25 Years and Growing

by Chuck Bowen, Lawn and Landscape Magazine

Ken Hutcheson has big goals. From his home base in Orlando, Fla., he runs one of the largest franchise companies in the green industry – one he helped start 25 years ago.

But he’s not finished.

The president of U.S. Lawns wants to grow from his current stable of 200-plus franchisees in 34 states to all 50, and bump revenues from $102 million to a level that would put them among the top five firms in the industry. (In 2010, that meant revenue of at least $272 million.)

“We don’t look for incremental growth,” Hutcheson says. “We look for exponential growth, and that’s been from day one.”

We caught up with Hutcheson to talk about what it’s like to work as a division of The ValleyCrest Cos., the future of the landscape industry and how he’ll reach those lofty goals.

What’s your average day at work like?
Usually we sleep in ’til about noon. (Laughs)

And then you play golf the rest of the day.
Yeah, schedule a late brunch and then decide what time we’re going back up. (Laughs) Send that one to Burt and our typical day will change dramatically very quickly I’m sure.

I use a line a lot, and that is, “Right person, right position, right time.” Everybody knows the right person, right position. Those are cliché. People write books about that, right? “Right seat on the school bus.”

But I think what so many people miss is right time as well. Today my role is to be a facilitator of things. My role is to help inspire and motivate franchisees from a very high level.

My job is to be looking five years out. What will we be doing in five years with this company? Are there opportunities that we’re missing? Understanding that while we look for opportunity, we also want to remain true to our course, and that’s the same course that we laid out 25 years ago.

Read the complete article here.

Learn more about U.S. Lawns at topfranchises.franchisebusinessreview.com.

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