Joint-venture partner raises the stakes, ropes in customers, lassoes $4.3 million in sales
Since 1995 Tim Stanton has spent much of his time at the bustling Outback Steakhouse in Knoxville, Tenn. He has watched sales grow, led a staff that is alert and happy and enjoyed the unwavering support of his family. Now things are about to get even better.
View Image - Stanton, who recently was made joint-venture partner, soon will oversee 12 restaurant locations as well as four more that still are under construction.
This month Stanton assumed the new position of joint-venture partner. Instead of overseeing one Outback in Tennessee, the 43-year-old now will watch over 12 restaurants located between Huntington, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, as well as four that are under construction.
"This is it," Stanton says. "This is my best tour of duty. All the rest were stepping stones."
At Outback those with generalmanagerial responsibilities are not known as general managers. Instead, they are called managing partners and have partial ownership of their restaurants. As a result, managing partners have a personal stake in the success of their operations.
For Stanton, who served as managing partner of the Knoxville restaurant for nine years, it