For our Top CEOs in Franchising feature in the September issue, we identified notable leaders who are guiding their brands through periods of growth, change and, of course, challenges. Check out more stories.
As just the third CEO in the 28-year history of Scooter’s Coffee, Joe Thornton knows an essential part of his role is to uphold the core values established by co-founders Don and Linda Eckles: integrity, love, humility and courage.
“I understand the magnitude of what’s at stake here,” said Thornton, who was named chief executive of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company in January 2024 after serving as president for a year and a half. “I use the term ‘grow big and stay small.’ How do you keep the construct of the company in place while you scale, and that comes out of intentional decisions every single day, questioning every decision we make” and how it affects the culture, the franchisees, the customers and the financials.
Courage for Thornton came early on in his tenure with the brand as he scrutinized some decisions, such as the opening of stores in California and the building of double drive-thrus. For a system that had 447 units largely clustered in the middle of the country when he joined, the presence in California didn’t make sense, he said, and neither did the investment in an extra drive-thru lane without the volume…