Upon meeting young entrepreneur, Nathan Hindo, your first impression is you're talking to a seasoned businessman who co-owns with his mom and two sisters, four Tubby's/Just Baked franchises in Metro Detroit with a fifth store in process.
Nathan, 26 and his 30 something sisters, Saba and Nancy, are part of Generation Y, children of boomers, considered a tech savvy generation who have taken the path of family entrepreneurship. (www.tubbys.com/franchise)
"While no one could predict the impact of the pandemic, we were prepared and serviced our customers by leveraging technology and our drive thru. While other fast casuals were down, we increased sales and were profitable," says Hindo.
Nathan oversees the business management of their Tubby's/Just Baked stores while his sisters and mother manage operations.
His mother, Tina, managed the first store they purchased in 2013. Success led to an aggressive approach to opening more stores.
"We could see multi-unit economies of scale. Given today's supply chain and labor challenges, multi-units allow us to move inventory around and share labor," he explains.
Although not much older than some of the people he hires, Nathan's philosophy is employee experience matters. He hires two employees a month and eases them into the business part time with personalized support and job flexibility.
"It takes the stress out of learning a new job and makes a difference in retention," says Hindo. "Employees who get overwhelmed quit," he explains.
Plans to open a fifth store in Southfield, MI, Spring 2022 were postponed when the building caught fire two weeks before grand opening. While the fire was devastating, Nathan and his family are upbeat, keeping it in perspective. "No one was hurt and as a family we are pushing through it," he said.