The Wolf chats with french fry master, Lucas Mitchell, a successful entrepreneur and franchisee of Five Guys, to discuss the ins and outs of scaling a franchise business. From building strong relationships with franchisees to managing shiny object syndrome, Lucas shares valuable insights and lessons learned along his journey. How did Lucas go from owning five stores to over 20? What were the challenges and rewards that came with his rapid growth? He details his unique strategies for managing debt covenants and explains how he leveraged specific relationships to fuel his franchise’s expansion. Hear how Lucas has kept his composure and avoided the temptation of shiny object syndrome to maintain a consistent relationship with Five Guys. He reveals his philosophy for scaling a sustainable organization and tells the Wolf how he managed to escape with his sanity intact while growing Five Guys.  Lucas also explores why continuous learning and evolution were essential to his role as a leader. Find out how he has leveled up his leadership skills and implemented guidelines to run his business effectively. Plus, get a glimpse into Lucas's future plans for growth, including the potential for expanding into other brands.    Paylocity offers the only modern HR and payroll solution that makes real-time recommendations to drive better business outcomes. Paylocity is the modern, all-in-one platform that makes HR and payroll easier — so you can focus on your employees. We’ll make onboarding faster, recruiting smarter, and compliance simpler. To learn more visit https://paylocity.com/restaurants.   00:06:13 - Leveraging Relationships to Buy Locations 00:12:12 - Investment Strategy: Equity vs. Debt 00:16:04 - Navigating Debt Covenants in Restaurant Ownership 00:18:43 - Understanding Debt Covenants in Franchising 00:23:25 - Combining Five Guys with Another Brand 00:25:40 - Managing Shiny Object Syndrome as an Entrepreneur 00:31:18 - Avoid Entrepreneurial Mistakes: Focus First 00:34:57 - Building Relationships Key to Franchise Success 00:41:37 - Evolving Leadership Skills in Business   Follow Lucas:  Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmitchellhq?lang=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmitchellhq/   Follow The Wolf:  Newsletter: https://workweek.com/brand/the-wolf-of-franchises/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewolfoffranchises Twitter: https://twitter.com/franchisewolf Website: https://www.krokit.com   And for exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel.   Are you a future franchise entrepreneur? Find all of the tools you need to launch, operate, and expand your franchise empire with the platform created by The Wolf himself, Krokit.com.   And if you’ve enjoyed listening to Franchise Empires, I’d be so grateful if you could drop me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast. Thank you so much!