Ex-cat Riggs opens 3rd Store

[Eastcoastgriz]

Youth, enthusiasm fuel franchise
Persistence, early investments help 29-year-old business owner succeed
By PETER JOHNSON
Great Falls Business Writer


Jeff Riggs was really frustrated four years ago when he couldn't find a Bozeman bank to help finance his business dream.

But persistence, enthusiasm and an early start in business eventually paid off for the 29-year-old enterpreneur.


A few weeks ago, Riggs opened his third Wheat Montana Deli and Bakery franchise in Great Falls, following other shops in Bozeman and Billings.

It didn't seem possible back in 2001.

Riggs had persuaded the founders of the popular Wheat Montana Farm and Bakery in Three Forks to offer him their first franchise. He believed in the company's vision of adding value to wheat by making and selling flour and wholesome breads, as well as deli sandwiches and pastries.

A point guard for the Montana State University basketball team before getting his business management degree, Riggs won over the Folkvord family with his zeal and dedication to their product.

"It was maybe a little risky making our first franchise agreement with somebody so young," said Dean Folkvord, company general manager. "But Jeff had completed college, was a hard worker and had obvious enthusiasm for business and our product."

"And we're Bobcat fans, so we'd seen Jeff's leadership and success on the basketball court," Folkvord added. "The fact that he was a local celebrity might have influenced our decision to select him to open our first franchise, which would be in Bozeman."

But gaining the nod for the franchise from the Folkvord family was just the start for Riggs.

He worked at the Three Forks deli and bakery while drawing up a business plan, finding a good location and, most importantly, lining up financing.

Riggs had learned how to invest well at an unusually early age.

"My parents worked hard to save money to put my sister and me through college," he recalled. "When I got athletic scholarships, first at Oregon State University and later at MSU, they said the money was still mine to use."

With that money and the wages he made working summers, he started investing in the stock market while living in his native Oregon.

"It was a gamble, but I did some research and ended up hitting a couple of home runs with my investments," he said.

Riggs pulled out of the stock market before the big drop, and used his earnings to invest in some four- and five-bedroom houses for MSU students to rent just before the Bozeman real estate scene boomed.

He managed those rental properties while devoting long hours to Bobcat basketball practices and "hovering around a B average in school."

"I transferred to MSU because I wanted to go out and try starting over in a new part of the country where I hadn't grown up well known as a basketball player," he said.

"It isn't easy for collegiate athletes to juggle class work with practice time," he said. "But if you set your goals early and prioritize your time, you can do it."

Riggs occasionally returns to the MSU campus, as a guest lecturer in business classes.

"I tell the students, who aren't that far from my age, that opportunities come along in everybody's lives, and they've got to be prepared to seize theirs when they arrive," said Riggs, who is now just 29.

Bill Brown, Jeff Riggs.

He was willing to put up part of his investment money to back a bank loan, but was unsuccessful at first.

"I went to half a dozen banks and was turned down by all of them," he said. "Their loan officers said the project looked good but they weren't interested.

"They couldn't legally say so, but I wondered if they thought I was too young and inexperienced."

Those rejections drove Riggs.

"I'm 5-foot-9 and always was told I was too short to play basketball in high school and college, which only made me work harder to prove myself," he said.

Similarly, Riggs worked harder on his business plan, sitting at other restaurants to trace customer visits and preparing to answer any financier's questions.

The next banker he visited approved the loan and told Riggs his business plan was one of the best he'd seen.

Riggs obtained the location he wanted, on a growing commercial street off a new Interstate exit, got more advice from retired business executives and others and opened his first Wheat Montana deli late 2003.

"We blew away my first-year projections, which were pretty conservative," he recalled. "It really helped to have the Wheat Montana name, especially so close to Three Forks."

"I hired a strong manager and good crew and tried to make work fun for everybody," he said. "Sometimes we would close early on Sunday afternoon and all go bowling or sledding."

Besides getting to know and enjoy his workers, Riggs said the other "big perk" of owning his own business is stopping to talk regularly with customers. He said he enjoys meeting people and often followed their suggestions in making menu changes.

Riggs said since he did well and enjoyed the start-up process so much — picking a site, hiring and training good employees, planning promotions — he opened a Wheat Montana franchise in late 2004 in a growing area of Billings.

Last summer he was profiled in a Wall Street article about young entrepreneurs, since he had leveraged the real estate investments he'd made as a college student into more than $1 million in loans to start his businesses.

In the meantime, other folks had opened Wheat Montana franchises in Missoula, Kalispell, Helena and Polson.

The Folkvords asked Riggs to consider a Great Falls franchise. Riggs said Great Falls has the population base to support the deli and they all were intrigued at opening a Wheat Montana in the key city in the Golden Triangle wheat growing area.

Riggs leased space in a new building across from the Holiday Village Mall and a half block off from the busiest intersection in Great Falls.

While a grain silo has been incorporated into all of the Wheat Montana shops as a company logo, Riggs went further with the Great Falls store. In recognition of the area's grain ties, designers made a silo part of the front entrance.

Riggs works long hours traveling among his three franchises. The pragmatic businessman has purchased multi-family homes in each city. That way, somebody else is on hand to watch the property and their rent helps pay the mortgage.

The entrepreneur also owns a small farm near Three Forks, where he enjoys getting on tractor to get away from business concerns.

"I probably should be growing wheat instead of alfalfa," he quipped.

Folkvord downplayed the company's role in Rigg's success, saying it provided early advice but his hard work and determination were more important.

"It's really a fulfillment of our goal to extend the success of Wheat Montana to others through the franchise concept," he said. "Jeff Riggs is now becoming a very successful businessman. Let's hope sometime this guy owns 50 or 100 Wheat Montana delis."