Matzke named Schlotzsky’s Franchisee of the Year

GREEN BAY – At a national conference on Feb. 24, Green Bay native Brian Matzke was named Schlotzsky’s Franchisee of the Year.

Brain Matzke and his team here in Wisconsin were recognized with the award out of 150 other locations.

“Our little footprint here in Wisconsin, we pulled it off. We were rewarded for it,” said owner Brian Matzke. “It was a total surprise. We had no idea. We knew we were doing very well and we were moving the needle on a lot of different metrics that we measure, but yeah, we had no idea.”

In November of 2021, Matzke and his wife opened two Schlotzsky’s locations, funny enough, after swearing to stay away from the restaurant world for the rest of his working career.

“I bought the two Schlotzsky’s in Wisconsin, in Green Bay and Appleton, about five years ago,” said Matzke. “It really has just been.. more of just the progression.”

Matzke was working his daily nine-to-five job around five years ago when he received a call from his wife, who wanted to open a business.

As soon as he got off the phone, Matzke called a commercial banker to ask which locations were available.

As it turned out, the past owner of the two Schlotzsky’s locations was looking to sell.

Having already owned Kastle Karts, Matzke reached out to his team for help at his restaurants. Without any hesitation, his 11 employees showed up to help at Schlotzsky’s and some are still lending their hands and hearts to aid Matzke and the Schlotzsky’s family.

“This award really belongs to our team,” said Matzke. “Their hard work, positive attitude, and commitment to our guests make everything we’ve accomplished possible. We’re also incredibly grateful for the support from our loyal customers and the communities of Green Bay and Appleton. Their continued support is the reason we’ve been able to grow and succeed.”

From here, Matzke and his team are already looking ahead to the future and what this means for Schlosky’s in Wisconsin.

“One of the things that has always been on our mind is being able to open more Schlotzsky’s,” said Matzke. “ We are in the process now of looking at a couple of different areas, the east side of Green Bay, the east side of Appleton. And I think this gives us a tremendous amount of confidence that what we are doing is working.”

Franchisee of the Year for Schlotzsky’s is determined based on a variety of factors, including traffic and sales growth, food safety and sanitation and overall guest satisfaction, as measured through random surveys.

With recognition and confidence, the future is seemingly clearer for the Green Bay and Appleton Schlotzsky’s teams.

“We have talked about how we want to continue with our foot on the gas pedal. How do we want to continue growing sales, growing our catering footprint, and you know, continue to give really good guest service.”