Gordon and Maryanne Olson are turning over their keys to Papa Murphy’s in Falcon to the corporation. As of Oct. 14, the store will be open but under corporate management. Gordon Olson said the cost for keeping the franchise going has more than doubled in the 10 years theyíve been in business.ìOur franchise is up,î Olson said. The Papa Murphyís franchise company has been sold twice in the past five years, and things changed when the company went from 75 to 80 stores nationwide to 1,300, he said. ìWe started when there were less than a hundred stores. I knew the owner, and I could knock on his door,î Olson said. ìThatís all gone, obviously. It’s getting to the point where we are unhappy. If we have to spend that kind of money, we don’t want to continue. That boils down to why we are leaving,îOlson said when they first came to Falcon the town was so small he had to maintain another job. ìEven corporate warned us,î he said. ìThey did the demographics.î Despite the odds, Olson’s store became one of the top five stores in sales in the area. ìWe do real well here,î Olson said. ìI literally have been doing pizza for over 30 years now. I started with Dominos in 1983. It’s where Maryanne and I met.îItís difficult telling his long-time customers they are leaving the business, Olson said. ìWhen you know these people for so long, you can’t just walk away and not tell them what’s going on,î he said. Olson pointed out a wall in the store covered with thank-you letters from patrons throughout the last 10 years. ìThe wall is full ñ I can’t fill it up anymore,î he said. ìWe’ve done so much for the community. I’m not trying to brag. There are just so many people we know.îThe Olsons are moving on to a new venture ñ still in the food business. They plan to purchase a local restaurant near their residence in Stetson Hills in Colorado Springs and turn it into a full sports bar. ìThis is scary for me,î Olson said. ìMy dad was a banker. It gave me that conservative side. If it wasn’t for Maryanne, we wouldn’t be franchisees today. I had to sell my house, my boat; move to Colorado from Oregon, to a place we knew nothing about. Obviously, it’s worked out great, but we’ve been doing this a long time; and it’s time for us to leave. We totally understand this (restaurant endeavor) is going to be a lot of work for the first year or so.îOlson said they will announce the name and location of their new restaurant when the purchase is finalized.
