From FranDev to Franchise Financing: Why I Chose ApplePie (and Why Your Brand Should Too)

By: Jamie Davis,CFE
Published: April 6th, 2022

As a franchise development professional for over 15 years, I worked with franchise candidates across a wide variety of concepts. The challenges I faced in closing deals at brands like Donatos Pizza and Checkers were often different from those I faced at Primrose Schools and FirstLight Home Care. 

However, there was one common and constant challenge I encountered no matter what brand I was working for: Franchisee Financing!  Some of the typical issues that I encountered:

• Speed to approval and funding - why are most lenders so slow?!?
• Growth potential being limited by SBA rules and their closing processes 
• Loan salespeople focused on one transaction instead of helping franchisees develop a long term success plan
• Lenders pulling back for reasons not related to my brand’s performance 

Waiting for franchisees to get approvals was painful! We lost our candidates most often at that stage.   It was also painful having to educate local lenders about our brand every time the candidate applied for a loan.

When I saw a LinkedIn post from my old friend Ron Feldman that he was looking to add a FranDev specialist to the ApplePie Capital team, I took a closer look and quickly got very excited. The first thing I learned was that ApplePie is focused exclusively on franchising, funding over $1.3 billion dollars in franchise loans since 2015.

But more than that, I was impressed with the innovative approach ApplePie took to uniquely address the challenges to franchise financing, and how carefully they curated their partnerships with some of the most exceptional brands in franchising (with nearly 60 partner brands in the fold thus far).

Among the differentiators that ApplePie has to help FranDevs with financing challenges:

• An experienced team of franchise financing specialists who understand how to structure for long term success and meet each franchisee’s growth objectives
• An innovative, growth-oriented loan product (ApplePie Core) that allows franchisees to open new units faster than SBA financing, with no personal collateral requirements
• Continuous access to diverse capital sources, even through adverse economic cycles
• An online borrower experience that streamlines the loan process, reducing repetitive documentation, and providing transparency and clear requirements

The more I learned about ApplePie, and how they were built from the ground up to address the challenges of franchise financing, the more sure I was about the opportunity. By making access to capital predictable and easy for franchisees wherever they are in their lifecycle, ApplePie can help them achieve their long term goals. 

The process that ApplePie uses to select brand partners is similar to the process I used to select franchisees for the brands I led. We only work with the very best brands, and we vet them carefully. If there is a solid fit on a number of different levels, from unit economics to strong retention in Item 20, we’re going to make it easy for franchisees to get the funding they need for growth and development. And as a FranDev pro with an ApplePie partner brand, you can tell your candidates you’ve got a true financing solution for them that should help you close more deals.

I can’t wait to jump in and help franchisors and franchisees solve their capital market roadblocks using ApplePie’s unique approach. So, if you’re in franchise development with a strong brand…you should expect a call from me. But you don’t have to wait - pick up the phone and give me a call today! I’ll tell you more about the move I made, and let you know how we can support you and your franchisees. You’ll be glad you did. 

Jamie Davis
VP Business Development | 415.944.1534 | jamie@applepiecapital.com | www.applepiecapital.com

Related Stories