Jimmy John's

Aegean wishes to deliver high quality Greek-style food at affordable prices. The restaurant provides friendly and efficient service to all of its customers, many of whom are from the local university. Aegean promotes efficiency in its restaurant operations to provide timely service. Electronic terminals track information such as a customer's seat time and order-take, fill, and serve time. Another control objective is to have a central authority control a majority of the restaurant's operations. Aegean's central operations control supply purchase and distribution, employee training, menu preparation, advertising, maintenance, and information and communication systems. Central operations is able to monitor the restaurant's operations via modem and telephone line connected to the manager's computer, which is connected to all the terminals in each restaurant.

One advantage to franchising the restaurant is the potential for an increase in sales, especially if the restaurant opens in a highly populated town. Another advantage is that the parent company would still exhibit some degree of control over the franchised restaurant, such as dictating certain food and supply items to purchase and having the ability to monitor operations at any time. The parent company would receive a portion of gross revenues from the franchise. In addition, if a breach of contract occurs, the aggrieved party can terminate the contract.

The main disadvantage from franchising is the differences between the internal control systems of the franchise and the company-owned restaurant. With the company-owned restaurant, central operations pays for all operational expenses incurred, which is an advantage compared to a franchised restaurant, which requires the franchisee to individually pay for all operational expenses. The franchisee may not possess the long-term money required to sustain the business, and the restaurant may shut