that WJ Partners uses its own
money; it doesn’t work with
outside investors who might
pressure it to break promises.
The Eggs Up deal took nine
months to negotiate. Corn sat
down with everybody at WJ
Partners, “even people who
weren’t going to be involved,” and
pressed upon them the values
of the company. He felt heard.
And eventually, Skodras and
Corn were ready to sign—and
cry. Their baby was now officially
someone else’s (though they
retained a vested interest in the
company, with no official roles).
The news came as a shock to
many. “When I found out, I was
very excited. WJ Partners has
a solid background in scaling
concepts,” says Hampton, the
franchisee who had to give up
equity in his second location.
The reality, he says, is that
Eggs Up is easier to operate with
private equity at the helm. In
part, that’s because the new own-
ers saw the chain very differently
than the old owners. This wasn’t
just a place driven by love and
gut instinct anymore. Now it was
a business meant to scale.AFTER THE SALE, WJ looked for
a new leader to grow the com-
pany. It found that in Ricky
Richardson, who had spent
20 years at TGI Fridays—
including three as president.
He learned a lot there but also
saw what can happen when a
brand loses clarity in its vision.
It’s a problem for many leg-
acy concepts and resulted in
TGI Fridays closing 58 stores
between 2014 and 2016.
“It’s hard to be all things to all
people,” says Richardson. “The
risk there is you end up dilutingwhat you really stand for.” And
a diluted brand is easy to attack.
“What historically may have
been indirect competitors end
up being direct competitors,” he
says. “You’re not as focused as
you were in the past, so people
can carve off little pieces of you.”
This is why he saw so much
potential in a little breakfast
brand. “What’s so appealing
about Eggs Up Grill is the level
of authenticity that comes with
it,” Richardson says. He talks
a lot about authenticity. It’s a
little ironic, given the transfor-
mation he’s tasked with lead-
ing, but it’s clearly germane to
Eggs Up’s messaging: We may
be scaling, it seems to say, but
we’re still the local guys.
“That connection is really dif-
ferentiating and compelling for
a guest,” Richardson says.
There’s also a differencebetween authenticity and,
well, inefficiencies created by
authentic founders. Since join-
ing the company in July 2018,
Richardson has made fast work
of plugging those holes.
For example, the once-tiny
corporate team is now a lot big-
ger. In the past, franchisees
might have waited two days
to hear back from someone.
“Now if I call, somebody will
answer in 30 seconds,” fran-
chisee Hampton says. “They
give you support on market-
ing, site selection, P&Ls—they
look out for the bottom line.”
Plus, he says, there’s no emotion
involved. “It’s just business.”
Richardson also tightened
up costs. Eggs Up used to have
72 menu items; now it has 55.
He eliminated poor-performing
dishes like tuna and egg
salad and negotiated betterGrowth
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