Ryan Gaylord Transitions From Foodservice to Printing Industry, Grows Minuteman Press Franchise in Lake Oswego, OR

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. – When Ryan Gaylord purchased his Minuteman Press franchise in Lake Oswego, OR in March of 2024, it allowed him to get involved with his community and reconnect with family. He says, “I recently moved to the area, so I have been actively meeting our neighbors. I have also been reconnecting with family and friends that I have not seen in a while and I’m coaching my son’s soccer team.”

From a business perspective, Ryan adds, “We have a very diverse business community ranging from high end goods and services to economical goods and services. We deal with a lot of tradespeople and architects, so we get a wide range of customers visiting us.”

Since purchasing Minuteman Press in Lake Oswego, Ryan has been able grow the business through community engagement, quality, and service. Ryan says, “We’ve grown through referrals, customer service, quick turnaround times, and being on site to meet customers. Our high-demand product is blueprints, and our key growth area is signage. We have a flatbed printer and router that enable us to do a lot of different signage and I would love to utilize it even more.”

“I think printing remains vital to businesses today because it grabs your attention more than digital advertising and is still needed in a lot of situations. The benefit of print is being able to have the information in your hands. For blueprints, it is much nicer to look at the large blueprint rather than a small piece of it on a tablet. Another benefit is being able to advertise with attention-grabbing prints on numerous different mediums.”

From Foodservice to Printing

Prior to Minuteman Press, Ryan shares, “I owned 3 Subway franchise locations and before that I was a Customer Service Manager. I chose Minuteman Press for:

· Support from Minuteman Press and other franchisees

· Growth opportunities at the location I purchased

· High quality employees at the location I purchased

· Low quantity of employees needed to run a location

The training and support have been great from RVP Chris Jutt and my local staff. It is nice having someone local that I can contact rather than a large call center. Having a field rep on site for the first two weeks was very helpful. The franchisee training was convenient and everyone was knowledgeable. Pete Taglino and Tom Carnesi at MPIHQ did a very good job of going over the Minuteman Press franchise system and laying the foundation for how to use their proprietary FLEX software before I took over the business.”

Minuteman Press in Lake Oswego was originally part of 50-year third-generation independent print shop Salem Printing & Blueprint that had multiple locations (Minuteman Press in Salem, owned by Craig & Carolyn Davidson and Christopher & Lisa Brown, was also part of Salem Printing & Blueprint). When Ryan bought the Minuteman Press center in Lake Oswego, he was happy to have a solid team already in place.

Ryan shares, “A major benefit I’ve had is having a great team and I was happy with the crew I inherited. For any business owner, I would recommend really getting to know your team and making sure they know that you appreciate everything thing they do to keep the business running. I know that I would not have been able to achieve the sales we’ve had without the help of my great crew of Nick and Bryan!”

Rewards & Advice for Others

On the rewards of being a business owner, Ryan says, “The biggest personal reward is having a good work-life balance. I love having the freedom to do things like coach my son’s team and spend time with family. The biggest professional rewards are hitting our monthly goals and always having the opportunity to surpass our goals. There is always something to work on or improve and seeing those improvements come to light is very satisfying.”

Ryan shares the following advice for others: “Learn the day-to-day operations of your location so you can make sure things are running efficiently. On the other hand, do not get bogged down in the day-to-day operations so you can focus on growing your business. There is a fine line between helping your team and just becoming another member of the team. Make sure you still focus on growth.”