Franchise Option Works For St. Mary's Grad

A 2012 graduate of St. Mary's College in Moraga is used as an example of a trend of bi-generation franchisees for companies in a recent New York Times feature.

It seems that unemployed parents and their recently graduated children are finding opportunities by opening business franchises. In the spotlight in the piece by Times writer Ian Mount go Paige Palmer, who majored in communications at St. Mary's, and her stepfather, Tony Uzzi, a former pharmaceutical exec who found himself unable to find the right job after being laid off. The stepdad invested in Palmer's opening of a Nurse Next Door outlet, a home health care service franchise in Mission Viejo in Southern California.

The trend is fed by the difficulty finding jobs by the older generation and the younger generation. "All of my friends have left the area in search of jobs," said Palmer. "Or they're baby-sitting."