the Story

It's a pretty cool story...if you're interested?

Ok, so here it goes. Todd grew up in Boston and was a business guy. He opened a tuxedo rental place...not cool, then a dry cleaner...cool if you need your clothes dry cleaned, I guess? Then he got hungry and opened a pasta joint...lots of carbs for Todd back in the day. Todd got smart and decided he was so good at opening, running and selling successful businesses that he should start his own deal to help others...very nice of Todd. The Gates Group was born! Then, this cool chick named Sarah, who also grew up in Boston and graduated from Boston College, meets Todd, Todd hires Sarah, Todd and Sarah consult with a bunch of franchise companies on franchise development and recruitment.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Todd and Sarah head to Vegas for a convention. Sarah has uncomfortable shoes. Sarah has to walk, which makes Sarah very, very unhappy. This in turn, makes Todd and anyone with her very, very unhappy. Sarah NEEDS a pair of flip flops. Sarah searches far and wide through Vegas but can't find a pair of flip flops to save her life. She asks the question, why is there not a shop that simply sells flip flops! Why oh Why?

Light bulb...Sarah and Todd return to Boston, for some chowda and some wicked conversation about flip flops. They do some research and take the plunge! The first Flip Flop Shops opens in the beautiful, sunny paradise known as Boston or Baaston if you really mean it. The concept catches on, but not as fast as they thought. Another light bulb...why don't we open Flip Flop Shops^® in a warm climate like Arizona or California? Great idea they both said. So, Sarah and Todd started opening Flip Flop Shops^® and sharing their passion for flip flops with the rest of the world...at least in Arizona and California.

Meanwhile, a guy named Brian, who grew up skating, wakeboarding and skiing in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was all about freedom of his toes. Now that could have come from his love of the water and summer in general, or it could have come from his dad who was a world famous foot doctor, or podiatrist if you want to get fancy. Ok, maybe not world famous, but one of the best in his time. Brian then decides after spending summers at the Lake and winters in Chicago going to school, it was time to move to warmer weather. So, he packs up and heads to the wild west of Arizona. He helps build a little cigar company back in the glory days of the cigar biz, takes it public and then trades his tobacco pedaling days for the much healthier biz of ice cream...ok, so maybe not so healthy, but it sure was good.

This is where he meets two guys. One named Darin and one named Alan. Now Darin is a guy who grew up living the life we all wanted to live. Waking up in the morning, putting on his classic, white Flojos and heading off to school...or so his mommy and daddy thought. Instead, Darin grabs one of his prized boards from his ever growing quiver and races off to the epic surf off of the Ventura, California coastline to catch a few sets before the day gets away from him. So after growing up on the beach and in the surf, this guy gets the wild idea to go to school in Arizona. The surf wasn't quite the same but Arizona State was a great party school, I mean learning institution! So Darin does the regular job thing for a while, then decides, like Brian, he would rather be eating ice cream. So Darin, joins the ice cream biz as well. First in Southern Cal, then moves back to...you guessed it...the wild west of Arizona.

Meanwhile, Alan is busy causing havoc while growing up in - you guessed it - the wild west of Arizona. He spent many years living the life of a wannabe golf pro working at different clubs and playing more rounds of golf than most retired folks do. After his wife concludes that he is having way too much fun and not bringing home enough bacon, Alan decides to join the other sweet life and get into the ice cream biz.

This is where the three amigos, or three stooges depending on what you have heard, met and made ice cream and franchise history! The story goes like this....Brian, Darin and Alan kick major ice cream butt and about 1000 stores later decide to go their separate ways. Darin heads to Georgia for a little sweet tea and southern hospitality while Brian heads down to the innocent U.S. Virgin Islands for a few years. Meanwhile, Darin misses Alan and makes him move to Georgia and they both get out of the ice cream business so they can have a balanced diet of burritos, smoothies, pad thai and coffee. Atlanta

While Brian gets island fever and makes the move to South Florida, Darin and Alan miss Brian. Brian misses them too, but would never admit to it. Darin and Alan convince Brian to move to Georgia to join in their feast. The feast now grows to include, salads, ribs, biscuits that fly for breakfast, fish and jumping monkeys...don't ask.

Brian gets sick of eating so much and moves to Vancouver, B.C. where he can get back to a life of surf, snow and skate. Now by an off chance, Todd, Sarah and Brian meet up and talk about the freeing their toes through flip flops and how they want to bring their passion to the world!

Light bulb...Brian calls Darin, Darin calls Alan, Brian, Darin and Alan call Todd and Sarah, they all call to order pizza, hammer out a deal and finally, Flip Flop Shops is the authentic retailer of the hottest brands and latest styles of flip flops and the first-ever franchise of it's kind.

Life is good for these characters. They have freed their toes through the love of flip flops and the lifestyle that comes with it.

Now, they invite you to do the same. Come on, you know you want to be a part of the story!

By the way, this part of the story is now over. Want to help write the next chapter? Click on the link to franchise this bad boy and FREE YOUR TOES!