From Humble Beginnings, QK Rises To The Top Of The Franchise Heap

Az Journal:

From an office in downtown Holbrook, they quietly assure that more than 9.3 million customers are satisfied each year.

QK, along with its affiliated companies LQK, DRD and QK New Mexico, is the largest Denny’s franchisee in the United States, and owns a total of 57 Denny’s restaurants and 4 Del Taco restaurants. Their headquarters are located in a historic building in downtown Holbrook, and they employ a staff of 13 full-time employees and one part-time employee. The staff is responsible for accounting, payroll and resolving customer complaints at all 61 of the QK-owned restaurants.

Director of Finance Irma Carpenter explained that the company is headquartered in Holbrook, because it is where the owners, Robbie Qualls and Doug Koch, purchased their first restaurant. Carpenter noted that Qualls and Koch were living the ‘American dream,’ having started as dishwashers at Denny’s and eventually moving into upper management. As sales leaders in their districts, the two decided to team up and purchase their own restaurant. In February 1990, they bought the Denny’s restaurant on Navajo Blvd. in Holbrook.

Carpenter noted that in the beginning, the 2 operated the restaurant themselves, dividing the 24-hour a day, 7 days a week schedule between them. Within a year, the Holbrook Denny’s experienced double-digit increases in revenue.

Qualls and Koch also hired themselves out as consultants to a large Denny’s franchisee similar to QK. Over the next 3 years, they purchased five additional restaurants and managed operations for the larger company in eight states. At the end of those 3 years, they ended their consulting work and began rapidly acquiring and building additional Denny’s restaurants. Beginning in 2000, Qualls and Koch also began acquiring Del Taco restaurants in New Mexico.

Today, QK supports approximately 2,500 employees and is continuing to grow. Carpenter noted that a new restaurant will be opening in Truth or Consequences, N.M., in early March, and they have just received approval for an additional site in Albuquerque.

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