Photo

Behind the Franchise

The builders behind the brands

Photo

Behind the Franchise

The builders behind the brands

Photo

Behind the Franchise

The builders behind the brands

Back to Episodes

Kim Gubera

As President and Chief Executive Officer at PIRTEK, Kim is responsible for the company’s operations. Bringing more than 20 years of franchising experience and leadership to her current role at PIRTEK, Kim is focused on developing the franchise network, ensuring outstanding franchise support, and driving profitable growth within the franchise system by keeping corporate employees and franchise owners working together fervently to achieve shared goals. Strengthening and expanding the Brand within the U.S. is the primary value strategy as brand strength is beneficial to both the franchisor and franchisee. Under her leadership, the brand has increased the number of units by 92.3% in five years. Prior to joining PIRTEK, Kim began her career in accounting, earned an MBA, became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and worked her way up to Director of Finance at U.S. Lawns, another U.S. franchise brand. Kim joined PIRTEK in 2016, as the organization’s Corporate Controller. She was promoted to CFO and Vice President in 2018 and assumed her current role in January of 2019. Kim also holds the Certified Franchise Executive (CFE) designation from the International Franchise Association.

Holding True to Your Brand Values with Kim Gubera

In this episode, host Paul Ehlinger sits down with Kim Gubera, CEO of PIRTEK. Kim shares her journey from accounting and commercial landscaping into franchising, eventually becoming CEO of a 200+ location franchise system. From learning franchising by doing to leading PIRTEK through major growth and a private equity partnership, she breaks down what it takes to build a resilient franchise brand in a rapidly changing economy.


Listeners will hear:

  • How Kim went from knowing almost nothing about franchising to becoming a CEO and Certified Franchise Executive.

  • Why getting out into the field and visiting franchisees has shaped her approach to leadership.

  • Why AI resistance has become one of the top reasons franchise candidates are exploring PIRTEK.

  • How PIRTEK uses sales coaching and ongoing training to help franchisees grow across multiple customer verticals.

  • How private equity changed PIRTEK’s approach to growth, marketing, franchise development, and infrastructure.

  • Why Kim believes businesses should always be run as if they are for sale.

  • How PIRTEK is using AI to create better tools, documentation, and data-driven insights for franchisees.

  • Why continuous improvement is essential when a franchise system is growing quickly.

  • Why franchise brands need to protect their culture and values as they scale.


A must-listen if you’re curious about building an AI-resilient franchise, scaling without losing your culture, and using technology to make franchisees more successful.

Subscribe on iTunes

Follow on Spotify

Powered by Flamel.ai

"Behind the Franchise" is brought to you by the great team at Flamel.ai - the AI-powered marketing hub for multi-location brands.

Learn more