Now, you're about three weeks from opening. We'll go over a long final checklist to be sure nothing important is left undone or unmanaged. This ensures that when your training team arrives, their full energy goes to teaching, not problem solving. You hire your employees, following a specific hiring method we've found works best. We'll go over the first week's schedule and make a plan for training.

On-Site Training

Opening training takes several days, representing many hours of work on our part before we even get there. Training teams usually consist of at least two people from the corporate office and at least one established restaurant owner (just kidding about the restaurant owner).

During training, three themes are central: Operations, Art and creating Raving Fans. We want a business that is unlike any other. That means, first and foremost, taking care of people: employees, owners, and customers. Profits follow directly from that. We don't want "satisfied customers"... we are creating "raving fans". G'nosh is "Their Place" and "Word of Mouth" advertising is what we are built on. 

We also want to make sure you'll be prepared for the day you'll be training future employees on your own. Our goal is to lay a solid foundation of creating the G'nosh experience, excellent customer service, strong marketing efforts, happy employees, and tight business systems. 

Nothing makes us more proud than watching you open those doors on your grand opening day. You did it, and you're now in the business of making a whole bunch of new friends that you will welcome through your doors each day.

Post-Opening Support

After your studio is open you will continue to work closely with G'nosh to solidify the foundation established during your opening. After that, your JVP will become your main contact. Your JVP's mission is to help you grow your G'nosh studio.

We provide you with ongoing marketing support, production guidance, training materials for employees, artistic development, practical business advice, expert field visits and a group-purchasing program. Our annual convention, the G'nosh intranet, accounting assistance, newsletters, and continuous new creative ideas are some great examples of ongoing communication between the home office and our G'nosh partners.

When neighboring G'nosh partners desire to work cooperatively on marketing and other issues, we are available to help organize and facilitate. We also provide you with the best pricing available by identifying suppliers who meet our strict standards for quality. We negotiate the best pricing available and pass that savings on to you. You see, this is another difference with the typical franchise model. It's in our interest, and yours, to have the "bottom line" (that's the profit line for the engineers that have slipped by to this point) be as high as we can make it. The Partner Agreement requires you to buy only from our approved suppliers, which maintains quality standards. But here's the deal...if you can find the same quality for less, we're right behind you.

Marketing Support

In talking with candidates and new owners over the years, we’ve often heard that the marketing aspect of this business is one of the most valuable and exciting, yet intimidating fundamentals. Wouldn't it be nice to have a large group of partners to bounce ideas off of? There's a saying... "Success breeds success". We listen to what's going on out there... and we share. (Momma's so proud.)

Our business model has a 2% of gross sales contribution from each studio. This is a huge benefit to all! Marketing materials can be produced for everyone at a significant savings to each individual location. On top of that, each Managing Partner has a budget of 4% of gross sales to spend on local advertising. You have the freedom and responsibility to spend your marketing dollars wisely at the local level to reinforce your status within your community as a locally owned and operated business. Within the overall brand umbrella, you create an authentic and personalized representation of the G'nosh brand in your market. As a G'nosh Partner, you receive the benefit of professional tools developed at the national level, combined with your own experience and that of our learning community, to execute your marketing plan.

Learning Community

From day 1, you will start working with your JVP whose sole job is to help you grow your studio. Feel free to call on anyone at the home office anytime too (OK... some of us older folks go to bed a bit early so you might not get an answer to a "late night question"). And don't forget about the Learning Community. Your best buddies will be your fellow G'nosh Partners. Get connected. Tap into their experience and advice. You'll be asking a lot of questions at first, and that's OK. The Learning Community's a two-way street. Don't forget to pay it forward.

Step 8: Living Your Dream