CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — With a hint of self-deprecating humor and insight into how his entrepreneur mind works, Wes Swaney described himself as a “dream killer.”
“I’ve looked at a lot of opportunities, hundreds of other brands over the years, and I’m always poking holes in them, talking myself out of them. I really am a dream killer,” Swaney said.
But, after 35 years of managing and operating Little Caesars restaurants, Swaney had a change of heart and invested in PayMore, an emerging resale electronics brand. What made the owner of six Little Caesars restaurants in Southern Utah decide to sign an eight-unit deal with the electronics reseller?
“Because for me it’s all about providing value to my customers and for my community,” Swaney said, “and it became abundantly clear to me the more I learned about PayMore that this is the ultimate value brand.”
With about two dozen locations open as of March, PayMore’s franchise hybrid business model is based on a cash-for-used-electronics retail concept. About 70% of all transactions are made online, but the company still requires franchisees to operate brick-and-mortar stores to optimize the customer experience.
Founded in Massapequa, New York, in 2011, PayMore is on a mission to change the used electronics landscape. It seeks out proven entrepreneurs as franchisees who share its belief that there is an untapped market for used electronics.
Enter Swaney, a family man with three of his four children and a stepson involved in his Little Caesars’ operations. Swaney is also a community and church leader who has sat on a number of local nonprofit boards. Despite his crazy schedule running his Little Caesars restaurants, he found time to write a musical and secure a patent on a brand called Reverent Circus, a clothing and events company.
Swaney said he looks forward to opening PayMore stores in Southern Utah and creating employment opportunities for his neighbors and friends, some of whom have worked for him for more than 30 years.
PayMore will give his children the chance to establish career paths, Swaney said, with sons Riley and Wesley Swaney becoming a store manager and specializing in technology and equipment repair, respectively. Another son, Chandler Swaney, meanwhile, is being groomed in finance and as an office manager, and son-in-law Kian Green as a training store manager.
Swaney believes bringing PayMore to Southern Utah has an environmental upside as stores resell electronics that might otherwise end up in landfills.
“PayMore really resonated with me because their business model is all about reselling the electronics and technology that people are not using in their homes and creating a trust with the customer that they are getting the true value for their used equipment,” said Swaney, who also touted the brand’s seamless online system for determining a fair market value for used electronic equipment.
“At most, it’s a 9-to-6 shift Monday through Saturday with no prep, no kitchen cleanup, just turn on the lights and you’re ready,” he said, comparing the long hours he and his staff keep running restaurants.
Don’t get Swaney wrong. He still loves his longtime partnership with Little Caesars, which he said began when he helped deliver food to flood victims in and around St. George after a nearby dam broke in 1989.
“At one point I was in the back of a pickup delivering pizzas to flood victims with a guy who had just started as a Little Caesars franchisee who I had known through church, and I ended up working for him at his second store as an assistant manager,” Swaney said. “I managed a bunch of his stores for him before the opportunity presented itself to buy my own stores.”
Swaney, whose Little Caesars operations land him in the top 20% of all operators, said he’s excited to begin the next chapter of his franchising career with PayMore. He is scheduled to open his first location at the end of April in Washington City and his second location in Provo in June.
“Little Caesars taught me a fundamental truth: People need and desire value, and I look forward to continuing that with PayMore,” Swaney said.
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Resources
- Little Caesars Pizza | Website.
- Locations:
- Cedar City: 96 N. Main St. #104 | 435-586-1195.
- Hurricane: 310 W. State St. | 435-635-3100.
- Washington City: 875 W. Red Cliffs Drive | 435-628-9400.
- St. George: 702 E. 700 South | 435-628-8100.
- St. George: 1973 W. Sunset Blvd., Unit A | 435-628-8595.
- St. George: 922 E. Brigham Road, Building 3 Suite A | 435-628-8123.
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