Franchisee, Jack in the Box, Sacramento, CA

Twenty-three years ago, 19-year-old Atour Eyvazian fled Iran through the rugged mountains along the Turkish border.

Pursued by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, he climbed 20 hours each day, digging under the snow for anything green to fill his empty stomach, catching a few hours of sleep each night with his feet wedged in among the rocks so he would not fall down the steep mountainsides.

The guides he had paid robbed him of everything they could find when they reached the border. Less than an hour later, Atour was arrested by the Turkish police and thrown in jail.

He had lost 40 pounds on his trek through the mountain wilderness. Atour was able to escape only by bribing a guard with $200 American dollars that his mother had sewn in under the belt loops of his Levi's 501 jeans.

He eventually made it to the United States, where a cousin took him in and suggested he take a job at a Jack in the Box. Atour applied for a job the next day. He was soon working as a janitor for minimum wage — walking two hours to and from work each day — and he was exultant.

"I felt like I'd entered the promised land," he says.

To learn English, Atour carried around a pocket pad and a golf pencil, asking co-workers and customers the English word for things, scribbling madly as he worked. Atour would ask for extra work, get in early and stay late, and he was soon promoted to team leader, then to assistant manager, and within just two years of arriving in the U.S., he became a Jack in the Box restaurant manager. Several more promotions followed: specialist in guest service systems, supervisor, trainer.

When Atour decided to add night school to his busy schedule, Jack in the Box helped out with its tuition-reimbursement program, and his boss even chipped in with some of his own money for expenses. In 1998, Atour became one of the first in his family to earn a bachelor's degree, and three years later he earned a master's degree in business administration. That same year, Atour was appointed manager of guest service systems, overseeing service metrics for 677 Jack in the Box restaurants in several states.

Atour was able to use his savings to buy several small pieces of real estate, working weekends to fix up his properties. Then he would sell those and buy more. It was a risk, but it paid off. In 2005, he sold all his real estate investments to become a franchisee of 10 Jack in the Box restaurants in Sacramento, California.

"I try to give people a helping hand," Atour says, "because people gave me a hand. My employees are my extended family."

He says we should never forget how unique this country is. "Here, we celebrate differences."