Innovating Your Franchise During COVID-19 with John Kutac of The Whimsy Cookie Company

Author: Josh F. Brown
06/09/2020

John Kutac brings a plethora of experience to his role as President at The Whimsy Cookie Company. Previously Kutac served as President for Growler USA including 10 years with Romano’s Macaroni Grill, owned by Brinker International, where he worked his way up to Managing Partner. There he assisted in growing the brand to over 200 locations. Following his time with Brinker International, Kutac held leadership roles at Western Capital Partners and Clear Choice Dental Implants before taking on the role of Chief Operating Officer of WellBiz Brands, Inc., one of the world’s largest wellness organizations.

Key Takeaways:

[0:18] Today’s episode of Franchise Euphoria is brought to you by IndyFranchiseLaw.com, a leading resource in the franchise space. Head over to IndyFranchiseLaw.com learn more!

[0:59] Josh introduces today’s guest, John Kutac, the president of The Whimsy Cookie Company.

[2:12] Josh welcomes John to Franchise Euphoria.

[2:37] John walks through his extensive history in franchising and describes how he came into the opportunity with Whimsy Cookie.

[4:06] John describes how Whimsy Cookie went from an in-home operation to a franchise system.

[7:04] All of the current Whimsy Cookie locations are currently fully built out locations with big kitchens, but John believes moving forward, a “hub and spoke” model might be more efficient for future locations.

[9:47] John shares how COVID-19 has affected the Whimsy Cookie locations.

[14:15] John describes what the experience of visiting a Whimsy Cookie store location is like.

[17:44] The ideal Whimsy Cookie franchisee is someone who is first and foremost passionate, but they are now targeting franchisees who will develop larger territories.

[19:43] In John’s opinion, anyone looking to franchise their business needs to be sure everything is documented ahead of time and do all the heavy lifting upfront.

[22:35] If you want to learn more about the Whimsy Cookie Company, visit their website listed below.

[23:06] Thanks for listening, and please, reach out to Josh anytime through email at josh@franchiseeuphoria.com. If you enjoyed this interview, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Mentioned in This Episode:

josh@franchiseeuphoria.com

www.franchiseeuphoria.com

www.indyfranchiselaw.com

https://whimsycookieco.com/franchise/

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Josh Brown

Hi! I’m Josh Brown, franchise attorney and creator of the Franchise Euphoria podcast. I’m just your average guy who loves to golf, eat hibachi, and immerse myself in the ever-expanding franchise world.

My goal is to navigate entrepreneurs and all people interested in the current events of franchises through all the hottest topics and most popular tools for success. Going on four years now, Franchise Euphoria is hotter than ever and ready to help you plan and execute a pathway to success.

Josh Brown

Great and applicable information from professionals in the franchise world that are doing it every day. I’ve listened to 3 episodes: Gutter Brothers, Woofies, and Cycle Bar. Enjoyed all and looking forward to hearing more.

Highly recommend. Great guests. Filled with tons of helpful information.

Josh and his wide variety of knowledgeable guests are truly rockstars! They deliver quality (and free!) franchise knowledge and advice in each and every episode. The great advice they provide, combined with the engaging way they deliver it had me hooked from the very first listen. Thanks for putting out such a stellar show Josh - keep up the great work!

This podcast provides the advice necessary to start building, growing, and scaling your business TODAY! The host asks probing questions of his guests that add value to the listeners in an immediately implementable way!

What do you get when you combine business savvy, legal expertice and a great personality? You get the ultimate podcast for franchise owners. Josh Brown brings it all togehter perfectly with Franchise Euphoria. Not only does he possess all of the skills and abiliites above, but he has great guests, asks awesome questions and created the ideal podcast for this niche. If you have a franchise, or are considering it, subscibe to this show and consume all of the content!

Started listening to Josh's podcast after the wife and I decided to buy a franchise and I quickly went through about 200 episodes on 1.5x & 2x, before signing on to purchase a franchise. Josh's info was an invaluable part of our decision to buy, and after listening to so many episodes, I felt like I knew and trusted him on a personal level, so it was a no-brainer to enlist his services when it came time to review the franchise agreement. Josh was super easy to talk to and very empathetic to our needs, and being first time business owners, we needed all the empathy we could get. Josh helped us negotiate a great deal with the franchisor and we were very happy with his services. Great podcast, great guy, great service to anyone involved in the franchise world!

Very interesting discussion. I found the information valuable.

I've just completed the legal process of franchising my business and have now begun selling franchises. Just found this podcast and it's an incredible resource! Great content and Josh is a very engaging host. Highly recommend for franchisors and franchisees.