Nothing To Bawk At

Customers come for the chicken, prepared by hand throughout the day. When they return to one of Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken restaurants, it's because of the service, said Emmett Gamache, who has been in the fast-food chicken business since he was 16.

The difference now is Gamache and his wife, Jenny, own the chain of 13 restaurants in greater St. Louis. Their company, EJG Enterprises Inc., wrapped up the $4.5 million purchase a little more than a year ago.

Click here to find out more! Click here to find out more! After almost 30 years running parts of the franchise, Emmett Gamache knows the ins and outs of the quick-serve chicken restaurant business -- its thin, roughly 4 percent profit margin, and the rapidly changing trends, such as the low-carb craze. Lee's has had a roasted chicken option for years.

"We didn't have to jump on the low-carb bandwagon. We already had it," said Jenny Gamache, who joined her husband full time in the business as they prepared for the purchase.

Ultimately, the key to Lee's success in St. Louis is its staff of 240 people, they said.

So Emmett Gamache has returned to his strong suits of training his existing group of eight managers and acting as a talent scout and employee motivator. His former bosses at RTM Restaurant Group in Atlanta, which owns and franchises the Lee's concept, said that when the Gamaches purchased Lee's, one of their priorities was keeping all the employees.

EJG's corporate office in Earth City includes a small office with folding tables where Emmett and eight of his managers meet weekly to go over customer satisfaction strategies. He's set up a bonus plan that allows the managers to share in profits.

A year ago he and Jenny took up RTM when it offered to sell the St. Louis operation. The couple spent months scraping together their financing portion of the deal. It would not have gone together without the help of RTM. The restaurant company, which operates close to 900 restaurants across the country, provided part of the financing.

RTM, Emmett's employer for eight years, also helped him locate a lender, GE Capital Finance. Commercial Bank in St. Louis also loaned the couple money.

Emmett is now looking at ways to grow the business. That effort on top of running the restaurants keeps him working 15-hour days, six days a week. Jenny, who previously worked for a benefits and insurance business, leads a three-person office staff, cutting through details from securing special municipal licenses to preparing the weekly payroll.

Business activity: EJG Enterprises, named for Emmett and Jenny Gamache, owns and operates Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken stores in the St. Louis area.

Key executives: Emmett Gamache, 44, is president. Jenny Gamache, 42, is office manager.

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