Challenge:
When Terri Flagg became a McDonald’s owner/operator, she was familiar with several firms that serve these stores based on her experience with the McDonald’s corporation. After looking at what each firm offered, she decided to go with Sparkmon because of their vast experience. She also had a personal relationship with the firm, having worked with them quite a bit during her years as a financial controller at the parent company. Now she needed Sparkmon’s assistance to help her get started as an owner/operator. “They had a complete checklist of everything I needed to get set up – what I needed for the state and taxes, paperwork I needed to take with me and where to go,” she says. “The setup was really good. They even recommended internal software for me to use, since I did the daily books myself in the beginning.”
Solution:
Once the business was up and running, Terri quickly found that she could rely on Sparkmon for solid advice and responsive service. “The service is great, the work is outstanding and they are always on their toes,” she says. “I’m an accountant myself, so my experience helped me with the direction they were giving. Whatever they recommended made sense to me based on my experience, especially on the tax side, because I wasn’t a tax accountant. Even after they took over the books, if I had questions, I could just pick up the phone or send an email, and it was answered right away.” No matter what the day brought, Sparkmon was there with exactly the help she needed. Terri says, “They are there to give support through a tax audit or anything that might come up. It was just the best you could expect. Even through Obamacare, when that was introduced, they were proactive in getting people on board to help the owner. That was the thing about them: they always wanted to do the best they could do for the franchisee.”
Result:
After years of smooth, successful ownership, Terri felt confident turning to Sparkmon when she began to consider retirement too. “Sparkmon played a crucial role in my deciding to retire,” she explains. “We sold the restaurants, and they were very involved in valuation. They estimated tax liability from selling six stores, which was huge. They let me know how I could pay off all of our debt and be able to retire and live the way we wanted to live.” Terri says she would absolutely recommend the firm to other McDonald’s owner/operators and does so on a regular basis. “I am always steering people their way!”
Testimonial:
“They are very informative, diligent and proactive. They always seem to be on top of things.”
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