Kathy and Patrick Terry bake a birthday cake for every one of their 1,800 employees, have lent them $900K+ interest-free, and walked away from a buyout so P. Terry's would never stop treating people like people.

Want to build a business like that? Become a paid member of the Catholic Founders Guild: join.catholicfounders.com (http://join.catholicfounders.com)

The Terrys opened a 527 sq ft burger stand in Austin in 2005. Today P. Terry's runs across Austin, San Antonio and Houston, and they're selling the company to an Employee Ownership Trust so the culture outlives them. Silas asks how they scaled without losing the human touch, and the question every founder eventually has to answer: how much is enough?

In this episode:

• Why they'd rather slow down than change how they treat employees

• Becoming the safety net: interest-free loans with about $5K in defaults

• Milton Friedman and how the employer-employee deal broke down

• Walking away from a buyout, then selling to an Employee Ownership Trust

• Keeping prices low while everyone else raises them

• Faith, humility and being public about your success

Core lesson: Know your people. That's where the joy is.

Guests:

Kathy Terry: linkedin.com/in/kathy-terry-atx

P. Terry's Burger Stand: pterrys.com (http://pterrys.com)

Sponsor:

Bonaventure Bookkeeping takes the books off your plate, with monthly reports you can actually understand. Get your Sunday nights back: bonabook.xyz (http://bonabook.xyz) or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Chapters:

00:28 – Can 1,800 employees really be treated like family? “But of course.”

02:21 – Costco vs. Sam’s Club, and how you measure success

04:11 – The two-way deal between employer and employee

05:48 – How capitalism became extractive and transactional

09:22 – Milton Friedman and the shift to shareholder value

11:07 – Scaling a business that stays human

14:18 – Vin’s broken-down car and becoming the safety net for employees

16:58 – Giving Back Saturdays: a full day’s profits to local nonprofits

21:46 – Over $900K in interest-free employee loans, with only about $5K defaulted

23:15 – Why every employee gets a birthday cake

24:30 – Selling to an Employee Ownership Trust to lock in the culture

28:54 – Know your people: “that’s where all the joy is”

33:27 – “We didn’t set out to build a Catholic business”

41:27 – How to know when it’s time to take the leap of faith

45:33 – Walking away from the buyout offer

49:43 – Keeping prices low while everyone else raises theirs

52:04 – How much is enough?

54:54 – Advice for scaling: grow at a pace your culture can handle

56:57 – Closing and Rapid Fire

Join the Catholic Founders Guild ($10/month or $100/year): grow your business, learn the theology of entrepreneurship, and meet 270+ Catholic founders. join.catholicfounders.com (http://join.catholicfounders.com)

Newsletter: catholicfounders.com (http://catholicfounders.com)

YouTube: youtube.com/@CatholicFoundersPod

Meetups: luma.com/catholicfounders

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.catholicfounders.com/subscribe (https://www.catholicfounders.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)