2 Guys & A Pie, CiCi’s Pizza, Stuart Wiggins

February 22, 2011

In the first of a series of articles focusing on the success of our alumni entrepreneurs we highlight the entrepreneurial successes of Stuart Wiggins a graduate of the entrepreneurship and small business program.

Stuart Wiggins is a 28 year-old, Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management graduate from Georgia Southern University. What sets him apart from his peers? He currently owns three CiCi’s Pizza franchises and has started his own company, 2 Guys & A Pie Management, with his brother-in-law Adam Baker. But before he graduated, he had begun to seek entrepreneurial experience. Wiggins’ first experience with entrepreneurship was with his father who was the owner/operator of a Chick-fil-a restaurant. Once in high school Wiggins began working for a developer where he got a taste of small business management. This taste from high school along with his father’s entrepreneurial spirit inspired Wiggins’ to get a Business degree from Georgia Southern with an emphasis in small business and entrepreneurship.  Putting his studies to practice. As a junior at Georgia Southern he was a project manager at Talon’s Lake; a college housing management group.

At Talon’s Lake, Wiggins had the responsibilities of managing leases, maintenance on properties and marketing for the property group. Here, he had the opportunity to coordinate with contractors and other managers and witnessed the owner build the property from the ground up. Wiggins got firsthand experience for running his own business. He built professional relationships, managed properties and satisfied customer demands.  All of this practice helped Wiggins to understand his goal of owning his own business and appreciate the effort that goes into it.

Wiggins’ first venture began at CiCi’s pizza where he started out as manager.  By 2006, he was the owner of four restaurants. He sought out the Small Business Development Center to establish financing plans and review valuation methods.“They thought it was crazy for a 26 year old to ask anyone for $1.5 million and believed it would not happen,” said Wiggins. But because CiCi’s Pizza has a good reputation with financial institutions, Wiggins was able to successfully negotiate a loan with favorable terms.  Upon closing, Wiggins became the youngest franchisee of the restaurant chain with over 700 locations, and in the first year of owning four stores he won the “Coach of the Year” leadership award.

Wiggins credits part of his success to Georgia Southern, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Program, his professors and their practical teaching techniques and hopes other students take advantage of all the opportunities this school has to offer.