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Technically speaking, Andrew and Rachel Adams didn’t start dating until they were 15. But Rachel made her intentions clear more than a decade earlier, in preschool, when she told Andrew’s mom she was going to marry him. 

Today, at age 36, they’re true partners in life and business. They each earned business degrees at the University of Alabama and then worked at the same bank right out of college, before realizing they wanted to own a business. But their first effort was rough: It was a DIY craft shop near Birmingham, which opened in late 2019 and got squashed by the pandemic.

While figuring out his next move, Andrew became the manager of a local franchise restaurant. The work reminded him of the restaurant his grandparents owned when he was a kid. “I would wait tables, cook, and wash dishes there,” he says. “I’d always talked about [owning] a restaurant, but Rachel always said no because of the time commitment.”

Then, in mid-2020, Andrew was approached about becoming a franchisee for Biscuit Belly. It was a breakfast-and-lunch concept that, at the time, had mostly corporate stores. They offered him the second franchise location. The fact that it wasn’t an all-day restaurant eased Rachel’s mind, and Andrew finally achieved his dream of restaurant ownership. Here, the couple shares how they navigated the challenges of becoming franchisees.

Related: She Moved Halfway Around the World at 18 and Found Her Future in Franchising

What did you see as the pros and cons of franchising?
Andrew: The good thing about franchising is that the model is already there. It’s proven. So we were excited to have that in place and not start from scratch. But on the flip side of that, with a franchise, you never know if it’s going to be overly hands-on or strict. We wanted autonomy to be part of the community and make choices.

How did meeting Biscuit Belly’s cofounders, Chad and Lauren Coulter, impact your thinking?
Rachel: They’re really authentic people. You can just tell. They had their own business, like we did. They had restaurant experience, but they also had more of an open mind than some franchise operators that say, “This is the way we’re doing it, my way or the highway.” They were new to it too.

What challenges did you face when you stepped into the franchise ownership role?
Andrew: One thing was taking off my manager hat and putting on an owner hat. Owners have to worry about bills getting paid and more of the behind-the-scenes stuff that I didn’t necessarily have to do as a manager. For me, it was a hard transition, because I really enjoyed managing a restaurant. Rachel is the opposite. She had to remind me that I’m not just a manager. I’m an owner.

What are some ways you’ve gotten creative within the franchise system?
Andrew: When we first opened, we put a bigger focus on catering than the corporate stores and the other Biscuit Belly franchise. Part of it was that the previous franchise I worked at did a lot of catering. But also, the thing about breakfast is that you may not always have foot traffic during the week. So how do we keep a good set of employees and give them their hours and be able to make payroll? We needed something else, and this worked. The owners were flexible in letting us bring ideas to them and implementing them. Kudos to them for that.

Related: Why Owning a Seasonal Business Is So Lucrative