By 2016, Bridgeman owned more than 500 franchises, and Bridgeman Foods was the second-largest Wendy’s franchisee in the world. He also owned more than 100 Chili’s and a long tail of Fazoli’s, Blaze Pizzas, Perkins, Mark’s Feed Stores and Golden Corrals.

That year, however, he sold many of those restaurants to purchase territories from Coca-Cola in three Midwestern states and start a new venture, Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling. Having landed a foothold in that lucrative business just as Coca-Cola was divesting much of its manufacturing and distribution operation, Bridgeman soon expanded his bottling enterprise too, reaching into two more states and Canada.

Bridgeman told “How Leaders Lead”: “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do something else in life.”