Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success: Firehouse Subs

By Celine McArthur Thu, July 14, 2011 6:44 pm EDT

In this weak economy, many businesses are downsizing or closing. That's scary or depressing if you're worried about your job. However, there are companies—in Jacksonville—that are growing fast. Find out how two Florida State College at Jacksonville alumni turned their love of food into a major national franchise. Did I mention that they're alum?

“We naturally both became firemen, but always had this burning entrepreneurial drive to do something. What do we love to do? We love cooking, we love restaurants, and we love the fire department. Firehouse Subs was born.!”~Robin Sorensen, Co-founder, Firehouse Subs

Every year, the Jacksonville Business Journal ranks and publishes the top 50 fastest growing (privately held) companies in Jacksonville. This information can help you make an educated career decision.

"This year’s list is extremely diversified with 10 companies from real estate and construction, eight in technology, seven in finance and insurance, six in logistics and distribution, five in professional services, four in staffing, four in retail — including three restaurants, three in manufacturing and a few miscellaneous," says Eleanor Snite, Research Director, Jacksonville Business Journal.

If you've visited Florida State College at Jacksonville's main website, you'll see that the College offers programs—or is in the process of developing programs—and continuing education courses to prepare students for careers in many of the industries on this list: real estate, construction, technology, finance and insurance, logistics, restaurants, professional services.  Of course, we can't forget to include our new bachelor's degree in Business Adminstration and our bachelor's in Supervision & Management. 

If your dream is to launch your own business, watch our Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success series. These winners share some insight and advice that may be able to help you land on the Jacksonville Business Journal's 2012 list. In fact, this advice can apply to anyone who wants to advance their careers.

In Part 1, we interview two FSCJ alumni who have set the "good-food-served-quickly" industry on fire!

The Sorensen brothers—Chris and Robin—are the co-founders of Firehouse Subs. What started as a single sandwich shop in 1994—has exploded into franchise success across 24 states.

“We have 433 restaurants—that’s 432 more than I thought we would ever have! (laughter) It’s 433 more than anybody else thought we would have,” says Robin Sorensen. “Everybody said we’re dreamers, but now that we are successful, we are entrepreneurs.”

These former firefighters say these are the key ingredients in their recipe for success:

FEED YOUR FIRE

Robin: “We naturally both became firemen, but always had this burning entrepreneurial drive to do something. What do we love to do? We love cooking, we love restaurants, and we love the fire department. Firehouse Subs was born.”

QUALITY. PERIOD.

Chris: “Maintaining high standards in the food quality, the portions, all of the above, and that put us ahead.”

Chris: “A lot of people are looking at quality, do we need this. It’s expensive… The quality and portions have been set since the first store opened, and we’re not changing who we are.”

TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS AS IF YOUR BUSINESS DEPENDS ON THEM

Chris: “Know your customers and give them more than they expect. People want to feel important. Whatever you are selling, give them the personal service that they want.”

INSPIRE LOYALTY

Robin: “When you get an employee that’s engaged in our culture, service, foundation and all that, there are so many things that they can grab a hold of.”

Robin: “We started a foundation in 2005 called Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation. The main mission is to provide life saving equipment for fire and police departments across the country.”

Robin: “We went over to Katrina… We fed survivors that were in shock.”

Robin: “That’s the kind of thing that we hope an employee will see and go, ‘I came here just for a job, but this is a company that I can work with and want to be with.”

We’re proud to say that Chris Sorensen and Robin Sorensen are Florida State College alumni. Both earned their Fundamentals of Emergency Care (EMT) certificates at the College. We’ve also discovered that five employees are FSCJ graduates!

Chris: “We have a couple in night school now with you. I have actually talked about for years with my wife, even going back myself. I would love to get a degree. I just have to talk to Dr. Wallace and see if he will work around my schedule! (Laughs)

I asked Robin to offer career advice to students: 

“First I like to preface that before I talk to students; don’t write any of this down! (Laughs) We didn’t build this business the right way. You probably just learned in class how to build a business. At the end of the day, I always followed my heart and did what I thought was best for me. Not everybody knows. Sometimes it takes until late in your 20’s. I knew as a teenager, but what do you really want to do with your life? Really spend time thinking about that. What do you enjoy doing?”

“Everybody is in a rush to start at the top. They want to be successful. If you asked me at 18, do I want to be wealthy, sure! Sign me up! It just doesn’t work that way. It took a while, but we finally dialed in to what we really are passionate about and wanted to do. You’re not going to go out right on top. I had a young man tell me, I just want to do what you and Chris do all day. I said what’s that? He said, drive around and look at restaurants all day.”

“The advice would be, you are not in a rush. It’s a marathon; you don’t have to get in a big hurry. Take you time and try to work in the industries that you love. I’ve done that. I love the fire department. Our whole family is in it. In my heart, I wanted to do something different, and I left the department, which nobody does, and I went and did my own thing.”

“What’s unique about being young is that you have this time to explore. You don’t have to run right out today and get the big job. If you have 3 or 4 things that you would like to do, go work in all of them. It’s not easy. Lots of my kid’s friends are entering college, and they are going through these same things, and they all want to open a firehouse. My 17-year-old son and best friend told me that they were real serious and wanted to talk to me, they wanted to open a Firehouse in Hawaii. (Laughs!), but they want to get their degree first. We don’t have any restaurants in Hawaii and I’ll have the first one!”

Check out the Jacksonville Business Journal to see the full 2011 list of winners.

About Celine McArthur
Celine McArthur is the Associate Vice President of Strategic Communications at Florida State College at Jacksonville. A veteran television news anchor and award-winning investigative reporter, she came to Florida State College in July of 2009 following nearly a decade of anchoring and reporting at a Jacksonville TV station, with previous stints in markets as diverse as Washington D.C. and Austin, TX. Celine earned her Master of Arts in Communications and Public Policy from American University and her Bachelor of Science in Journalism at Boston University. Her secret password is energy.