Brett Reed, left, general manager of bd’s Mongolian Grill in Independence, has been named the company’s franchise general manager of the year and was honored at the company’s annual convention in Seattle. He started at the company as a dishwasher in 1999 and worked his way up the ranks. The company says it evaluated general managers at each of its 19 franchise locations across the country. Altogether, the company has 27 locations in the United States and one in Ulaan­ baatar, Mongolia.