After a long and illustrious restaurant industry career spanning forty-three years – including the past twenty-four years with Fazoli’s – Vice President of Franchise Sales Sam Nelson will retire effective March 21st.
Sam’s affiliation with Fazoli’s dates all the way back to 1985 when the concept was originally conceived by parent company Jerrico, Inc. He was an integral part of the team that opened the first five Fazoli’s in Lexington, KY before leaving Jerrico to purchase The Coach House Restaurant – at the time the only Mobil Five-Star restaurant in the State of Kentucky. In 1992 Sam was inducted into the Nation’s Restaurant News Fine Dining Hall of Fame.
Sam rejoined Fazoli’s in 1994 and served as the company’s first-ever Franchise Business Consultant. After several promotions including Director and Group Chairman of Franchise Operations, Sam was selected in 1998 to lead the Franchise Department as Vice President, Franchise Operations and Sales. That same year, Sam was presented with Fazoli’s “Servant Leadership Award”, the only recipient of this award in the Company’s history.
In the ensuing years that followed under Sam’s leadership, the company’s franchise community doubled in size, easily exceeding the number of company-owned units. In recent years, Sam focused once again on growing Fazoli’s franchise system.
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