Paul Samson

President & Founder

Mr. Samson founded The Franchise Edge (TFE) in 2005 because of a need that he saw in the market for an affordable, client focused franchise consulting service. His experience in franchising began as President and Founder of Lenny & Vinny's Management, Inc., a corporately owned and managed pizza chain that he operated for 14 years and grew to 14 units before deciding to franchise. Mr. Samson was also the Founder of Head West Enterprises, LLC, which grew the Westshore Pizza chain from 16 stores to 52 stores in 3 years, with an additional 90 units committed and combined sales of over $27,000,000 prior to the sale and transition of the marks.

Under the guidance of Mr. Samson, TFE educates its clients on the challenges new franchisors face and creates the strategies necessary to develop a successful franchise system. Mr. Samson's expertise includes vendor sourcing and pricing, sales and marketing and business modeling for franchisors.

Scott Anderson

Senior Partner

Mr. Anderson has been a Partner in TFE since May 2006 and works closely with prospects and clients in evaluating the viability of franchising and then developing the needed components for establishing and launching their franchise. Mr. Anderson has over twenty years of entrepreneurial experience, during which he founded Automated Artist, a multi-unit, robotic, t-shirt company that operated in the Walt Disney World and Busch Gardens theme parks as well as in regional malls for over 17 years. Mr. Anderson's stores were recognized for outperforming Walt Disney World's retail shops on a sales per square foot and a profit per square foot basis by 2.5 times. The top grossing location generated sales per square foot of over $8,000 at its peak. Having operated a corporate model with six locations, Mr. Anderson understands the demands of the corporate model and the benefits of the franchise model. He also gained significant experience in retail, technology, store design, branding, and operations. Having started and managed a number of businesses, Mr. Anderson understands startup strategies as well as systems evaluation and implementation to take businesses to a new level.

As a partner with The Franchise Edge, Mr. Anderson oversees all client projects and lends his expertise with competitor analysis, financial modeling, business modeling and system's enhancements. In addition to this, he works with clients to develop their franchise marketing and franchise sales programs.

Michael J. Stadnicki

Partner, Vice President of Franchise Development

In his capacity as Vice President, Mr. Stadnicki brings strong insights and hands-on experience to the task of creating new franchise programs and assisting existing franchisors. He is responsible for corporate marketing worldwide, including seminars, advertising, public relations, direct marketing, trade shows, sales promotions and electronic commerce. He also serves as a senior consultant on special projects, providing expert analysis, evaluation and counsel on all aspects of client operational systems, including procedures and guidelines. He conducts in-depth, on-site visits to the client's place of business and develops and oversees the strategic planning recommendations made for his clients.

Mr. Stadnicki’s broad business background includes his former role as Vice President of Franchise Development for a 60 unit Chicago based Franchise chain; in addition he currently owns a franchise store in downtown Chicago. Prior to that, he was the Executive Vice President of Francorp Consulting; he served in that capacity for many years.

Mr. Stadnicki is a graduate of DePaul University, where he earned an MBA and Bachelor’s Degree in Entrepreneurship. While at DePaul, he held scholarships for excellence in leadership and scholastic merit, and won international awards for business plan writing. In 2010, Mr. Stadnicki was named DePaul University’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.”

John Armatas

Managing Partner, Franchise Sales Solution

Mr. Armatas recently rejoined our team after serving as our Director of Operations and Partner from 2007 to 2008. Prior to working at The Franchise Edge, Mr. Armatas owned and operated a FASTSIGNS franchise store in Tampa, Florida, from 2000 to 2007. In addition, Mr. Armatas owned the Bulls Outfitter, LLC, a retail store licensed to sell University of South Florida Apparel and branded Merchandise, until 2006 when he sold the business. He is currently a partner in the Wine & Cigar Stop, Inc. (DBA TOAST) which he opened in 2007. Prior to owning his own businesses, Mr. Armatas was the chief Operating Officer of the Tampa & East Pasco Metropolitan Area YMCAs.

Amelia Ayers

Office Coordinator

Ms. Ayers has a degree in Communication and assists in communicating with clients. With her extensive knowledge of daily office procedures, she is able to coordinate the daily operations of our office to ensure organizational efficiency. Ms. Ayers is responsible for our National iCare Partnership with SYSCO Foods, in their preferred vendor program.

Joe Traina

Graphics Designer and Photgrapher

Mr. Traina’s experience as a photographer, graphic designer and creative director spans over 25 years including 5 years as Creative Director at Andes & Partners Advertising, and 21 years in his own advertising business, where attention to detail and the ability to meet tight deadlines is essential. He has worked with numerous clients in varied fields including:

• General Mills Restaurant Group
• Betty Crocker Frozen Specialties
• Security Link
• University Community Hospital
• South Florida Baptist Hospital
• Coldwell Banker

Mr. Traina earned a BA in Photography and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of South Florida where he was awarded a University Scholar Fellowship and a Graduate Council Fellowship. He has strong leadership skills, positive attitude, organizational skills and is good communicator who is able to create effective visual marketing materials that resonate with customers’ needs.

Annette Samson

Franchise Sales

Ms. Samson has extensive sales and marketing experience, having worked as a national account manager and data consultant with MCI Worldcom. More recently, she has managed the sales development process for a retail wine franchise and an emerging toy chain.

Carol Franz

Franchise Sales

Proven success as the Director of Franchising for Vedic Math Development Corporation. Her extensive background as a Senior Mortgage Banker provides an additional benefit to potential franchisees.

Dale Waite

Southeastern Franchise Development Manager

Mr. Waite brings over 20 years of franchise experience to The Franchise Edge. He opened his first business, an automotive franchise, in 1986. After selling the business, he went into franchise development and sold master franchises for a major food franchisor based in Georgia. Mr. Waite also owned a travel agency for 19 years and was a multi-unit franchise owner for 15 years with Regis franchising. Mr. Waite has worked with numerous franchise companies and was the Director of Franchise Development for Units Storage, an east coast mobile storage franchise, until January 2008. Having owned and operated franchises, Dale brings an understanding of the needs of both franchisees and franchisors alike.

Darren Yelin

Franchise Sales and Development

Mr. Yelin has spent the past 15 years consulting and franchising for various brands in North America. He has sold hundreds of territories throughout the US and Canada to meet the needs of franchisors and franchisees. Mr. Yelin has an extensive sales and marketing background working with both startup and well established brands.

Steve Tepper

CONSULTANT - CONTRACT AND VENDOR PROCUREMENT

Mr. Tepper holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing, as well as an MBA in Financial Management. He has over 25 years of experience in the Food Service Industry. Mr. Tepper spent the last ten years as District Manager for a large Food Distributor in Florida.

His key skills that play an integral role in his projects with us are food and contract negotiations, solutions sales and implementation, being a highly effective communicator, and his natural ability to understand and achieve corporate business initiatives while positively impacting growth. During his time with Sysco Corporation he recruited and trained sales staff as well as acting as a mentor to less seasoned sales personnel.