How a 26 Year Old Became CEO of a National Franchise: Tony Zaccario
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Episode 103
Kyle Matthews interviews Tony Zaccario, president and CEO of Stretch Zone, the largest practitioner-assisted stretching franchise. Zaccario shares his leadership principle “never confuse effort with results,” emphasizing data-driven decisions, franchisee profitability, and removing emotion from business. He recounts joining Stretch Zone in 2016 when it had four locations, becoming CEO at 26 in 2019, navigating COVID across differing state and local rules, and growing the system to about 430 studios in 41 states and Canada with zero closures. They discuss the franchise model’s simple unit economics, a franchisee-first culture, the importance of engaged ownership, work-life tradeoffs, and challenges of scaling teams. Zaccario also describes a 2023 private equity partnership with Princeton and a first-of-its-kind assisted-stretching research study supporting national accounts and marketing claims.
Show Notes:
00:00 Effort Versus Results
00:58 Meet Tony Zaccario
02:11 What Is Stretch Zone
02:59 From Startup To Franchise
04:47 Becoming CEO Pre COVID
05:32 COVID Lessons On Brand
07:48 Nationwide Growth Story
09:18 Systems And Scaling Ops
10:05 Career Path To CEO
13:10 Why A 26 Year Old CEO
18:46 Work Life Balance Reality
22:40 Data Driven Leadership
25:03 Zero Closures Explained
28:02 Great Franchisee Traits
29:43 Vetting New Franchisees
31:29 Private Equity Deal
34:09 PE Backed Growth Changes
35:35 Research Study Teaser
35:39 Why Research Matters
36:51 Study Results And Media Blitz
37:44 Turning Data Into Sales
39:34 Hardest CEO Decisions
42:50 Ambition And Work Ethic
46:59 Time Optimization And Dad Life
48:40 Recovery Industry Boom
50:13 Core Customer And Benefits
53:54 CEO Lessons And Loneliness
57:27 Culture Speed And Conviction
01:00:35 Startup Chaos And Covid
01:02:24 Future Success And Legacy
01:09:46 Franchise Info And Wrap Up
