Mar. 15—Jeff Plamondon takes pride as a new member of his family business.

In January, Plamondon joined his father and uncle at Plamondon Companies as the director of real estate and business development.

Plamondon Companies has two divisions — Plamondon Hospitality Partners, which is a franchisee of Marriott and Hilton, and the Plamondon Enterprises Inc, which owns the Roy Rogers brand. In total, Plamondon Companies has 24 corporate restaurants and 16 franchises, and has 13 hotels open and operating.

Plamondon's grandfather founded the family business, making Jeff Plamondon the third generation.

"It was just a part of my life. ... My grandfather was so dedicated to it, and my dad and my uncle are, too," he said. "... It definitely makes me want to work a little bit harder than, you know, working for a company that's not yours, just because I have so much pride in the name and the family."

In his new position, Plamondon will look for new locations and markets for the company to grow in, manage real estate portfolios and build relationships with tenants and landlords on various properties.

He's familiar with the hospitality part of his job, he said. Before working for the family business, he worked for Davidson Hospitality Group, a third-party hotel management company based in Atlanta, Georgia.

But like his father and uncle before him, he's going through a field training program in which he works with and meets people who keep the different companies and franchises under Plamondon Companies running.

He's already worked at a handful of Roy Rogers locations frying chicken, flipping burgers and making sandwiches with other employees.

He worked as a food attendant at Roy Rogers in high school during the summers, but he wasn't looking at the different procedures and managerial type functions. This time, he paid attention and learned how the fast food industry works, he said.

He'll do some housekeeping and overnight shifts at their hotels, as well. This will allow him to get to know people in the business better, and make better decisions, he said.

"It's so important to have that operations, you know, hands-on experience, because if you don't, it's harder to make decisions at the corporate level," he said. "You don't know what the impact of those decisions might be without having really gotten to know how the reach of the stores or the hotels operate."

He'll do this training until the end of April, he said. Once he adopts his role in full, Plamondon said, he's excited to keep advancing the business.

"I'm incredibly fortunate, and I really hope to keep growing the company and size and be an influence ... for many, many years to come," he said.

Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel