Sir Speedy history

1973 – Named the fastest growing franchise in the nation

By late 1974 Sir Speedy was the nation's largest instant-printing franchise chain, with 350 outlets, many of them in southern California.

Sir Speedy was still the third-largest franchiser of quick-print stores when Kampgrounds of America, Inc. (later KOA Holdings, Inc.) acquired a controlling interest in the company in 1977 for $1.3 million.

Sir Speedy had sales of $2.2 million in 1978, or about 15 percent of the parent company's total.

When Don Lowe became president of Sir Speedy in 1981, there were 320 franchisees in the network, with combined sales of some $50 million a year.

By late 1987 Sir Speedy had moved to second place in its industry, with about 800 stores.

One of the company's model franchisees was Bill Tallent, who opened a Nashville store in 1991 and soon topped the company's growth chart, recording sales increases of greater than 30 percent for 21 consecutive months.

1992 -- 5th straight year of industry-leading sales

Among Sir Speedy's star franchisees in 1993 was Ken Mathes and his wife, Cookie, who were doing more than $1 million a year in sales with two franchises in Long Beach, California.

In 1994 the company established Sir Speedy Net, a national online electronic bulletin-board service to communicate with the 350 or so franchisees equipped to receive it.