Angela Coté, the CEO and visionary behind AC Inc, grew up with M&M Food Market, the renowned Canadian chain that she helped expand to over 500 franchised sites. From dressing up as “Kelly Kabob” as a youngster to working as a franchise business coach, she’s done it all. Angela learnt a lot about what works (and what doesn’t) in terms of keeping franchisees involved and driven to expand their business as the boss’s daughter in the field.
Angela successfully brought the M&M Food Market brand to Vancouver Island after many years on the franchisor side of the franchise agreement, launching the first three franchises in less than 1.5 years and growing them into a combined asset worth more than $1.5 million.
Angela ultimately founded AC Inc. and began advising franchisors on where to spend their time, energy, and money in order to achieve streamlined development. Angela’s strong vision for revolutionizing the franchise market by providing actionable, clear, and effective guidance from individuals who truly “get” it has inspired and energized a staff dedicated to assisting you in achieving your development objectives.
Angela gets to lead her vibrant workforce, which lives and breathes the firm’s fundamental principles every day as the CEO of AC Inc. Running team meetings, developing contacts, holding roundtables, speaking at conferences and events, recording podcast episodes, and continuing to reinvent the company’s services to better serve the community are all part of this.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Describe your background and what did you do before founding Angela Coté Inc.?
I was raised in a franchise company—my dad founded the iconic Canadian franchise company, M&M Food Markets (formerly M&M Meat Shops), that I helped grow to almost 500 locations. As the 20-year-old daughter of the founder, I had big shoes to fill, and I received many eye rolls in my first few years in franchise field support. But the lessons I learned in those years were essential to the work we do with clients today.
After so many years in the industry, I suspected there must be a space for a business that could support franchisors as they navigate this unique journey called franchising. For a few years, I really doubted myself and ignored my gut instinct. I felt lost and not like myself. This led to several years of working for other brands, feeling insecure, and not chasing my vision. But one day back in 2019, I just leaped and started, and I am grateful every day that I finally went after what I knew was needed in the industry.
Tell us about the inception of the company.
The launch of AC Inc. was largely thanks to a big scary investment-a career coach. I was aware that I had all of this valuable experience in franchising, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to apply my experience and skills to a business. Investing in coaching is really scary. I wasn’t sure I was going to get results, and it was, frankly, terrifying to invest in myself like that. After several days of brainstorming with my coach, we had pinpointed exactly what I had to offer the world, what kind of difference I could make, and what made me passionate. This is the day that AC Inc. was born. From there came a whirlwind of action, including hiring a graphic designer to create a logo, a website, and a few business cards; financing these tools with a line of credit; and registering for all kinds of networking and conference events so I could go get my name out there. I networked my heart out. Seriously, I talked to anyone that would listen about franchising, profitability, system improvement, and whether I could help them with any pro bono work.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
Innovation is everything! When it comes to making transformational change in the lives of franchisors, we need to think big!
One of the ways we encourage creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration at AC Inc. is to encourage “no idea is a bad idea” at team meetings and brainstorms.
Especially when the team comes together to problem solve or ideate together, we use a tool called JamBoard (a free Google tool if you want to try it!) to bring together a big list of ideas. This helps us think creatively and come up with new ways to accomplish our goals.
Another strategy for encouraging innovation is leveraging the collective genius of our entire team to support our clients. We have weekly meetings with our expert advisors where we can all help solve client challenges or share insights that bring together our various experiences.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
Something we focus on a lot with our clients, community, and own team is having a strong set of core values. When you have guiding principles that help shape decision making and guide your mission as a business, you are more likely to attract team members and clients/customers who share your values.
We use our core values in all aspects of our business (see our core values below) to integrate them into our company culture.
- Action = Growth
- Mindset is Everything
- Go Be Awesome
- Give a Shit
- Everything is Figureoutable
- We Get More Done When We’re Having Fun
Some examples of integrating our values into the day-to-day of our business include using core values in interview questions, quarterly check-ins, giving “core value” shout outs to team members who exemplify one of our values, and creating content based on our core values.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
No doubt-my team. Having an incredible team aligned and excited about a mission to make a difference in the franchise space has been the thing that has made AC Inc successful.
Something that our team values highly and has contributed to our success (and the success of our clients) is to remember that action equals growth—launch fast and adjust.
This applies to so many elements of business.
If you’re insecure about sharing your story on social media, take action and learn as you go! If you’re looking to launch a business, or new service, test the waters with a pilot project or some discounted services and learn what you can refine and improve to create the best possible offering for your audience.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position in the franchisee space for the first time?
Hire leaders who share your passion and core values.
Hire people who aren’t afraid to take accountability and solve a challenge themselves. Leadership isn’t about being the loudest in the room, it’s about taking initiative! Having an amazing team full of experts in their unique areas (I call them “superpowers”) is what has helped both my company and my client’s companies achieve success.
What is your vision for the future of the company?
The future looks like expanding and improving our current lineup of services, growing our community, and venturing further into the keynote speaking space to inspire and energize even more franchise industry professionals.
