My name is Jason Burger. I have over 20+ years of experience in the franchising industry. 18 of those years as a franchisee. I’ve owned or invested in 6 brands representing 16 franchised businesses, primarily restaurants, during my career to date. Looking back, I never expected to be where I am today, but I wouldn’t change a thing about my journey. My goal after playing college football and graduating from both Newberry College (B.S.) and Temple University (M.Ed.) was to be an NFL General Manager. I was on a path that could lead me to that goal while working with both the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) and the Philadelphia Eagles. After getting married and starting a family, I decided that the NFL wasn’t the path that I wanted to pursue long-term. We needed to live closer to family and I wanted to have a work-life balance that enabled me to be fully present at home with my wife and son. I initially ventured into wealth management as a licensed financial advisor.
During that time, I kept noticing that the majority of wealthy or high net worth clients were business owners or retired business owners. In addition, my parents had become franchisees at a later stage in life while I was in college, so I knew that was a viable path to business ownership without fully knowing what it entailed.
After discussions with my wife and parents, I decided to make the jump. That was 20 years ago. After becoming a single unit franchisee, I became a multi-unit franchise owner 4 years later and have continued ownership interests in multiple global and emerging brands since that time. In addition to franchising, I’ve invested in healthcare, real estate and technology companies from startup to private equity strategies. One of my biggest achievements outside of franchising was my involvement in helping to found Vacation Brands, a collection of software businesses servicing the short-term rental property management industry. It later merged with Inhabit and includes investors such as Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, GSV, Insight Partners and PSG.
Outside of my current business interests, I serve on the Foundation Board at Newberry College. I enjoy working out, listening to podcasts and spending time with my family. When football season comes around each year, my favorite thing to do is watch my son play college football.