A Location in Every Major Metro? Cleaning Grills Across North America | Michael Sutton (Part 1/2)

#803 What if a simple college side hustle could turn into a fast-scaling franchise brand across North America? In Part 1 of this two-part episode, host Brien Gearin sits down with Michael Sutton, founder and CEO of Grill Hero, to unpack how a door-to-door summer experiment cleaning barbecues evolved into a rapidly expanding franchise system. Michael shares the early scrappy days of landing customers before even knowing how to clean a grill, the lessons learned while building systems and playbooks, and the strategic decision to pursue franchising instead of corporate expansion. They also dive into how Grill Hero identifies ideal markets, builds community-driven marketing strategies, and creates scalable systems that allow franchise partners to launch successfully from day one! What we discuss with Michael: 0:00 Starting Grill Hero: A College Summer Side Hustle 2:18 Scaling Through Dragons Den and University Growth 4:36 The Franchise Decision: Why Franchising Beat Corporate Expansion 6:54 Building Franchise Systems from the Ground Up 9:12 The Power of Franchise Partner Ownership 11:30 Territory Strategy and Market Domination 13:48 Marketing Investment and Launch Programs 16:06 Training New Franchise Partners 18:24 Operating as the Grill Cleaning Brand Leader 20:42 Customer Experience and Centralized Operations Thank you, Michael! Check out ⁠Part 2⁠ of this episode: https://www.millionaireuniversity.com/podcast/episode/2323f9aa/a-location-in-every-major-metro-cleaning-grills-across-north-america-or-michael-sutton-part-22 Check out Grill Hero at ⁠GrillHero.com⁠: https://www.grillhero.com/ To get access to our FREE Business Training course go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/training (https://www.millionaireuniversity.com/training)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. And follow us on: Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/millionaire_university_mu/) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MillionaireUniversityMU/) Tik Tok (https://www.tiktok.com/@millionaireuniversity_mu?lang=en) Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyG31bPcrqhbjvGsuz-JaXw) Twitter (https://twitter.com/Millionaire_Uni) To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors (https://www.millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors) . Want to hear from more incredible entrepreneurs? Check out all of our interviews here (https://www.millionaireuniversity.com/podcast) ! #entrepreneurship #homeservices #homeservicebusiness #grillcleaning #franchise