Melting Pot Franchise Owner: How Chris Millsap Went from Server to Manager to Owner

Before becoming a Melting Pot franchisee, Chris Millsap started his journey in the food service industry working as a restaurant server and a manager.

During his time working as a manager, Millsap says he occasionally thought about what it would be like to own his own restaurant, and his experience in his role helped push him in that direction. After about three or four years as a manager, he says he spoke to some friends, and they began to seriously consider opening their own restaurant.

While looking for opportunities, they met the owners of a Melting Pot location in Cincinnati, Ohio, who were looking to sell. According to Millsap, they “eagerly” said yes, and their journey as franchisees had officially begun.

Millsap and his partners bought the Cincinnati Melting Pot location in November of 2007, right before the 2008 recession. While it was a tough experience, he says working through that economic uncertainty really forged their abilities as operators and showed them exactly what it would take to run a successful restaurant.

Nearly two decades later, Millsap and his partners run four Melting Pot locations across the country. His restaurants are located in places like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Kansas City, Missouri; and the unit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Over the years, Millsap says their restaurants have won numerous accolades, and more recently, he says the Pittsburgh location has been named “Franchise of the Year” two years in a row.

“Every time our restaurants win an award it sort of fuels the fire for us to keep doing better,” Millsap said, “I’m happy with where we’ve landed.”

Looking forward, he says there are definitely more opportunities for the brand to move into new markets, but for now, his team is focused on making their restaurants as successful as possible.

“If you want to grow with a brand, Melting Pot is one of those brands that can help you get to the top,” Millsap said, “there’s always opportunity, and I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count.”

Founded in 1975, Melting Pot has offered a unique fondue dining experience for more than 45 years. As the premier fondue restaurant franchise, Melting Pot has more than 90 restaurants in 31 U.S. states and Canada. Known for offering a variety of fondue cooking styles and unique entrées, Melting Pot’s menu also features cheese fondues, salads, fine wines, spirits and chocolate fondue desserts. Melting Pot is an affiliate of Front Burner Brands, a restaurant management company headquartered in Tampa, Florida. For more information, visit www.meltingpot.com .