“The military really prepared us for something like this,” Doughty says. “You put pepperonis on a pizza like this, you put cheese on like this, you make dough this way. All the tasks are simplified like that. We’re working within a system just like the military.”
But the in the Army, Doughty never had to worry about marketing, food costs, or his physical limitations.
“I wear prosthetic legs, and I’m on my feet all day,” he says. “If I need to sit down for a little bit, I can do that because our staff is trained well enough now I don’t have to be so hands-on and involved.”
Most single-unit operators dream of the day their employees can run the store without their help. How has Doughty done it in five short months? Army discipline?
“I wish I could [make them do pushups]. It would be a whole lot easier,” says a laughing Doughty. “We really try to get the employee to respect you enough to want to do a good job, so I don’t have to come out there and demand for them to do something. But there’s always going to be that 5 percent of people that just are un-trainable, unemployable; they don’t want to listen.”
Doughty is a natural leader, says Rick Moreno, Little Caesars executive vice president of administration and strategy. In fact, Moreno says leadership is the common denominator among all nine of the program’s veterans.
“I have been amazed at the skill sets of [our] veterans,” Moreno says. “They demonstrate dedication, team building, good management, leadership, and they are familiar with systems and processes.”
Moreno says there’s no cap on how many veterans Little Caesars will sign, but says the military background is “a good fit. And we wanted to demonstrate to other business leaders that programs like this can be created to make a difference.”
The Little Caesars veterans recently met in Detroit for the Inaugural Little Caesars Veterans Training Program, a three-day precursor to the pizza chain’s six-week franchisee training program. They received training on real estate, operations, marketing, and human resources, among other things. The group also enjoyed a Detroit Tigers game, where Doughty threw the first pitch.
At the game, Moreno noticed the vets swapping numbers and bonding on a different level. “As they open their stores, they will rely on each other.” Something servicemen and women are all too familiar with. It doesn’t hurt that the veterans respect their franchisor, too.
“Little Caesars has really opened up to veterans and given [us] the opportunity to put [our] foot in the door,” Doughty says.