pizza industry!
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Almost as bad as the Revention “explanation” about their online downtime.

I know I should have probably not responded to this, but your post came across as passive-aggressive apology. Grrrr.
 
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Charles,

Your right. I was being a little passive-agressive and trying to be a little funny so other readers wouldn’t die from boredom.

We will have to agree to disagree on the conflict of interest. I understand your concerns and your argument is valid but I was investing in a company that had made an investment in Intura. Intura has been the corporate required system for Garlic Jim’s for several years so the store was required to “bristle” with our Intura Vision POS technology.

I learned the pizza industry by spending 4 years managing stores and 20 years of providing technologies to customers in 44 countries. Those are customers who have I have listened to in order to continue the growth of our products and company.

I was really being honest about trying your product. Where is your store located in Mansfield?

Lastly, can we be done with this?
 
gpeek:
Lastly, can we be done with this?
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Seems this was a dead thread until you brought it back to life. You have nobody but yourself to point at on this one.
 
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