---
title: "The Employee to Franchisee Pipeline: Why Career Opportunities Could Help Restaurant Franchises Overcome Labor Challenges"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/70588757-0cd1-4a53-833d-e225d17e1876
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/the-employee-to-franchisee-pipeline-why-career-opportunities-could-help-restaurant-franchises-overcome-labor-challenges-2720062
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit","Operations"]
published: 2022-10-18T19:14:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:16:21.460Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/4bb095f3ca2637e5bcca9e7367b9e16b737.jpg
---

# The Employee to Franchisee Pipeline: Why Career Opportunities Could Help Restaurant Franchises Overcome Labor Challenges

**TL;DR:** Franchisors are exploring ways to highlight career opportunities for employees to become franchise owners to overcome labor challenges. Domino's CEO Russell Weiner noted that 95% of Domino's franchisees started out as employees.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2022-10-18. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/the-employee-to-franchisee-pipeline-why-career-opportunities-could-help-restaurant-franchises-overcome-labor-challenges-2720062).*

## Story

In the world of franchising, starting as an employee at the store level and working your way up to become a franchise owner is a common and inspiring story, especially in the restaurant industry. Now, with labor challenges continuing to impact the industry, franchisors are looking for ways to better tell that story to both prospective employees and prospective franchise owners.

Domino's CEO Russell Weiner, for example, recently brought up a similar point during the company’s Q3 earnings call, Business Insider reports .

Weiner pointed out that a whopping 95% of Domino’s franchisees started out as employees making pizza or driving. “Six franchisees purchased the first store they ever worked in,” he said. “And so that's part of the American dream, which is Domino's.”

Domino’s sold 114 company-owned stores to 11 franchisees in Arizona and Utah this past quarter, according to a news release , two of whom were former corporate employees, the company said.

Today, with talk of The Great Resignation and more and more people looking to leave the uncertainty of their 9-to-5 life, interest in franchising is growing . If franchisors like Domino’s can show both store-level and corporate workers that there are entrepreneurial opportunities within the four walls of the company, they may be able to bolster both their employee retention and their franchise growth.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- franchise growth (topic)
- Domino's (company)
- Arizona (location)
- Utah (location)
- employee retention (topic)
- Russell Weiner (person)
- labor challenges (topic)
- career opportunities (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/the-employee-to-franchisee-pipeline-why-career-opportunities-could-help-restaurant-franchises-overcome-labor-challenges-2720062). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/70588757-0cd1-4a53-833d-e225d17e1876).