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Browse our selection of franchise articles and features to help further your knowledge in opening and operating a franchise business. Our exclusive features cover the , , , , , , and site of the franchise business. Written by the editorial team that produces Franchise Update Magazine and Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine, the franchise industries premier magazines.

As a franchisee, you may have found it quite easy to secure a lease with a commercial landlord; however, you may face many roadblocks if, or when, you need to terminate your lease prior to the end of the term.
  • Dale Willerton
  • 12,641 Reads 1 Shares
Gift cards can be an important component of customer loyalty programs. They can help attract customers, driving sales and brand awareness. New federal rules governing the use of gift cards have recently gone into effect. You certainly should be aware of and comply with the new laws.
  • Jan Gilbert and Suzie Loonam Trigg
  • 8,146 Reads 198 Shares
In his book, Hire the American Dream, Dave Melton makes no secret of his respect and admiration for immigrant workers who have come to America in search of opportunity. He has hired - and promoted - many of them at his Domino's locations. He says that a workforce shift in our country is leading to more and more frontline minimum-wage employees coming from immigrant population groups, especially in larger metropolitan areas. It's no wonder, census figures estimate that 8 million immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 2000 and 2007.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,933 Reads 58 Shares
This is the last in a three-part series on tackling the challenges posed by growing your organization into a true multi-unit franchise company. So, for those of you who have taken the first steps into replicating your success and going from one unit to two, and then have made the commitment to build a fledgling organization by growing from two units to five...now, my suggestion is, "Why stop there?"
  • Mike Pearce
  • 3,501 Reads 20 Shares
Long ago, when I was a newly minted junior analyst at a local investment firm, a grizzled veteran noted that it was pointless to be in the investment business if you weren't a long-term optimist. To me, that time-worn piece of advice continues to ring true. Operating from this mantra, I've spent my entire career believing that whatever short-term morass the economy or the market found itself in could be fixed (eventually) by the drive and ingenuity of the American entrepreneurial spirit. I'm hopeful that this time will be no different--although I admittedly find my optimism being severely tested. In nearly 30 years in the business, I've never witnessed such a complex array of issues at play.
  • Carol Clark
  • 7,755 Reads 35 Shares
Like many successful and charismatic people, Elena Donahue punctuates her speaking with exclamation points. "Dream big! Focus small!" she encourages the staff at OceDon Restaurant Management in Castle Rock, Colo., and to fellow volunteers at the Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 7,618 Reads 2 Shares
Franchising continues to grow--not only in size, but in complexity--and in recent years, a huge part of that growth is attributable to multi-brand franchising.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine
  • 3,546 Reads 9 Shares
Franchisees are an optimistic lot, expansion-minded, on the grow, always alert to new opportunities. And for them, multi-unit franchising represents one of today's most attractive opportunities. Whether it involves increasing the number of units of their current brand or adding new brands to their holdings, the allure of multi-unit franchising is attracting the best and brightest franchisees in the business with increasing frequency.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine
  • 3,514 Reads 4 Shares
Multi-brand franchising allows multi-unit operators to balance risk and ride out the uncertainties of the marketplace in many ways
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine
  • 3,377 Reads 6 Shares
It was only a few years ago that, for the first time, multi-unit franchisees controlled more units than single-unit operators did. That moment marked a shift that had been building for decades as franchising matured into today's world of dominant multi-unit and multi-brand franchisees--along with multi-brand franchisors offering several brands from under one roof. To paraphrase the old car slogan, "This is not your father's franchising." Or perhaps we should say, "not your mom-and-pop's." Franchising has grown up and it looks a lot like multi.
  • Kerry Pipes and Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,695 Reads 1 Shares
Franchise Update Media Group (FUMG), the leading industry resource for franchise development, today announced that eMaximation has once again ranked the Franchising.com website as one of the "Top 5" in the industry for franchise recruitment. The site is a perennial Top 5 portal in the Franchise Benchmark reporting series produced by eMaximation.
  • Franchise Update Media
  • 8,409 Reads 322 Shares
Hungry Howie's Pizza
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Not surprisingly, winning in professional sports has a lot in common with winning in the franchise business. If there's to be any chance of victory, individuals must work together, follow a strategic plan, and remain devoted to a collective cause. Seen in this light, it makes perfect sense that a number of former professional athletes--most of whom have competed in sports since they were tots--turn to franchising when their time on the field runs out. They understand hard work and dedication, and they know how to follow a system where each individual has a role that benefits the greater good of the team.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 12,317 Reads 1 Shares
There are tweets and pokes, posts and check-ins, mayors, fans, friends, and likes. It seems as though every social media network has its own language and users--yet all of them are grouped together as the "shining light" of marketing for the year to come. Well, here's the truth. While social media is now a cornerstone for branding, sales growth, and PR, for multi-unit franchisees to successfully use social media to drive business into stores, you need to get the facts.
  • Lisa Wehr
  • 8,028 Reads 33 Shares
Gina Puente learned about hard work, tenacity, and the power of cash at the knees of her father, "working" in his office equipment business from the age of eight... when she wasn't busy with commercials and pageants.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,744 Reads 1 Shares
Spread across the following pages of our annual Dominators issue are the rough-hewn tales of seven multi-unit franchisees who have worked smart and played hardball to create large, successful franchise organizations. These operators are not afraid to take risks if the payoff means a bigger slice of the market pie. We interviewed these seven savvy operators and asked them to share their strategies, philosophies, and personal approaches to running their organizations.
  • Kerry Pipes and Eddy Goldberg
  • 7,535 Reads 1 Shares
Often when I speak at franchise shows and conventions a tenant will ask me, "What is the best lease length?" The term, or length, of your commercial lease is an important part of your franchise business plan and ensuing lease negotiations. However, most franchise tenants do not take enough time to consider that one day they will eventually want to sell the franchise. Alternatively, they may want to expand/downsize, relocate, or close and so do not give the term of the lease the attention and consideration it truly deserves.
  • Dale Willerton
  • 12,101 Reads 717 Shares
Top-performing employees exhibit a number of key characteristics critical to Dave Melton's franchise operations strategy. For example, as he has previously explained, they are not only happy and productive, but they also make fabulous team recruiters. But it doesn't stop there. He believes his top team members should even be involved in the interviewing process for new hires.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,094 Reads 1,023 Shares
Greg Hamer, Sr., worked in the oilfield service industry for two decades before dipping his toe into franchising. He knows about hard work and about managing assets. Today, he is the largest Taco Bell franchisee in the state of Louisiana. Hamer has operated B&G Food Enterprises out of Morgan City, La., since opening that first Taco Bell unit in 1982. In the 1990's, the company added KFC and Pizza Hut units to the portfolio and most recently, Teriyaki Experience.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 4,673 Reads 21 Shares
Growth, it's everyone's goal: the premise for my first article regarding growing from one unit to two. Now that you are a multi-unit franchisee, you must either commit to staying where you are or make a substantial commitment to further grow your business.
  • Michael Pearce
  • 10,234 Reads 1 Shares
First impressions are lasting. Front-line hourly employees are not. Before they've been on the job just six months, more than 50 percent are gone. Some were probably not a good fit for the job in the first place, but some productive, dependable, hard-to-replace employees bolt, too.
  • Mel Kleiman
  • 6,449 Reads 17 Shares
As noted in the last issue, investing is not for the faint of heart. It takes time and an ability to integrate an expansive range of information--as well as a steady head and a strong stomach. This combination often means that seeking outside help makes the most sense. But how do you go about finding an investment manager that's the right "fit" for you?
  • Carol Clark
  • 9,661 Reads 169 Shares
American Family Care
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For many businesses, growth often means a physical expansion of an existing store or the opening of additional stores. Is it worth the cost? There are two parts to the answer: finance and marketing. The financial analysis answers the question, "What do we need?" The marketing analysis answers the question, "What will we get?" To get our arms around the analysis requires an extension of my "break-even" discussion in the previous issue.
  • Steve LeFever
  • 29,418 Reads 2 Shares
Franchising has flourished over the past two decades, adding tens of thousands of units and rising on a compound basis faster than most of the industries it operates in. Much of this growth was achieved by franchisee operators who began when they were in their thirties and forties. Today many of them are in their fifties and sixties and looking toward retirement.
  • Darrell Johnson
  • 4,316 Reads 4 Shares
Two people have figured prominently in Jerry Heath's career. The first is his father, who helped bankroll him when he started out in franchising. The second is Steve Jackson, the president of Hungry Howie's Pizza, who began mentoring Heath at an impressionable age (12).
  • John Carroll
  • 8,685 Reads 2 Shares
It can be difficult enough to get a franchise up and running on your own, or with other operational and investing partners, but it can be downright arduous if family members are involved in the deal. But that's the route some franchisees take and when done properly this management model can provide years of personal and professional harmony. But there are some secrets to making it work. Go in unprepared and you could break up a business and a family.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 15,593 Reads 1 Shares
Opening franchise units in nontraditional locations has been the domain of specialists--but not anymore. With the economy still slumping, lending still tight, and suburban expansion at a standstill, many multi-unit franchisees are exploring the viability of sites such as airports, hotels, colleges, senior centers, highway rest stops, hospitals, and military bases.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,474 Reads
Just like any business, the franchising business is one that I have seen evolve tremendously over the past 30 years. While many of the cornerstones and crucial elements - product, simplicity, control, and support - remain the same, so much is changing.
  • Larry Feldman
  • 3,976 Reads 1 Shares
As we continue to mine Dave Melton's book, Hire the American Dream, I thought it would be interesting to highlight a case study that demonstrates just how successful smart hiring can be. Here Melton describes his experience hiring an immigrant.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,541 Reads
Whether you purchase or lease commercial space is one question. Whether you can find good commercial space to purchase is another matter unto itself. Although commercial property purchasing options exist across the country, they are less abundant than leasing opportunities. It is my opinion that, the better the location you need for your own business, the less likely you will be able to find a suitable space for purchase.
  • Dale Willerton
  • 46,984 Reads 4 Shares
Growth. It's everyone's goal, from the large publicly-traded franchise company whose value depends on its growth rate to the new single-unit franchisee excited about replicating his success. Growth is a universal desire. It creates a challenge, which in turn, keeps our lives interesting and vibrant.
  • Michael Pearce
  • 6,112 Reads 363 Shares
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