Lenny's Subs - Edith Kelly-Green

People are living longer, yet the retirement age stays about the same. Retirements can last 20 years or longer. Many individuals will need to supplement their Social Security with a part time job or business. Some that have funded their retirement properly miss the productive feeling that their job had provided. Even those that are in their 50s and lost their job or took early retirement look for a way to be productive. Having a new career after a successful career is what I call a "sunset career". This sunset career can be out of necessity or perhaps just the desire to try something new and fun. Our entrepreneur this month is a perfect example of a successful sunset career. It wasn't planned. It just happened and she's glad it did. Congratulations Edith and welcome to the world of entrepreneurship!

Edith Kelly-Green

     

Edith Kelly-Green had a successful career with FedEx retiring in 2004 after almost 30 years as vice president and chief sourcing officer at the company's Memphis, Tenn., headquarters. A native of Oxford, Mississippi, Edith had an accounting degree from Ole Miss and a Masters of Business Administration degree from VanderbiltUniversity. Edith planned on a life of leisure, reading books and working on the finances of several nonprofits at the local coffee shop each day. One Saturday morning in 2004, while relaxing at a local Starbucks, she read that the Lenny's Sub Shop franchise in Oxford was for sale.

"My daughter, who was a college student in Memphis, ate at Lenny's all the time," says Kelly-Green. "She said, 'Mom, we should invest in it. The food tastes good, it is fresh and healthy, and it is a good value.' She is an athlete, so she was interested in the healthiness of the food."

"I wasn't bored in retirement in the least," Edith said. "I just saw this as an opportunity to own a business and to create a legacy, to have something to pass along to my children, whether they want to maintain it or sell it. I knew the CEO and called him, thinking I'd just invest some capital. But he convinced me I'd be happier as a franchisee."

Kelly-Green bought the franchise in Oxford near her alma mater and used her business management skills honed all those years at FedEx to make the shop successful. Then, she and her partners, daughter Jayna and son James repeated the success of the Lenny's in Oxford over and over again. In only six years, they have come to own eleven Lenny's Sub Shops, in fact becoming the chain's largest franchisee.

"Opportunities come up," Kelly-Green says. "I did have a fun and leisurely retirement for at least a year. Even though FedEx is far larger with billions in sales, the business skills I learned there have been very helpful in operating the sub shops." Those skills include putting people first and giving back to the community through philanthropy.

While business basics are the same at any company - whether it is a Lenny's or FedEx - Kelly-Green enjoys working for herself and being able to make management decisions more quickly than with a large corporation. Now she doesn't have to go through multiple chains of command to make decisions.

Creating a positive work environment was very important to Kelly-Green and one that emphasizes training. She says her employees are cheerful, friendly and efficient. She tries to create a sense of encouragement and opportunity for employees and make them feel like they can own their own stores or manage multiple stores. "People come for the food, but they come back for the experience of people who know your name and remember which sandwich you like," she says. "We have some employee turnover, but lower turnover than usual. Some of our employees are celebrating ten years at the particular Lenny's where they work."

Still, it is no picnic overseeing eleven franchises. "It is hard work," Kelly-Green says. "You have to put in the time. You have to be concerned with the pennies and dimes if you are a small business owner."

Her daughter Jayna, who initially got her involved with Lenny's, graduated from medical school in 2013, so she's no longer involved in the business. Her two sons, James Kelly and Ryan Green, are working full-time in the business and mom is teaching them her business skills. She said she tried to loosely split the stores, but our roles overlap. "The thing about a franchise is, once you solve one problem, you can apply it through all 10 stores, so there's lots of communication about how we're handling things."

The first Lenny's Sub Shop® opened in 1998 in a suburb of Memphis, TN to satisfy cravings for authentic subs and Philly Cheesesteaks. Though Lenny's Sub Shop® was originally planned as a single unit restaurant, the tremendous reception from guests at the first location prompted rapid growth and the concept soon became franchised. Lenny's, now owned by Lenny's Franchise Systems, LLC, continues to expand across the country.

Edith's achievements aren't limited to FedEx and Lenny's. She is a member of the executive board of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association and was inducted into the Ole Miss Hall of Fame in 1999. She is the founding chairman of the Ole Miss Women's Council for Philanthropy, established a scholarship endowment at Ole Miss for a student in accounting. She is also a board member of The University of Tennessee Medical Group (UTMG) and Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (AIT) a New York Stock Exchange company. A cancer survivor, Kelly-Green participates in the annual Race for the Cure and is on the Baptist Women's Hospital Advisory Board.

Edith Kelly-Green is not a typical franchise owner nor is she having a typical retirement. She's a perfect example of a successful "sunset career". She has created a legacy for her family, created jobs, mentored employees, stimulated the economy with tax paying citizens and is having fun doing it. 

If you are looking for a new career direction or a sunset career, franchising might be the answer. Your years of experience in corporate American coupled with the systems in a franchise make for a winning combination. Fitting the franchise model to your particular lifestyle and financial needs is extremely important. What was right for you at 35 may not be a good fit for you at 55 and that's where I can be of assistance.