Michael H. Seid is the founder and managing director of MSA Worldwide, a firm the International Franchise Association (IFA) has called “the leading strategic and tactical advisory firm in franchising.” He began his career at the age of 6, working in his family’s business, Ruth and Dave’s, in Brooklyn, New York. He traces his love of small business and success to the lessons he learned about quality, consistency, business finance, entrepreneurship, ethics, fair play, and a deep respect for the customer from working with his family. It was the way his parents managed the customer experience that inspired his approach for brick-and-mortar businesses to compete in an e-commerce environment through retail theater.
Michael entered college a bit earlier than most and took a break from his studies to serve in the U.S. Army, discharged as a staff sergeant. In the military he learned the importance of standards, the meaning of leadership, and that being part of a well-functioning and focused team that could rely on each other was necessary to achieve every goal. That’s why, he believes, veterans make such great franchisees and franchisors.
Michael became a CPA and then senior operations officer in franchised and nonfranchised corporations. He married his high-school sweetheart Susan, his bride and love for more than 40 years, and watched his two children Rachel and Drew grow up to be lawyers and business professionals. Drew agreed a few years back to leave the practice of law and bring his talents as a businessperson to MSA Worldwide. Of exceptional importance are Anabel and David, his grandchildren, and his son-in-law Michael, who is an amazing young man.
During a career in franchising spanning more than 30 years, Michael has been a senior operations and financial executive or consultant. He has also been a franchisee. Michael is the first professional ever directly elected to the board of the IFA, a role he has been fortunate to serve for more than a decade. He is the past chair of the IFA’s Supplier Forum and a former member of the IFA’s Executive Committee. He frequently testifies on legislative matters for the IFA.
MSA’s clients are diverse and aren’t limited to those in franchising. The firm’s primary clients are small and mid-sized companies, but MSA also is fortunate to routinely work with many of the world’s largest franchisors and nonfranchisors in the United States and abroad as strategist, tactician, and litigation expert in complex legal matters. Some of MSA’s core practice offerings include the design and development of emerging franchise systems, social franchising, domestic and international expansion and support, the development of headquarters and field support systems, manuals and training programs, franchise relations, and the restructuring of established franchise systems. Michael is a noted author, oft-quoted expert in the field, and frequent speaker. He has received numerous awards, is an active social franchisor, and serves on university and legislature-appointed boards. His e-mail address is mseid@msaworldwide.com (www.msaworldwide). He can also be reached at 860-523-4257.
Joyce Mazero is partner and co-chair of the Global Supply Network at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. With a legal career spanning more than 35 years, Joyce has established an international reputation as a strong and strategic lawyer and a trusted business advisor in the franchising, supply chain, food service, restaurant, and retail industries. At Gardere she leads the team and its interdisciplinary group of professionals, all of whom advise national and multinational franchised and independent businesses on building and expanding chains across the globe.
Throughout her career, Joyce has led numerous projects for small and large entrepreneurial and experienced companies. Her work primarily focuses on the food service, restaurant, and retail industries. Joyce has represented some of the world’s best-known brands including IHOP, Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Tempur Sealy, Interstate Battery, Olive Garden, and Bojangles. Her numerous projects include development of intellectual property, sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, selling, acquiring, and financing all types of businesses, as well as franchising, licensing, and other methods of distribution.
Known for being a tenacious advocate, Joyce was recognized early in her career by restaurant legend Norman Brinker (Chili’s) for her work on one of Brinker’s first international deals. It is that support and the collective experience, wisdom, and advice of senior executives such as Julia Stewart (DineEquity), Sarah Palisi Chapin (Burger King, Hail Merry), Bill Hyde (Ruth’s Chris), Jeff Rogers (Pizza Inn), and Greg Walther (Outback Steakhouse) that have fueled Joyce’s commitment to the law and franchising, paving the way for her storied career.
Since 2008, Joyce has been annually top-ranked as one of the nation’s leading franchise attorneys by Chambers USA, and she is internationally recognized as a leading franchise attorney by Chambers Global. Joyce’s clients recognize her as having a “very strong sense of what it takes to drive a business” and commend her for her “experience, negotiating ability, and exceptional knowledge base.”
Joyce is an active agent working on behalf of franchising in the business community. Through her leadership at the Women’s Franchise and Distribution Forum, Women’s Foodservice Forum, and Women Corporate Directors Foundation, she has championed women throughout the franchise industry, continuously encouraging women to become multi-unit franchise operators or seek management positions with franchisors. She has served on the boards of the IFA, National Restaurant Association Foundation, Women’s Foodservice Forum, ABA Forum on Franchising, The University of North Texas College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance. She serves as Chair Emeritus for the Women Corporate Directors’ DFW Chapter and as a member of the Advisory Board of National Restaurant Association’s Executive Supply Chain Group. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Women’s Foodservice Forum Leadership Award, the IFA Bonnie Levine Award and Compass Award, and the Dallas Business Journal Women in Business Award.
A frequent national speaker and writer, Joyce was co-editor of the ABA Forum on Franchising Monograph on Franchise Performance Representations: The New and Updated Earnings Claims, co-author of the Monograph on International Franchising (Local Laws), and co-author of Collateral Issues in Franchising: Beyond Registration and Disclosure (Supply Chain Issues in Franchise Systems), as well as a legal advisor to the first edition of Franchising For Dummies (Wiley).
Joyce can be contacted by email at jmazero@gardere.com or by phone at 214-999-4519.
This book is dedicated to the franchisors and franchisees that have driven the innovative engine of franchising and from whom I have learned my craft. I wish you continued prosperity.
To Joyce, my co-author, whom I have known and respected for more than 30 years. Collaboration between equals, one primarily with a business background and the other primarily from a legal background, let us explore the same issues through slightly different lenses. The collaboration challenged and benefited our friendship and we hope benefits the reader.
To the leadership and members of the IFA, I am forever grateful for your role in advancing and protecting the business of franchising that has allowed so many people globally to achieve their dreams of economic independence.
To social impact investors, donors, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs, it is my extreme desire that this book trigger a better understanding of the power of social franchising to solve many of the issues we have all been addressing at the base of the pyramid. I want to single out Scott Hillstrom for his leadership in social franchising and Kash Rangan at Harvard University for taking franchising and the base of the pyramid lesson to an entirely new level of understanding.
To my partner Kay Ainsley and the team at MSA Worldwide. It is through you that MSA has achieved its professional standing in franchising. Thank you. Kay Ainsley has been more than my partner and friend. She has been my balance. She has kept me on track, pushed me to succeed, and mentored me for many years. Five-foot nothing, less than 100 pounds, and a presence that makes senior executives of Fortune 10 companies lean forward as they take notes, Kay is by every measure the most consummate professional and delight I have ever had the good fortune to know.
Finally, to my wife Susan, my children Rachel and Drew, my grandchildren Anabel and David, and my son-in-law Michael, you are what makes life perfect. — Michael
This book is dedicated to my co-author, Michael Seid, without whom I would not have had the opportunity to participate in the writing of this book, and to my treasured partners Len MacPhee, Jess Dance, William Sentell, and S.L. Owens, the driving forces behind this wonderful collaboration known as Gardere’s Global Supply Network Industry Practice. I will be forever grateful for your commitment to me and our practice. — Joyce
We are grateful to each franchisee and franchisor that has taught us our crafts. We have tried to be good shepherds of their lessons in Franchise Management For Dummies. We are also grateful to our many friends and colleagues, including those in the IFA — an immensely important association focused on advancing and protecting franchising — who have contributed in small and large ways to this book.
If it were not for the help of some very talented people at the publisher, most assuredly including our editor Corbin Collins, who kept us focused on removing the normal jargon of industry professionals and driving us to conform to well-established Dummies approaches, this book could never have been written as well as we hope it has.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier
Editor: Corbin Collins
Technical Editor: Charles Cowgill
Production Editor: Siddique Shaik
Producer: Richard Graves
Cover Photos: © Mike Kemp/Getty Images