The Marine and a Billionaire

by Kevin Rhea

Gyrene Burger Company Opening Today!

Call: 865-281-5426-1927: Cumberland Ave, Knoxville, Tennesse

We were recently introduced to Rob Wynkoop, a franchise owner of Gyrene Burger, a brand new burger joint located near the University of Tennessee on Cumberland Avenue. Rob is a military guy. He enlisted on 9.11.01 and his official retirement was on September 1 of this year. Rob took this early retirement because a once in a lifetime opportunity knocked at his front door. The opportunity that knocked was basically dressed in a Domino’s uniform and arrived in less than 30 minutes. Do you know who founded Domino’s Pizza? I didn’t either until Chris Scurlock, MIG’s Community Outreach Coordinator, emailed Mark and I about this story. The founder is Tom Monaghan, American entrepreneur who founded Domino’s Pizza in 1960. (Exclusive Housing Hour interview with Tom and Rob next month) He is also responsible for the opportunity that motivated Rob to retire from the Marines. Before I tell you more about Rob, the Marine, let me introduce you to Tom, the Billionaire. After spending three years in the Marines himself, Tom returned to Ann Arbor, Michigan and enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1959. He wanted to be an architect. To make ends meet while in school he and his brother borrowed $500.00 to buy a little pizza store called DomiNick’s.. “I started out in architecture school, and got into the pizza business to pay my way through school,” he has said. “The pizza business was making so much money I never got back into architecture.” Soon there after Tom traded his Volkswagen Beetle for his brother’s half of the business. This little pizza store would grow into the now famous Domino’s Pizza. Tom ended up selling Domino’s for one billion dollars in 1998. After reading a passage from a C.S. Lewis book on pride in the mid 80′s his priorities began to change. He divested himself of most of his more flamboyant possessions, including the Detroit Tigers which he had purchased in 1983. He turned his lavish, leather-tiled floored office suite at his Domino’s Headquarters into a corporate reception area. He also stopped construction on a massive Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired mansion around this same time. (Apparently the home is still half finished.) Over the years Tom has contributed greatly to society and has done more good deeds than most will ever think of doing.
One of his passions is helping Veterans. He has always had a special relationship with the military so knocking on a Veteran’s door with an opportunity is really no big surprise. However, how he knocked certainly is.

Tom put an ad in the classifieds in a popular military periodical looking for a Veteran to join him in his next big venture. The ad stated that they would be working with the founder of Domino’s. Enter Rob Wynkoop, our Marine in this story. Rob was very curious after reading of this opportunity. He has always been a business minded person so running a business is nothing new to him. He answered the ad and sent in his information. After it was all said and done they chose Rob. The opportunity was to be the very first Gyrene Burger franchise owner. Everything happened so fast and Rob and his wife Brittany had some soul searching to do. There would be sacrifices. He would have to retire from the Marines and come up with the franchise fee of $20,000. Shortly after Rob was selected he and Brittany began to pray about what to do. Out of the blue he received an email notice that the Marines were looking for early retirees and they were offering $25,000 payment for volunteers. For Rob, this was a clear sign that this was what they were supposed to do. Around this same time, Brittany was accepted to medical school at LMU which was icing on the cake! After meeting Rob, I have no doubt that he will be very successful. He is a down to earth, smart guy. I really enjoyed the time Mark and I were able to spend with him last week while recording The Housing Hour. ”It is truly a blessing to be able to be part of this new brand,” said Wynkoop, who was most recently attached to 2nd Marine Regiment out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., “Because we are both Marines, Tom and I have a special bond – a bond that comes from that shared experience. Even though he served in the 50s and I served more recently, we’re both Marines.” It is not hard to like a guy who gave up everything and has served at every corner of the world to protect my freedom. story is compelling and contagious. I am very thankful to Chris Scurlock for introducing him to Mark. I have thought about he and Tom often since Saturday and we really want to get the story out. His store opens tomorrow September 25th. The address is 1927 Cumberland Avenue. The students at UT and those in the downtown area will absolutely love this concept. Rob is looking for a few good (hungry) men and woman to come try this incredible menu of all American burgers, hand-cut fries and much much more! Go grab a burger Wednesday and tell him Kevin and Mark said hi. You can also listen to our interview with him below as well as find some additional information about the restaurant and how you can support him!

Listen to the complete interview: