24-Year-Old Owns 9 Friendly's Restaurants

Amon Kohli, a 24-year-old graduate of Drexel's LeBow College of Business, is the proud owner of a piece of the Friendly's franchise pie. And Kohli doesn't own just one Friendly's, either. After putting on a convincing show for the Friendly's corporation, they agreed to sell him 9 franchises over the last 5 months, spread throughout Philadelphia and South Jersey.

After graduating from LeBow, Kohli was deciding which path he would follow, and decided on the restaurant life. "I had all this idle time. I wanted to do Wall Street, but I knew restaurants now," Kohli said. "When the opportunity came to get my own franchises, I borrowed money from my father and uncle."

Kohli, who started working at age 15 (16 is now the Friendly's hiring age limit) as a server in the Friendly's organization, has been very successful in the early goings with his stores, and is planning on adding 120 new jobs over the next four months. Kohli attributes his success to having a personal relationship with all of his employees, and providing customer service, even at the ownership level. In addition to the 9 stores he already owns, Kohli plans on building another 3 stores over the next few years.

· 24 Year Old in Charge at Friendly's [The Courier-Post]