At Age 17, Budding Entrepreneur Weighs Benefits Of Franchise Ownership

(Monday, April 24, 2006) - Like many teenagers, Douglas Quimby, Jr., is intentionally vague about his plans for the future. When asked the age-old question, "What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?", Quimby thinks for a moment, then carefully responds: "I want to be happy and successful in whatever it is that I chose to do."

A few months ago, the 17-year-old high-school senior at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington, N.Y. offered a more immediate response to that question, saying he has always dreamed of becoming a pilot and planned to join the Marines for training. Now, Quimby's visions for the future have taken a new turn.

Quimby, who will attend Johnson & Wales University next fall, was named the winner of the 2005 National Franchising Competition for producing the best paper on "franchising and entrepreneurship" at DECA's 2005 International Career Development Conference. The scholarship and award, jointly sponsored by the IFA's Educational Foundation, DECA, and 7-Eleven, was awarded to Quimby for his original business plan detailing how he would acquire and develop a Wing Zone franchise on Long Island in South Huntington. DECA is the premier student organization preparing young people for careers in marketing, management and entrepreneurship.

In addition, the International Franchise Association presented Quimby with a $5,000 scholarship at a special luncheon held Feb. 28, 2006 at the Annual IFA Convention in Palm Springs, Calif. This scholarship is the first presented in a new program designed to motivate outstanding high school and college students to pursue franchising and entrepreneurship studies. The scholarship program is named in honor of retired IFA Pres. Don DeBolt, and is being carried out in cooperation with DECA and Delta Epsilon Chi (DEX), an international association of nearly 200,000 high school and college marketing students and their advisors.

Upon learning the news, Quimby was ecstatic. Not only had he earned a scholarship for his award winning nine-page Wing Zone franchise business plan, but his longing for making his successful older sister, Kerrianne, a sophomore at the College of William & Mary, and his parents visibly proud, had been settled.

"When I called my sister to tell her about the scholarship I had been awarded, she cried," Quimby said. "She has always been so successful. She has been getting 4.0s all her life and got accepted to every college she applied to. For the first time I felt like I did something on her level. I wasn't beating her at anything, just showing her what I was capable of. There was no better feeling than hearing her crying tears of happiness because she was so proud of me. I had earned her respect."

Quimby's sister wasn't the only one impressed. When Stan Friedman, executive vice president of Wing Zone, one of the nation's fastest-growing takeout and delivery franchise concepts, read Quimby's business plan, he was impressed by the 17-year-old's research and attention to detail.

"Doug's business plan was nearly dead-on correct with the Wing Zone mission," Friedman said. "We see a bright future for Doug. He is a very intelligent young man on a great path in business. It wouldn't surprise me to hear Doug Quimby's name for a long time to come."

In fact, executives of Wing Zone, started in 1991 by two University of Florida students/fraternity brothers, Matt Friedman (no relation to Stan) and Adam Scott, thought so highly of Quimby's professionally-written business plan that the company paid for his travel expenses to the IFA convention to accept his scholarship and will provide an additional scholarship of $1,000 per year toward his college tuition, so long as he maintains a 3.0 GPA and an academic focus on business and entrepreneurship studies.

"Matt and Adam started cooking wings for their college community because they loved wings. Now, they've taken that passion for wings and created a successful franchise concept that not only satisfies the appetites of customers, but feeds the desires of young, ambitious entrepreneurs seeking a way to own their own business," Stan Friedman said. "Doug exemplifies the spirit of that mission. Investing in his future is another way of showing Wing Zone's commitment to fostering young entrepreneurs."

So what intrigued Quimby about Wing Zone, leading him to choose the chicken wing franchise for his business plan? For starters, he was attracted to the chain's unique college campus roots. Much like Quimby, the ambitious young duo realized the need for more food delivery options for fellow college students other than pizza, and saw a perfect opportunity to start their own business. Within a few years of perfecting their special sauces and techniques for wing preparation in their frat house kitchen, their takeout and delivery concept had six corporate locations. They graduated with degrees in finance and real-world business experience which became the foundation for franchising the concept in 1999.

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