Seventeen stores is a lot of batteries to keep track of, and it's also apparently enough to get you noticed nationally. The International Franchise Association has named Stephen Lutfi, who owns and operates that many Batteries Plus locations across Phoenix, a 2026 Franchisee of the Year. He'll be recognized at a luncheon during the IFA Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., on September 15.
Lutfi isn't new to franchising, he's part of it by family trade. His operation runs under MarLu Investment Group, the family-owned company his father, Tony, built over more than three decades into a portfolio spanning Batteries Plus, Church's Texas Chicken and Arby's, among other brands, with past ventures in Sears Hardware & Appliance stores as well. Stephen's older brother Metri handles the group's real estate holdings, his other brother Ramsey oversees operations for the family's Church's Texas Chicken locations, and cousin Nader runs HR and operations. Stephen himself is the one whose name sits on the Batteries Plus stores as franchisee of record.
Joe Malmuth, Chief Development Officer at Batteries Plus, said Lutfi represents exactly what the brand looks for in a franchisee, pointing specifically to his knack for building real relationships inside every one of his locations rather than managing from a distance, something Malmuth said translates directly into how much his teams trust his decisions. That kind of relationship-first approach lines up with what the IFA says it's actually judging for with this award, not just sales numbers, but community involvement, workforce development and a willingness to help other franchisees when they need it.
Running that many locations while still making relationship-building a priority at each one is harder than it sounds, since keeping teams aligned across a 17-store footprint means finding ways to actually reach every location consistently rather than letting communication thin out the farther a store sits from headquarters. Gorilla Dash offers an Internal Emails feature designed to help multi-unit operators keep that kind of communication flowing, giving owners like Lutfi a straightforward way to stay connected to every team as the store count climbs.
