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Nearly three decades later, she is still at the Maple Street store, but with a much more substantial role. Now a single mother of three, Cashman last month purchased the franchise rights to the store she has worked at for most of her life, marking a long climb from $4.25-per-hour employee to owner. “You don’t say at 17, ‘I’m going to work here for the rest of my life,'” she said on a break during one of her 12-hour days. “But now that I’ve been here almost 30 years, I am. This is my life.” Cashman worked at the Danvers Domino’s for 20 years, eventually becoming the manager. After going through a divorce in 2010, she was determined to pursue a dream of owning her own franchise. She took a job with Boston Pie Inc., a Danvers-based company that owns 30 Domino’s in New England. She managed a store in Salem for six months before being promoted to supervisor of five area stores. “It didn’t take long to figure out her talents were far beyond manager,” Boston Pie co-owner Dominic Benvenuti said. “I told her if she ever wanted to become a franchisee to let me know. In February of 2018 she walked into my office and said, ‘I think I’m ready.'” Cashman attended Domino’s franchise management school in Michigan to prepare herself for ownership. When she later ran into the owner of the Danvers store where she had worked for two decades, she asked him if he’d be willing to sell. Cashman said she took out a loan and paid close to $400,000 for the franchise. Domino’s also requires an owner to have at least $50,000 in the bank as working capital, she said. Cashman, whose children are now 20, 17 and 9, saved up by working two jobs at times, including as a hairdresser. “I couldn’t have done it without the support of my mom babysitting,” she said. “When you work for Domino’s, you work nights. I’d get out at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. There wasn’t a lot of sleep. I just saved every penny I could.” Benvenuti said moving up the ladder at Domino’s to own your own franchise is “the embodiment of the American dream.” “I’ve seen a lot of people who gave up on that dream,” he said. “Jeannie just never gave up. I’ve been with Domino’s for 30 years and I’ve not seen a harder-working, more dedicated-to-her-goals person. I’ve never seen anyone more tenaciously go after her goals.”

Since taking over her own store, Cashman has hired new people, ordered new equipment and uniforms, and improved the front lobby. She works seven days a week and still does a lot of the tasks herself, including making pizzas and deliveries. Two of her three children work at the store, and her boyfriend also helps out. A Danvers native, she lives a half-mile down the street. Cashman, 46, said she’d eventually like to own a total of three stores. For now, she’s glad to back where she started. “This feels like home,” she said. – Source: The Salem News.

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