Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ed Cunningham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ed, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.

One of the reasons I was proud of owning a Firehouse subs Franchise was the amount of money we were able to donate back to our First Responders. As a former Firefighter and Paramedic, it meant a lot to me that I was able to keep serving our community as well as my brothers and sisters still on the job even after I stopped running calls. This new business concept will take that to a new level and I will continue to donate parts of our profits, as well as our customers to round up for grants for First Responders and Military

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My entre life I had been taught that to have something you want, you have to first earn it. From 8yo when I started my own paper route, to gutting homes with my uncle from 10-13 and up till now, I have always done my best to earn my way in everything. Having been as low as being homeless, I also learned how hard it can be for a person to pull themselves out of such a humbling situation and also to seek and receive help and mentorship, when needed. Because I have been blessed with such diverse trials I work to pay all of the kindness and mentorship forward when I have the chances to. This has also had some amazing and unexpected blessings that carried over into my success in business.

After I had opened my Firehouse Subs restaurant in Surprise Arizona, my cousin and I (she was my partner and bestie) went to work on what we saw as the core of our business. Our employees. Too often businesses focus on the results rather than the core that will create the results. Our philosophy was that if we empowered our employees to take ownership over their work environment, the quality of their work, as well as the complete responsibility for their employment that we would learn quickly who was right for our family of employees, and who were a wrong fit. I told every single employee that we hired and trained over the years that I would never fire a single employee, but that we would absolutely respect their right to choose to not work there and let them go.

It may seem like a semantic, but the mindset change is the core of allowing people to step up into their own personal responsibility and to excel. The old style of punishment and reward does not work on this generation of young workers. Our results were a very small turn over rate and not having to try and retain staff by out paying our competitors. we also rose to being ranked one of the highest grossing franchises and ranked #1 out of over 1,300 other Firehouse restaurants. We also went on to be the highest selling restaurant in the history of the franchise when we closed on the sale two months ago. Focusing on the results neglects the core, whereas focusing on the core will always produce results.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

Adversity can create necessity. With a determined mindset necessity opens the eyes to opportunity.

During the building of the restaurant I unfortunately began going through a separation. This created a lot of strain financially personally and on the business. The week before we opened, I was served divorce papers in front of all of my new employees and Corporate trainers. It was humiliating but a blessing in the end. In order to expedite the divorce and move forward with my life, I willingly gave up nearly every marital asset I had and only asked for one thing…. My restaurant. When we opened our doors to the public, I had zero dollars in my personal bank account and just enough cash to run the restaurant. This left very little to be able to afford a normal amount of LRM monies to be spent.

This had been on my mind for months leading up to the opening so I threw my self into what I knew I was good at and that was social media. I was blessed to have known one of the early contributors to Facebook when it was still just at Harvard so I had been an early member and watched the algorithms grow and change over the years. Unfortunately, my franchise agreement stated I could not have a restaurant page. Now in my defense, I did not break any rules but….. I may have bent a few. :)

I started a Facebook page about a former local firefighter who was planning on bringing the Firehouse Subs concept to the Surprise Arizona area. It was a place for people in the community to visit and get updates on our progress and to get to know each of us who were part of putting this amazing and charitable QSR concept together. The word spread like wildfire and I gained a local following that was priceless and worth more than any amount of moneys that could have been spent on door hangers, coupons or other standard practices. Because of this, our restaurant had revenue that far exceeded expectations of eve our most hopeful projections. We became a Championship Circle Million Dollar producer in our first year open and broke records for repeat customers as well as loyalty program members across the nation. This taught us a huge marketing truth… Facts tell but stories sell.

After a chance to meet with the CEO and explain what we were doing that was so different, Firehouse Subs developed a program to help individual franchisees create and manage their own social media pages for their restaurants.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I met my cousin/business partner when I was born, though I don’t remember much from that first meeting. She has been one of my best friends, confidant and one of the hardest working women I have ever known. She shares my love of community service as well asl love and loyalty to family which is so very important when doing a business together. Plus she is one of the few people not at all afraid to call me out when I make a mistake! Her stepping in to help me finish opening the restaurant was a god send and started the business side to our relationship. The new service industry concept that we are planning is centered and founded on that love of community and family spirit. It will be a venue concept that makes coming together as a community to spend time together. With acres of places to sit and eat and play games and listen to music, we are creating the perfect place to relax and make memories. We are both excited to take the lessons we learned from running a successful service industry QSR to the next level!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @edifiedliving (original account was hacked and finally deleted. this is brand new)
• Facebook: Ed Cunningham
• Linkedin: Ed Cunningham