---
title: "Fast Casual: This Jimmy John’s Multi-Unit Franchisee Found Success By Empowering Employees to Work for Themselves"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/aef73ac0-57c9-4dec-a56b-34d5606c34eb
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-this-jimmy-johns-multi-unit-franchisee-found-success-by-empowering-employees-to-work-for-themselves-12167
category: "Fast casual"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Fast casual"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit","Operations"]
published: 2017-05-11T15:10:46.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:12:49.595Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/ccf3322fee1086ccb80684875dd8ef974313.jpg
---

# Fast Casual: This Jimmy John’s Multi-Unit Franchisee Found Success By Empowering Employees to Work for Themselves

**TL;DR:** Dave Vansteenburg, a Jimmy John's franchisee, has found success by empowering his employees and sharing the company's success with them. He has 59 stores open and is the second-largest franchisee in the system.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2017-05-11. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-this-jimmy-johns-multi-unit-franchisee-found-success-by-empowering-employees-to-work-for-themselves-12167).*

## Story

Sixteen years ago, Dave Vansteenburg became one of Jimmy Johns’ first franchisees. Today, with 59 stores open, he’s the second-largest franchisee in the system.

Vansteenburg, who has averaged four openings a year since 2011, turns in higher than the company average when it comes to AUVs, and his same-store sales have been positive 14 out of the 16 years he’s been in business.

His secret? “It’s the people you hire and how you treat them, and that ends up being what helps you make it or what holds you back,” Vansteenburg told Fast Casual.

That means employees share in the company’s success.

"I give bonus checks to the managers that have earned them every 28 days," Vansteenburg told Fast Casual. "I've done that since I started in 2001. It's not enough to wait until the end of the year. Share the success regularly and often."

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- franchise success (topic)
- multi-unit franchisee (topic)
- Jimmy John's (company)
- employee empowerment (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/fast-casual-this-jimmy-johns-multi-unit-franchisee-found-success-by-empowering-employees-to-work-for-themselves-12167). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/aef73ac0-57c9-4dec-a56b-34d5606c34eb).