Alex Schulz Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Canada Area

Franchise Starters Group is a boutique business development and consulting firm that provides go-to-market franchise consulting and development services to small and medium sized business owners aspiring to franchise their business model or to grow their business. We serve clients across a broad range of industries; food services, construction, educational institutions to name a few. Our principal owners have played a significant role in business models from inception that have grown to hundreds of franchised units throughout Canada as well as abroad. Some of the services we provide: franchise development services, franchise sales/marketing services, area developers recruitment, master franchise recruitment, international sales development services financing, franchise law, and more.

Aurora, Ontario

• Directed a team with 10 direct reports and 65 indirect reports• Overall responsibility for all corporate functions of 13 company owned franchised retail stores• Area Development / Master Franchise responsibilities for Ontario through to 2009 and all corporate functions of franchisor / franchise system post 2009• Led transition to E-commerce ahead of the curve; developed a framework that allowed franchised stores to participate in online sales. Grew online sales at a rate of 30% annually• Opened a new distribution center that used proprietary developed systems to manage the process/workflow and integrated with store POS and web sales platforms resulting in significant operational efficiencies• Led the development of multiple IT systems that improved business processes and provided operational efficiencies across various departments within the business• Engaged a chemist to review our primary product line of 100+ formulations of bulk ink. Resulted in a 40% reduction in number of formulations carried and no sales decline as a result of redirection towards new formulations. Multiple efficiencies created; warehousing efficiencies and reduced input costs resulting from increased volume of remaining product line• Executed a strategic change in retail store design, product mix and go‐to‐market strategy that increased B2B sales from 5% to 45% of total sales at the franchisee level• Created financial statements, financial projections and business plans • At peak, Island Ink-Jet had grown to 150+ locations in Canada, 100 in USA, and had achieved system wide sales of $50 million annually• Recognized a global industry downturn and executed large scale strategic changes to the business model that ensured the viability of the company while all competitors collapsed• Continued responsibilities towards development of new locations as noted below

Mississauga, On

• Area Development / Master Franchise responsibilities for the Island Ink-Jet brand in Ontario• Overall responsibility for strategic planning and implementation of our company’s development goals during a period of fast paced growth that culminated in our inclusion into Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 50, an annual listing of the fastest growing businesses in North America• Represented the brand at franchise shows; full areas of responsibility over qualifying potential franchisees, franchisee disclosure, selecting and awarding franchises• Responsible for new store location analysis and site selection • Engaged landlords in lease negotiations and responsible for contract management • Engaged financial institutions on behalf of franchisees to speed up access to financing• Managed the new store buildout process to completion. Engaged designers, sign companies, construction firms, and coordinated logistics with various departments at corporate to ensure inventory & supplies arrived on schedule• Provided on-site training for many Ontario franchisees in their first week of operation, as well as ongoing coaching and store visitations• Engaged and maintained vendor & supplier relationships in every function of the business; product suppliers, financial institutions, manufacturers, and media buyers to list a few• Created and executed the marketing plan for all of Ontario, including radio, television, newspaper, direct mail, and local events. Firmly established Island Ink‐Jet as a recognized brand in Ontario • Planned, organized and directed regional franchisee meetings, enabling franchisees to better operate their businesses. Developed a sense of teamwork that enabled best practices to be shared amongst group• Performed franchised location audits ensuring compliance with the brand• Led the development of a new integrated retail POS system replacing original cash registers• Achieved Ontario average store sales that were 27% higher compared to system

Mississauga, Ontario

In 2000, the company provided the seed capital that funded the Island Ink-Jet franchise start-up, and acquired Ontario Development / Master Franchise rights for the brand in return. As a new business concept in a new market, business processes were non-existent and had to be created from scratch. I was hired to develop the processes, bring to market the first stores, prove the concept and ultimately franchise the system.• Established the unit business plan and projected cash flows statements• Development of technical procedures processes, cross references, and manuals• Created and implemented inventory management procedures at store level and at multi-unit head-office level• Developed employee procedures, guidelines and manuals• Developed a product supply chain for Ontario stores• Developed store operating procedures, and created a business operations manual• Created daily sales reports, reporting procedures, financial summaries, and sales targets• Overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the first 3 retail stores in Ontario, launched in 2001• HR responsibilities including managing staff, creating sales quotas and compensation packages, hiring/firing, payroll submission across all 3 stores• Actively worked behind the counter; spoke to and learned from our clients resulting in refining business processes, • Developed numerous advertisements in various formats (newspaper, direct mail, fax, radio, video, business cards, etc), that allowed stores to leverage the advertisement for use in local initiatives• Developed additional business processes to effectively manage multiple company-owned retail stores• Opened 2 new corporately owned locations by 2002 and the first franchised locations using all materials that had been previously created to ensure uniformity across the brand. • Redesigned store layout creating an efficient process driven workspace for staff and an engaging environment for clients