Walsh selling Burger King restaurants

Tom Walsh Sr. and his family are getting out of the Burger King business.

The Sioux Falls-based franchisees will sell their 26 restaurants in South Dakota and Minnesota next week to Chicago-based Cave Enterprises, LLC. Eleven of the stores are in Sioux Falls.

Walsh, who opened the city’s first Burger King in 1975, told managers the news Monday and called it “the hardest business thing I’ve ever done.”

“It got emotional,” he said.

But the timing and the buyer felt right, Walsh said.

“We’ve had four record years in row and we’ve been franchisee of the year for operators of 20 stores or more for four years in a row,” he said.

At one time, his Dakota King organization operated 60 restaurants from Wisconsin to Nebraska. Walsh sold his five North Dakota Burger King locations in 2015. He sold five in Duluth, Minn. earlier this year to Cave Enterprises.

“Their culture, values, priorities, were the best and most in line with what our values and culture was,” he said.

The Dakota King locations employ about 1,200 people.

“Our existing team will stay in place and continue which is very unusual,” said Tom Walsh Jr., Dakota King’s president.

Schwan: Lessons from the Adams Thermal Academies

Dakota King’s director of operations, Mike Leslie, will become region general manager.

“They’re even keeping our daughter, Molly, on to help build the culture throughout their system,” Tom Walsh Sr. said.

Cave Enterprises was started as a single Burger King and now includes more than 80 locations.

One question the buyer asked the management team at Monday’s announcement was how many had started at age 14, Walsh said.

“And there were probably 15 or 20 that raised their hand. The average tenure among our restaurant leaders is 28 years and among our assistants it’s 14,” he said. “Our mission at Dakota King is to develop people and community leadership and really make a difference in people’s lives. We want them to succeed career-wise and personally.”

The new owner plans to continue the Dakota King charitable programs, including one that helps financially support employees during emergencies.

Walsh Sr. said he plans to focus on significantly growing GreatLife Malaska Golf & Fitness, which he has led for several years.

His sister, Cindy, who has split time between Dakota King human resources and GreatLife, will work full time at GreatLife.

Walsh Jr. said he plans to continue in the family’s businesses as well.

They also plan to help the new Burger King franchisees scout future restaurant locations.

Memories came back easily Monday afternoon, as father and son sat in their office surrounded by Burger King memorabilia and countless industry awards.

They remembered the first location, on East Tenth Street, where records were set despite not having a drive-through or breakfast menu.

They reminisced about late night drives to plow parking lots. Walsh Junior grew up in the restaurants scraping gum off the tables. His three sisters worked there, too.

Then there was the day that one location set a Burger King world record for the most vehicles through a drive-through in one hour – 263 vehicles, or one every 13.7 seconds. It still stands.

New restaurant opens with 50 burgers, beers

Walsh got into the business after coordinating juvenile court programs for Minnehaha County and co-owning a couple liquor stores.

He half-jokes he chose Burger King because McDonald’s already was taken.

“But the product I thought was superior because it was flame-broiled and made to order,’ he said.

“And with Burger King you can own the land and buildings and with McDonald’s then you couldn’t, and our real estate investments were worth a heck of a lot more than the restaurant operations.”

In running the organization, he flipped the structure so managers became a support team and the focus was put on front-line staff.

“To 95 percent of our customers they’re Burger King,’ he said. “The most important person in our organization is that team member on the drive-through or front counter or in the dining room or making the food.”

The idea, he said, is that the guest driving through will hear the employees’ smile.

So they are encouraged to offer holiday greetings. They’re allowed to joke, “Thanks for choosing the king over the clown” in a nod to their competitor.

Often, employees will recognize a car and anticipate the regular order, Walsh Sr. said.

“It’s all about developing relationships and making people feel they’re important and needed,” he said.

“The thing I was most proud of is all the people we’ve developed and the impact we’ve been able to have on our communities. It’s our feeling that when you’ve been blessed with much, you ought to do much.”