Ex-49Er Savors Success's Taste As The Owner Of Burger King

Bruce L. Taylor Owner of fast-food restaurants

Accomplishment: In the 1970s, while playing defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers, Bruce Taylor, worked off-season as a stockbroker at Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. After retiring from football in 1979, he started a full-time financial career. One of his best clients, a Burger King franchisee, persuaded Taylor to work for himself. Tired of working long hours, in some cases 16 hours, for someone else, he left to open his first franchise in Seattle's Rainier Valley in 1982. Now, he has three Burger King restaurants, two in Seattle and one in Woodinville. All are profitable. Combined, they generate revenues of more than $3 million.

Secret: There are no secrets to finding success in the fast-food business, says Taylor, . The answer lies in finding good help. "The key to being a success in this industry is finding good managers. This is such a people-oriented business, that you have to have the right people to be a success," he said. In nine years, Taylor has cut loose more than 50 managers to reach his core group of 13 today. His overall staff totals 120. Now, he believes he has good managers who want to make the fast-food business their career. But there's no shortcut to finding the right people. "You just keep trying."

Setback: One thing that affects all fast-food restaurants is food theft from within the store, which can mean the difference between a profitable business and a failing one. To cut down on this problem, Taylor developed goals for his managers. If they meet their objectives, he rewards them with bonuses - sometimes as much as 15 percent. "I gave them a vested interest in the business," Taylor said. "If the business is a success, they will be successful. Or, if I do well, they do well."

Quote: "I obviously learned patience, and I learned to work with people. Everybody's different. The old management rule is to treat everybody alike, which I think is wrong, because different things motivate different people."

Advice: When opening a new business, there's a lot of sweat equity, he said. "If your goal is to start your own business, you should be willing to work much harder and longer for yourself than for any corporation. Your standards have to be much higher, than if you were just on the payroll. If you do not have any interest in your business, nobody else will - and it's a quick way to failure."