Stockbrokers Investing in Franchise Opportunities
The Chicago Tribune ran an interesting story (”Traders’ Cries Silenced“) on the Chicago Board of Trade stockbrokers known as “open-outcry” traders, how “consolidation and computers have displaced many Chicago open-outcry traders, forcing them to adapt to `the screen’ or find another line of work. Some have embraced the technology, while others walked.” Interesting, several mentioned have walked into business ownership via franchising.
According to the Chicago Tribune article, Board of Trade veteran Steve Argires hung up his trading jacket and opened a Foot Solutions shoe store franchise. The Foot Solutions franchise investment average total investment requirement is $200,000, and features limited weekly hours and holidays off, just like the Chicago Board of Trade.
The loud, boisterous & physical style of trading gave way to the quieter, anonymous nature of computer transactions, open-cry traders faced extinction:
“It takes a completely different type of person to stand bell-to-bell and scream their lungs out than to sit patiently before a screen,” said Smith. “That’s why they open a restaurant.”
The article tells of Steve Anchini, once among the busiest brokers in the Treasury market. After seeing the writing on the wall, Anichini applied the energy and “moxie” that made him a trading star into opening and operating a Culver’s hamburger restaurant in north suburban Lake Zurich, IL. The transition from trading pit to fry basket wasn’t effortless:
Anichini had a big adjustment, too, casting for the right opportunity before settling in 2002 on Culver’s, a Wisconsin-based fast-food chain known for its “ButterBurgers” and frozen custard. “You go from making millions of dollars to what is, in essence, a penny business. We were, in a sense, printing money compared to what it’s like here,” he said. “Running this business, you really have to watch your food costs, all the smaller particulars you don’t have to worry about when you’re making very good money. Down the road, it will catch up to you. You have to watch every cent.”
In the pits, he depended on himself and other rugged professionals, but now delegates to teenagers who require gentle mentoring. And, while the opportunities in the Treasury market were ever fleeting, the restaurant franchise is a long-term proposition: “You wrap yourself around the community.”
He joined the Chamber of Commerce and traveled with the local football team to supply burgers at the state championship. He gets in his car to deliver fries if a take-out order goes missing. Now 45, he could have retired, but then he never would have set up his family in a business.
Steve Anchini is opening a second Culver’s location in the coming months in north suburban Mundelein, IL.
Congratulations to Steve Argires and Steve Anchini on their new careers as franchise owners, and congratulations to the Foot Solutions and Culver’s franchise organizations for attracting such high-profile and talented franchisees.
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POSTED IN: CULVER'S, Foot Solutions
1 opinion for Stockbrokers Investing in Franchise Opportunities
Franchise Gator
Apr 3, 2007 at 9:22 am
Stockbrokers always seem to be one step ahead, I hope this trend continues.
This article mentioned Foot Solutions and Culver’s, for more opportunities check out http://www.franchisegator.com.
Thanks, great site!
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