A One-on-One with Jason Sperry, Chief Operating Officer of Veteran Service Brands!

Greetings everyone and welcome to Mighty Line Minute! We're going to have a great session today. We've got Jason Sperry with VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS, who's going to tell us all about his company. What they have to offer. Not only to veterans, but to the world! And, it's a quite an interesting story. I'm really proud to have him on today. How are you doing, Jason? 

I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing today? 

Oh, I'm doing great. So, what can you tell us about your firm? I've looked and I saw that you I've got companies, G-FORCE®, FIELD OPS®, MACH ONE®, PAINT CORPS®, and you hire veterans and you run a wonderful franchise. I know we've got a great connection with Mighty Line®. Tell me more about your company, how it got started, and what it's all about.

Hey, Dave! So, Jack Child is the Founder and CEO of VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS. Started G-FORCE® Franchise Group back in 2017. Had five by the end of that year, and we've grown obviously to 48 locations now. And in that time he brought on PAINT CORPS® is a commercial and residential painting company. And, he also brought on MACH ONE® epoxy floors. In the meantime, we also found that it was beneficial to start striping fields. So, he opened up a fourth franchise, which is called FIELD OPS® which does sports markings, anything you can think of. So, football fields, an event like a concert and you need parking, it's made into a new big, large field. They just go out for huge new events like parking lots, or concerts. 

I was looking at some of the images on your website there. Everyone's got a smile in the work that they do and, striping athletic fields and venues, sounds like an amazing business. They've got to really enjoy doing that. 

Oh yeah, and I'll tell you, you know, John Kling, who's also our VP of Business Development and National Accounts. He did a Jordan Spieth event at a golf course, and it was absolutely beautiful. The work that he did on that golf course. Really excited about what they do, and they really love doing so. 

Can you run through each of your businesses? Each one of those are unique. The epoxy flooring, and the different types of flooring that you can do, the painting. Give our viewers a good idea of what each of those do. 

Yeah, so, MACH ONE® epoxy floors. So, they do concrete polishing. So, if you walk into a Walmart or a Sam's Club, or any of those you're going to notice that they no longer really put in tile flooring, or any kind of specialty floors, you know, with floors. They just polish the concrete down, nice and smooth. Make it all nice and glossy. And, it's easier for cleanup. It's easier for them to maintain. So, you'll see a lot of that. That's part of what MACH ONE® epoxy floors do. But they also go into, you know, residential homes or large businesses. I know, not too long ago we did a Lamborghini sales room and the entire showroom, the floor, I mean, it was probably thousands of square footage of the epoxy for this, you know, location. and it was an absolutely remarkable epoxy floor. 

And from what I've read, there's a difference between the different types of floors, the polyaspartic coatings, the epoxy, industrial use versus commercial versus residential. There's quite a lot of science behind that.

There is a lot of science behind it. I actually have to call the Co-Founder of MACH ONE® epoxy floors, Jason, all the time to ask him specifications about, you know, the epoxy coatings and what those specs are for the customer. Very detailed business! 

I know in my prior work we had some specialty coatings for industrial floors that dealt with hazardous materials, and often times you have to get into even measurements for conductivity, you know, for static dissipativeness, of a floor, so you can run into a lot of unique testing requirements after you've done the job. So, I'm sure these guys are real experts in what they do. 

Yes, they are. Very much so. 

You've also got a painting, arm as well?

Yep, so PAINT CORPS®, Burgess Perry is the franchisor along with Jack Child for that one as well. And, that's a commercial and residential painting. They've done everything from, you know, large Amazon facilities to, you know, repainting homes, cabinetry. I mean, you name it. There's a lot of subcontractors for that subcontractor model. And, uh, they stay pretty busy. They're nonstop over there as well. Burgess Perry's an amazing individual, a franchisor, a coach, a mentor to all of his franchisees. He's done a wonderful job so far in growing that business. And we're really excited to see where PAINT CORPS® goes over the next few years. 

Wonderful. Well, you know, one of the things we do have in common with Mighty Line is Mighty Line is a veteran-owned company, likewise with VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS with the hiring that you do, and the franchises that you offer. How did that story begin where veterans became the focus of who you sought out to do this type of work?

So, Jack Child, as I said, he started in 2017 with G-FORCE® Franchise Group. Before that, he had a few other franchises that he'd started out. One was seal coating, you know, blacktop sealcoating. The other one was another parking lot striping company as well. And he realized very quickly that a lot of his franchisees really weren't cooperating with one another. They weren't working, you know, extremely well together. But his veterans were working very, very well together, and they were helping each other out. And so, what he ultimately decided to do was walk away from the previous franchise, sold it off. And then he started G-FORCE® Franchise Group, and he decided that it was a better business model to just be exclusive to veterans.

And at that time, the unemployment rate in 2017 for veterans was well above 22 percent. And, you know, he just had this calling for himself and for others to make it an opportunity for veterans to be entrepreneurs and start a successful business. And so that's where it went from there. And it's really taken off.

And we got a great group of veterans that I mean, they can call on one another. They can, you know, we've had guys get on planes, fly to other states and you'll help each other out with large projects. Quite extraordinary what these men and women are capable of, and what they'll do for one another. And, I just believe that that community of people and what we've endured over the years, just really been remarkable. 

Well, thank you for your service in that area and servicing veterans. And I know what contributions they made, and every veteran makes. And it's just wonderful to see that you're supporting them. How did you make the Mighty Line connection? 

Well, it's .. actually a fun, you know, I was doing some research a while back trying to figure out, you know, like, What made everybody wanting to look into Mighty Line? It really comes down to emissions. And, you know, if you're painting inside of a building, you're obviously putting off some kind of vapors of some nature.

And then if, you know, you got an Amazon facility, you got a Walmart, you got someone else the same industry with a warehouse that needs some kind of striping work done inside. A lot of times you can't use your gas-powered machines. You got to find a machine that's electric-powered. And then also, you know, what am I putting into the atmosphere there while people are working?

Am I going to reach a certain level where they're not going to be comfortable with us painting? And Mighty Line Tape offered a wonderful solution for us to be to go inside these facilities and still stripe and put on safety lines, and the durability alone. I mean, when you're looking about, you know, I have something that was painted, it's chipped.

I no longer have the ability to just go in and scrape it. I gotta do sandblasting. I gotta do all these different things to bring up this old stuff, and then put down something new. It's just a better option for us to use Mighty Line Tape vs. you know, repainting or doing epoxy. 

Yeah, I've had the opportunity to see many large warehouses paint-striped on the interior and dealing with VOC's. And the reality that trying to make changes later, which always happens in warehousing, is very difficult. And the benefit with Mighty Line with those, you know, 3-year limited warranty, beveled-edge, durable stripes that they make is a wonderful alternative. And, I know you guys are outstanding partners in that area, so, glad to see that working well.

So, what's new on the horizon for 2025? How do things look as far as opportunities ahead?

Yeah, well, we still have quite a few territories that are open for some G-FORCE® locations. That's one of our, you know, focuses for the next few years (OK). And, then really trying to grow our MACH-ONE® epoxy floor space and our PAINT CORPS® franchisee locations. We work with a lot of large vendors, Amazon, Walmart. A few others. And, the goal is to just keep growing that national account exposure with them, and then focus on providing them the best customer service that we can. 

Cool. And how would we have people get a hold of you? Or, how would they reach out if they have an interest in creating a franchise through VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS?

Yeah. So, they can actually just go to the VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS website. There's some dropdown menus that they can go through and they can look at, you know, what it takes to join. They can request a one-on-one meeting for a discovery call with Craig Laquerre, who's our Director of Franchise Sales. And, you know, it'll start a little bit of a drip campaign for them, and to give them a little bit more exposure to what we offer, compared to our competitors.

And, you know, that basically starts the initial conversations for them to be franchisees. Obviously, they gotta be a veteran, or the veteran has to own at least 51 percent of the franchise (Sure). And, they can also reach out to myself directly at, you know, jay@veteranservicebrands.com. And I'd be more than happy to answer any questions and get them in touch with Craig. 

Awesome! Well, Jason, hey, it's been wonderful to have you on today. Again, we have Jason Sperry, Chief Operating Officer with VETERAN SERVICE BRANDS here on the channel with Mighty Line Minute, and a wonderful partner with Mighty Line®. We're glad to have you aboard today. Any final words? I do want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas before we exit .. but I'll leave it with you here, Jason. 

Yeah, Dave, no, I really appreciate you on having us on here, and Mighty Line's been a great partner with us for a long time, you know, between putting down markings for warehouses, and the signs. I mean, you guys are phenomenal. Great product. We look forward to seeing you at the conference this year. See you guys soon! Merry Christmas to everyone as well! 

Thank you so much and take care, Jason. We'll see you again in the future, I'm sure. Take care.

Yes, sir. Thank you!