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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.

"I love the action of the restaurants and the strategy of the real estate. This is the jackpot business for me," says Mike Scanlon, president and CEO of Thomas and King in Lexington, Ky., where he opened his first Applebee's in 1988.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,424 Reads 1,021 Shares
For months, media headlines and story lead-ins have been filled with dire warnings and inflammatory statements about the economy. Phrases like "the road to recession," "dollar debacle," "subprime mortgage implosion," "housing meltdown," "credit crunch," "trading scandal," and "rogue trader" combine with 600-point intra-day swings in the Dow and volatile economic news to bombard our senses almost every moment of every day.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,217 Reads
Against a background of greater economic uncertainty in 2008, will franchise development become more difficult? In a word, yes. To be clear, the franchise business model is alive, well, and growing. This decade's accelerating growth in units and expansion of companies embracing the franchise business model are testament to that. However, it appears that more challenging times are awaiting us in 2008. Here are some of the reasons—and suggestions for what franchisors can do.
  • Darrell Johnson
  • 3,690 Reads 3 Shares
As we have highlighted throughout 2007, the change in the economy we anticipated is finally upon us.
  • Dean Zuccarello
  • 4,170 Reads 1,021 Shares
An industry analyst digging into reams of franchise industry data would find that about half of all franchisees across the country are busy operating more than one unit -- and often, more than one brand. It's a phenomenon that has changed the face of the franchise industry over the last decade. And though there hasn't been much significant change in percentages so far in 2008, it's likely to remain a strong and growing trend.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,424 Reads 1,023 Shares
Customer loyalty cannot be bought. Loyalty is created by great experiences. And loyalty is lost by poor experiences--or loyalty is lost to a competitor who takes care of customers better than you do.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 3,112 Reads 3 Shares
"How's risk management in the big bank world?" he asked the banker. "I wish it were that," the banker replied. "It's more about risk elimination. We won't make a loan to anybody unless they don't need the money."
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,735 Reads 7 Shares
The news is depressing, the economy is sinking, financing is hard to get, the market is down, gas prices are up, and competition is fierce. So why are all these multiunit franchisees smiling?
  • Bill Hall
  • 3,445 Reads 1 Shares
If you were fortunate enough to attend the annual Area Developer Multi-Unit Franchising Conference this April in Scottsdale, you know that the weather was terrific, the facility outstanding, educational sessions abundant, and that franchise networking opportunities flourished late into the cool desert night.
  • Bill Hall
  • 3,168 Reads 1 Shares
As vice president of concept development at HMSHost, Novack has his plate full, and seems to relish every bite.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,645 Reads 1,023 Shares
During the past 20 years, we have witnessed a generation of multiunit franchise operators grow up. Today there are more than 40,000 of them.
  • Darrell Johnson
  • 6,158 Reads 1 Shares
Wienerschnitzel
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In June 2008, heavy rains caused flooding that filled the basement and rose two feet high on the first floor of Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, Indiana. The flooding closed the hospital, forcing the evacuation of 157 patients and causing an estimated $125 million in damages. Paul Davis National (PDN) was soon on the scene, part of the team brought in to mitigate the damage and allow the regional health care facility to reopen as quickly as possible.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,451 Reads 1,021 Shares
Ask any small business owner in the country how important customer retention and loyalty are and they'll tell you they rank right up top of the list of business priorities. It's no different in franchising.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,435 Reads 76 Shares
Beyond the unmistakable impact of the Internet and World Wide Web, advances in technologies used every day by franchisees are continuing to change the face of franchising -- and the way franchisees do business.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,718 Reads 1,014 Shares
Think of it as hoses-to-go. A broken hose can spell disaster for many businesses. A machine breakdown at a job site or factory can cause work to grind to a halt. And sometimes it can take days or weeks until the proper replacement hose can be obtained and the machines repaired. In purely economic terms, a $20 broken hose can bring a $3 million crane to a standstill - not to mention the paid employees who are idly standing by.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,566 Reads 1,014 Shares
For over a quarter of a century, I have been a critic of the United States' franchise sales regulation system.
  • Rupert Barkoff
  • 3,630 Reads 3 Shares
Running a racquet and health club is a time-consuming business and one that Bruce Forsythe knew quite a bit about. He'd been running one with his partners in Long Island, N.Y. for about 14 years when the team decided to turn one of their former tennis court areas into a second -- and different -- business endeavor.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,606 Reads 58 Shares
For America's Top Franchisors, Search Delivers Exponential Growth Opportunities. Are the Top Contenders Capitalizing?
  • Oneupweb®
  • 8,222 Reads
When Lino DeFeo bought a Sign-A-Rama franchise in West Palm Beach, Fla., he didn't know much about signs. That was about 15 years ago. DeFeo had sold his trucking business in Manhattan and moved to Florida with his wife Maria and their two young children to join a family business. But that didn't work out exactly as planned. "I got out before we totally killed each other," he says with a laugh.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 9,316 Reads 1,014 Shares
Motherhood is one of the toughest jobs in the world - just ask any mom. It's often thankless, seems endless, and certainly lacks much worldly prestige. Life for mom can be even more challenging if she desires to work outside the home to boot. There are, after all, limited choices beyond the full-time job and requisite daycare for the kids. In a month where we stop for a day (May 11) to recognize all that mom does, it's interesting to note that more and more moms are finding a place at home and in franchising. Moms like Liz Norwood in Denver, Colo.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,275 Reads
Elaine Stroman was making great money. She had spent the better part of two decades working as a mortgage banking consultant helping people buy and renovate brownstones in old New York City neighborhoods such as Harlem. She worked on 100 percent commission and was completely in charge of every penny she earned.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,063 Reads 5 Shares
Vocelli Pizza
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Mike Ghaida lives in a million-dollar house in a quiet suburb in New Jersey with his wife and three sons, and $300,000 worth of cars in his driveway. It wasn't always this way for the 41-year-old Ghaida, who came to the U.S. from Lebanon at 17 to study English and architecture at LSU.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 22,857 Reads 355 Shares
According to the U.S. Administration on Aging, by 2030 the number of Americans aged 65 and older will more than double to 71 million, that's roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population. In some states, as much as a quarter of the population will be aged 65 and older.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,128 Reads 1,014 Shares
Bill Dalton owned eight Grease Monkey franchises in the Seattle metro area. Today he owns one--a five-month-old, state-of-the-art facility in his home of Montgomery, Texas.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,503 Reads 1,014 Shares
The former Soviet Union was a frightening frontier for expanding businesses in the early- to mid-1990s. The former communist country was experiencing growing pains as it left behind decades of closed existence and began embracing a new economy built around more of a free market-based environment. And it was just this setting that Jake Weinstock and Paul Kuebler dived into headfirst.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 7,934 Reads 1,014 Shares
Even 10,000-unit gorillas have an Achilles' heel. For Curves, the number-one women's fitness and weight loss franchise, its own success is now biting it in the ankle. Competitors of all sizes and shapes have sprung up, offering women an ever-increasing array of options for losing weight and staying fit.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,323 Reads 117 Shares
It's fitting that Guillermo Perales does business in the state of Texas--a place where things are known for being large. Fitting because Perales heads the largest Hispanic-operated multiunit franchise company in the U.S., with more than 140 units across five brands. And he's looking to expand.
  • Area Developer Magazine
  • 9,507 Reads 3 Shares
Brian Wigutow had always dreamed of operating his own restaurant. But after more than a dozen years in the industry he realized that for him -- and his family, which includes three young daughters -- it was just not going to be the right career choice. That's when he turned to a franchise broker and discovered, to his surprise, one of the franchise matches that best suited him…Handyman Matters.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,667 Reads
Five careers. That's how 65-year-old Charles Smithgall, III, categorizes his business life. And that's not even including his service in the military. Or rustling cattle on Canadian ranches as a young man in the late 1960s.
  • Area Developer Magazine
  • 5,927 Reads 1 Shares
Most people would trade their day job anytime for Bob Stucker's problem a few years back: "I retired too young."
  • Kerry Pipes & Eddy Goldberg
  • 4,912 Reads 11 Shares
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