Our Core Values
Integrity, Transparency, Availability
Firm History
The Firm was created in the Spring of 2020 by its founder, Doug Wohletz, following a successful 20-year career with a top-tier Quick Service Restaurant (“QSR”) franchisor. Doug’s career was initially focused in the disciplines of Finance, Planning and Analysis. He was later promoted into a senior position directing that brand’s Business Planning function. Doug and his team built extensive relationships with the franchise network as well as the corporate Operations and Development teams. He was responsible for the valuation work across multiple re-franchising initiatives and working with prospective buyers to negotiate those transactions. The Business Planning team was also intently focused on the financial health of the franchise network.
That brand was acquired by a private equity group based out of Atlanta in late 2018. As a result of that acquisition, one of the Business Planning team’s objectives shifted to growing the corporate portfolio via acquisitions for its new owners. Doug worked closely with the Executive Team on that objective prior to leaving the brand and starting the Firm in the Spring of 2020.
A central focus of Doug’s career and motivation in forming Wohletz Consulting and Advisory Services was the appreciation that he has for the franchise concept. Franchisees take on significant risks as they put their trust in a brand, while at the same time betting on themselves to build a business that can support their family, their future goals and aspirations.
Over Doug’s 20-year career, he has seen that dream realized by numerous franchisees. Unfortunately, he has also witnessed that dream turn into a difficult financial situation for franchisees that had poor timing and/or misjudged a situation. The focus of the Firm is to add value to its franchise clients’ business across the various stages of their investment, including what is typically the most financially meaningful…a well thought out exit.
Our Team
Principal
Doug Wohletz
Doug is the Founder and Principal of Wohletz Consulting and Advisory Services, LLC. In 2001 he began his career in the restaurant industry at Sonic Industries Inc., the franchisor of Sonic Drive-In restaurants. His career at Sonic started by overseeing Risk Management for the brand, but quickly moved into a leadership role in the Planning and Analysis function. During that time, he was tasked with evaluating the performance and contribution of the Brand’s strategic objectives, namely the brand’s marketing campaign and the performance of the brand’s corporate stores. He also led the preparation and oversight of the annual budget, Sonic’s 5-year plan modeling process and provided analytical support for various C-Suite projects.
In 2015, Doug stepped into a Senior Director role overseeing the organization’s Business Planning function. Doug and his team created the Franchise Business Review process and an operations focused Balanced Scorecard which were both adopted by the system. Doug also led the oversight of distressed franchisees which included work on restructuring / optimizing their business, and in some instances, helped facilitate a mutually beneficial exit from the brand. His group also developed the review process for all new store projects to ensure store viability and acceptable Return on Investment for franchisees.
Over the course of his career at SONIC, Doug led the valuation work during two separate refranchising initiatives and was an integral part of the negotiation process with the buyers. After Sonic was acquired by Inspire Brands in December of 2018, Doug worked with the executive team to identify, value and negotiate the acquisition of various franchised drive-ins to help the new owners strategically grow the corporate owned store portfolio.
In the Spring of 2020, Doug left Sonic Industries, Inc. and created Wohletz Consulting and Advisory Services, LLC with the goal of helping franchisees maximize their return across the lifecycle of their franchise investment. In that time, he has succeeded in helping dozens of franchisees achieve their goals. As 2021 concluded, the firm had served as the advisor on over $270 million worth of transactions.
senior associate
Mitchell Walser
Mitchell is an experienced finance professional with over 12 years of experience in the restaurant industry. His career spans a variety of capacities from accountant to analyst to manager of business planning and franchise performance. Mitchell graduated with an MBA specializing in entrepreneurship from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining Wohletz Consulting and Advisory Services, Mitchell had a 10-year career working at SONIC’s corporate offices followed by time with Subway Restaurants. He has helped with dozens of transactions and performed countless business reviews for a variety of franchisees.
advisor
Lori Osley
Lori is a highly successful and accomplished Franchise Development Professional with experience in Franchising, Business Development, Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Re-franchising, Real Estate, CRM management and Market/DMA analysis. In her over 16-year career in the restaurant industry, Lori has developed and maintained an extensive network of franchisees, lenders, and operators, and has established highly successful relationships with both traditional and non-traditional decisions makers. In addition to working with us, Lori currently serves as the Vice President of Franchise Development at Qdoba Restaurant Corporation.
advisor
Johnny Jones
Johnny is an experienced Real Estate Development Leader with expertise in real estate deal making and negotiations, Graphic Information Systems (GIS), and strategic market planning for real estate development. Johnny enjoyed a 21-year career with Sonic Drive-In, Inc. advancing to Vice President of Real Estate & Development. In this role, he led Strategic Market Planning, Franchise Sales, Real Estate, A&E, and Construction. He defined and led the development strategy to support SONIC’s overall growth objectives including franchise recruitment and area development agreements and led site selection and contract negotiations for both corporate and franchise locations.
During his tenure at SONIC, Johnny became an expert in utilizing GIS mapping tools and databases for market planning and site selection to identify potential restaurant locations and provide analysis for long-range growth and strategic development planning to optimize market penetration. He maintains an extensive network of franchisees and real estate investors across multiple brands in the industry.
Get in touch
We at Wohletz Consulting & Advisory Services know that finding the right advisor to help you monetize a lifetime’s worth of work is a choice not to be taken lightly. That’s why we offer free consultations to ensure we are grounded in our client’s needs and the scope of their goals.