Owning and operating two franchise businesses has proven to be a blessing for Matt Black.
Black and his wife MaryBeth own Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of Port St. Lucie, Florida. A couple years ago, they bought another franchise, DRYmedic Restoration Services. Besides each being a franchise, about all the two businesses have in common is that they are both growing. Black credits part of this success to the franchise business structure.
“Benjamin Franklin has a consultant that I regularly speak with,” he says. “We review operations or finances or whatever is most relevant.”
A similar setup exists for the restoration company. Black says he finds the conversations beneficial.
“Having these conversations with the consultants keeps you moving,” he says. “If there wasn’t that accountability, you could just step back and not do something you really needed to do. When your business is a franchise, the consultant follows up and asks if you did something. The accountability is a bonus benefit.”
Black had a record of being a dedicated and loyal employee before he owned the first business, so chances are he doesn’t need prodding to do what needs to be done. Needed or not, the accountability feature is there and Black says he finds it helpful.
He also praises the franchise families of which he is a part. He exchanges ideas with peers across the franchise systems. For example, Black told a peer in another plumbing store that a 20% off promotion for a month brought in new business. The peer reported back that it worked for him as well.
“And an Arkansas guy in the Benjamin Franklin system who saw me use the LightRay LR3 pipe repair system in a charity job for a church called to say he had invested in an LR3 system, too,” Black says.
However, the man had landed a pipe repair job shortly before an operator went AWOL. He called Black to see if Black could send one of his operators to handle the job.
“I talked to the guys and one volunteered to fly out to Arkansas for three days,” Black says. “We were getting to the end of the fiscal year and I was on track to meet my business volume goal. Even knowing that, I sent my guy away for three days.”
While he felt good about doing so, Black’s company ultimately fell just short of his goal for the year. The things you’ll do for a franchise peer.
Read more about Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and DRYmedic Restoration Services of Port St. Lucie in the September 2025 issue of Plumber magazine.
