Tilted Kilt President Ron Lynch Advises Business Leaders to “Stop Making Rules”

On a recent episode of All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett Ron Lynch, president and founder of Tilted Kilt Franchise Operating LLC, joined me to discuss their Scottish roots, avoiding corporate blandness, and whether controversy is good for business.

The self proclaimed “PG-13” chain is no stranger to controversy. Similar to the way Hooters sells their brand as sexy and fun, the female staff at Tilted Kilt famously wears skimpy blouses and very short kilts. However, Lynch points out that the similarities to their competitor stop there. Saying they carefully curate a menu that has a nod to their Scottish roots and uses top-notch ingredients that their customers expect.

Lynch went on to share his distaste for corporate uniformity in restaurant chains. “We want to keep our uniqueness for our guests. They can go to Applebee’s or anywhere for good food, we want to provide more.” Though he says that sometimes leads to trouble as we saw when he was featured on “Undercover Boss” and one franchise was crossing the line from PG-13 to R.

“We don’t want you to have to hide your receipt from your wife.”

He goes on to say their still learning the perfect balance between corporate and franchise owners. One thing he’s learned? “We can’t keep making rules! Sometimes we have that knee jerk reaction when someone goes over the line and over react. Isolated incidents need to be dealt with individually.”

A lot can be learned from Ron’s story. To hear the whole interview subscribe to All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett on iTunes or listen here: https://bit.ly/29Wn4hR.