The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

September 29, 2012

Lube flying the coop?

Eying space needs, CEO says

By Joe Pinchot Herald Staff Writer

SHARON — Quaker Steak and Lube opens its 53rd restaurant Wednesday in Florence, Ky., its 54th a week later in central New Jersey, and expects to open two more by the end of the year in Kent, Ohio, and Fargo, N.D.

All that has been raising questions whether the company born and bred in Sharon is looking elsewhere for its corporate headquarters.

With such rapid growth comes demands on franchise support. The support staff now numbers 40, most of them in the Sharon corporate office, and company President and Chief Executive Officer John Longstreet expects that number to double over the next three years.

Staffers are stuffed into offices likes chicken wings into the Lube’s classic bucket.

“We’re bursting at the seams,” Longstreet said Friday, reached at an airport in Houston. “We’re sitting on top of each other because we’re growing so fast.”

In addition to offering support for existing franchises, the company hosts one to three prospective franchise clients a month to show them how the brand of motorsports-themed, casual dining works, its products and the restaurant models it offers: the full-sized, classic restaurant, such as the one in Austintown, Ohio; the smaller Power Lube, such as Boardman, Ohio; and in instances where a building has been converted from one use to a restaurant, such as the gas-station-to-eatery of the original Lube in Sharon.

The franchise board has asked Longstreet to analyze the space situation and consider options for the best location, Longstreet said.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” he said. “It was done before I got here, and once a couple of years ago. Each time, we stayed put.”

Longstreet said he plans to hire a Cleveland law firm, Jones Day, to conduct an economic analysis in three areas: Sharon and the surrounding area, Cleveland and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Longstreet, who has established what his wife calls their dream house in Hermitage, said the study is not about him or what he wants.

“We’re looking at what provides the best value long term for our shareholders,” he said.

Longstreet said he is willing to talk about the study because he doesn’t want his employees or the local community people to think the company is bolting or has anything against Sharon.

“We don’t want anyone to get mad at us,” he said. “In fact, that would be counterproductive because we could stay in Sharon.”

“My strategy is to tell everybody as much as I can, not as much as I can get away with,” he said.

The analysis likely will be complete by the first of the year, with any action based on it in the next 18 months.

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