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Before Back Yard Burgers signed its big development deal with fast-food giant Yum! Brands Inc., potential franchisees interested in seeing a restaurant in person typically had to drive hundreds of miles on a rough road badly in need of repair.
That is because the concept, which originally was conceived as a double-drive-thru, was born almost literally in the backyard of founder Lattimore "Lattie" Michael. Michael opened the first unit in Cleveland, Miss., a location that happens to be only 20 miles from his hometown of Rosedale.
"I picked it because I lived there at the time," Michael says. "The plan was to have three or four restaurants in the area that I would run. I didn't even think of franchising when I first started."
But after Michael opened his first restaurant in 1987, word spread quickly that he was selling charbroiled, made-to-order burgers with fresh leaf lettuce and red onions.
In fact, Nick Griffith, executive vice president of Back Yard Burgers and the first manager that Michael hired, recalls that the original location was "successful beyond our wildest dreams." Entrepreneurs quickly came knocking on Michael's door, asking to open franchise units of their own.
"Selling franchises was interesting the first few years," Griffith says. "In order to see a restaurant, people would fly to Memphis and drive 120 miles south to Cleveland."
Griffith says the only road was a two-lane highway that was not only in disrepair but also full of speed traps with police officers just waiting to hand out tickets.
But more than 15 years later a lot has changed for Back Yard Burgers. First, the company has moved its headquarters to Memphis, Tenn. And while the chain still charbroils its burgers and makes fresh-squeezed lemonade, it has traded in many of its double-drive-thru locations for restaurants that feature a single lane for cars along with a greater focus on dine-in business.
Back Yard Burgers, which went public in 1993, has posted increases of 40 percent or more in net income for 10 consecutive quarters. The chain also has grown to 110 restaurants, of which 70 are franchised.
"We were sold on the quality of the food," recalls Back Yard franchisee Scott Prewitt, who is based in Boone, N.C., and is preparing to...