Missouri Western business school awards Auntie Anne’s franchise to student

By Chris Fortune

A St. Joseph native achieved a longtime goal after receiving a head start in the business world.

Missouri Western’s Craig School of Business awarded Caleb Keling the ownership of an Auntie Anne’s franchise after presenting his business plan in front of a panel of judges.

The moment has been years in the making for the local man who became inspired by the program when a former franchise winner spoke to his class at Central High School.

“The idea of owning a business right out of college at the age of 22 is too good to be true for me,” Keling said. “I couldn’t imagine passing up that opportunity. So that’s the reason I decided to come to Missouri Western and pursue this opportunity.”

The program, which also celebrated its 15th anniversary, was attended by the benefactor of the program, Steven Craig.

“I think probably the most amazing thing has been that there’s so many kids that have enjoyed this program, that have just loved it and prospered from it,” Craig said.

It would not have been possible without the efforts of Craig and many of the people who donate their time to the program.

“This is not a process of just me and a couple of students,” he said. “There’s numerous volunteers that have been part of the program now for 15 years, contributing their time, their talent, their suggestions and their business experience.”

Many of the previous winners attended the event to celebrate the program. Pam Klaus, director of the Center for Franchise Development, said Keling put his heart and soul into the business plan he presented.

“He spent countless hours preparing his plan,” Klaus said. “He had the opportunity to do an internship with one of our other franchisees, so he took a weekend of learning as much as he could there.

Keling created a 100-page business plan that he presented to the judges, and the hard work is paying off. Now he can enjoy his go-to Auntie Anne’s order of cinnamon sugar pretzel nuggets and lemonade more often.

“Whenever they had one in East Hills, I used to go all the time,” he said.

Keling’s next steps include relocating to the Auntie Anne’s location in a new city and starting his training. He said he can’t reveal the location of the new store until he gets closer to transferring to the new store.

“This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and it feels surreal to be here right now,” he said.