While working in marketing at Cabela’s, Jon Sica found the calling of process improvement early in his career. He earned his Six Sigma Black Belt and went on to work across every facet of the company. He later joined a restaurant giant to learn about the franchise industry before he was
brought to Batteries Plus to unlock the growth potential of a 30-year franchise brand by serving as the chief business officer.
Batteries Plus provides top-quality power solutions to an enormous selection of retail and B2B customers with a mission to aspire to help power customers’ lives as the number one provider of battery solutions.
“Jon wasn’t the conventional choice for the role,” said his colleagues. “However, he made sweeping changes to the team and brand marketing while recruiting an all-star team and developing the talent needed to invigorate the brand. He had a vision for franchise operations that wasn’t rooted in the traditional, lone-wolf, high-pressure sales approach.”
Sica’s work began by rebuilding the company’s franchise efforts around a “franchise first” approach and unveiled new approaches to store construction, real estate and the store opening process. Under his leadership, the franchise team invested in AI-powered real estate analytics that helped identify available territory throughout the U.S. and created franchise buyback, conversion, resale and relations programs to support both new and existing franchises.
His efforts have paid off with Batteries Plus going from single-digit franchise signings to nearly 250 signings in 2020. Since Sica joined the company, overall revenue is up 5.8 percent with commercial in-store up 13.2 percent and commercial online up almost 29 percent.
Sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge is what Sica is known for. “I’m most proud of seeing my teams succeed, and watching learners turn into leaders as I help them take ownership of business strategy and results,” said Sica. “Developing high-performing teams and leaders that can create their own is the most rewarding part of being privileged enough to serve as a leader in business.”
His success as a leader has led to several accolades, including being named 40 Under 40 by TouchPoints that recognizes young executives who are paving the way for the next era of retail. “Through his strategic foresight and a knack for identify and marketing untapped opportunities, Jon has orchestrated a completely fresh approach to the company’s way of doing business,” said his staff.
For his perseverance and willingness to embrace change in the industry, Sica has been named a titan.
