2007 Minnesota Business Hall of Fame

Barton favors a “rifle” rather than “shotgun” approach to franchising; he chose to grow quickly to be the biggest brand in a few markets—establishing training centers and shared marketing programs for the salons there—rather than opening salons all over the country. He likes to tell of a potential franchisee who wanted to open a Great Clips salon in Indiana, which was not a designated Great Clips market at the time. Thanks, but no thanks, Barton said. But the franchisee sent a signed franchisee agreement, anyway—along with a check for $10,000.

Barton returned the check. “Like most new businesses, we were living on a shoestring. The $10,000 would have been great! But we would have had a franchisee somewhere in Indiana that we couldn’t support. You make different decisions if you think long term.”

Jim Hemak, a Great Clips franchisee since 1983, now operates 18 salons in Wisconsin.

“Usually it takes two or three different types of people to develop a company,” he says, noting that Barton has taken Great Clips from start-up to multimillion-dollar organization. He calls Barton “a very tenacious, focused, driven, outstanding businessman,” but “also a very thoughtful, caring individual.”

Meanwhile, Barton is still moving at a fast clip. “I enjoy the chase,” he says. “I still love to get involved in taking real-estate deals away from our competitors. That’s fun. And if we get enough of those really good sites, we’re going to win the long haul. That’s thrilling!”

> Watch video from the 2007 Hall of Fame gala.