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Franchise Articles

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.

Are you looking for the biggest loser? You're not alone. Millions of Americans are searching for a gym or fitness center to help them drop that spare tire and get into shape.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,383 Reads 7 Shares
At 17, Victor Chapron was just another boy in the 'hood facing one of three probable futures: drugs, jail, or death. Instead, he was rescued from his high-risk life in Los Angeles and sent to live with his aunt in Chicago. That's where he caught a break and turned his life around... maybe even saved it. Today, at 40 years old, he's come full circle. He's back in LA--this time at the top of his game.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 8,519 Reads 105 Shares
The numbers vary, depending on who you ask, but the result is the same: The outlook for the continuity of family-owned businesses is bleak. So where's the disconnect? What goes wrong? With all the years of hard work and sacrifice that go into building a family-owned business, why don't more founders succeed in passing it on to the next generation--and the next? And what can a founder do to increase the odds the business will survive?
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,179 Reads
When Doug Castino decided it was time to get out of his hugely successful restaurant design and supply business, he'd never thought of franchising and didn't know what an area developer was.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 4,415 Reads
Out of the American West came a term that has changed meaning from its use by the vaqueros herding cattle 100 years ago, to that of today's slick marketers of products and services. That word (or buzzword) is branding. In a world of instant communication, in which images whirl by us daily through multiple media, branding is crucial to success for both individuals and corporations.
  • Carren Bersch
  • 3,170 Reads 5 Shares
Franchise companies can grow fast. But profitability is more elusive. Franchisors on a fast growth curve have long believed that it is a tradeoff against being profitable. They assume that once they hit that magic unit number certain economies of scale will kick in and guarantee profitability both corporately and within their franchise network.
  • 3,565 Reads 3 Shares
The Wall Street Journal has reported that 70 percent or more of the value of a brand is now based on intangibles. Shareholder value that used to be calculated on brick and mortar is increasingly driven by customer count, market share, prospects for growth, and reputation.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 2,789 Reads
Retail is huge. Franchising is huge. And, of course, holiday shopping is huge. Add all that up, and opportunities for retail franchises are tremendous--especially in the last four to six weeks of the year.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 2,390 Reads 1,014 Shares
Satisfying your customers is a misguided effort. Creating loyal customers should be your only goal. Loyal customers spread positive word of mouth for you: they come back frequently and they spend more on each visit. Plus, they're more likely to resist offers from your competition and they're usually easier to serve.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 3,716 Reads 13 Shares
Computer technology seems to follow a fairly regular path: first, it automates operations, gaining some time and savings for large operations. Then it becomes cheaper, widespread, and more capable of handling routine tasks. Then it begins to change business functions themselves by enabling tasks that could never be performed before.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,541 Reads 1,014 Shares
Franchise companies and area developers can grow rapidly while still making a profit, but the importance of proper site selection is a key factor for success.
  • Jeremy Behar
  • 3,037 Reads
MSA Worldwide
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When Philip Nye came to the United States from Colombia 18 years ago, he carried a visa, spoke English, and had the necessary resources to buy his Sir Speedy franchise in Raleigh, N.C.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 3,290 Reads 2 Shares
Care-giving for baby-boomers is a rapidly growing concern and quickly escalating need in this country. In the next two decades, there will be more than 70 million people over the age of 65. Furthermore, the average life expectancy has increased 15 years since the 1930's. Nearly one out of every four U.S. households provides care to a relative or friend aged 50 or older and about 15 percent of adults care for a seriously ill or disabled family member. In hard numbers, about 13 million people are spouses or adult children of disabled older people and have the potential responsibility for their care.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,859 Reads 535 Shares
Franchise concepts continue to proliferate�"an important sign that the industry is healthy and poised for more growth.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 3,712 Reads
When Mike Willett was looking for creative ways to finance the growth of his franchise plans in the Houston area, he looked no further than his existing retirement plan. With a program known as a BORSA (Business Owner's Retirement Savings Account) Plan, he recently tapped his 401(k) holdings to launch the regional development of Synergy HomeCare. The BORSA program is structured so that retirement funds can be used for business development without distributions, taxes, penalties, or loans.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 4,705 Reads 82 Shares
According to most mavens (experts), bagels arrived in the U.S. in the 1880s, along with the wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe and Germany who settled in New York City. While bagels were swallowed up by most New Yorkers, they remained mostly a local phenomenon until the late 1920s. That's when Harry Lender, a Polish baker, set up his bagel factory in New Haven, Conn., putting bagels in supermarkets and introducing frozen bagels.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,091 Reads 1 Shares
National marketing efforts on behalf of franchisees have always been one of the benefits of operating within a franchise system. Generally, you sign on, open a store, and you get brand support and marketing from the franchise system. That’s a great advantage, but some multi-unit operators like to take matters a step further... or even several steps further by taking local marketing into their own hands. There are many unique and creative ways for multi-unit operators to approach local marketing. Done right, it’s much more creative and involved than direct mail or coupons, and the results can be taken to the bank. Here are a few twists and tips we uncovered.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,483 Reads 12 Shares
Contrary to what the financial media would have us believe, a financial fortune is not made—or retained—by exploiting hot stock tips or by jumping from fund to fund based on the latest "Top 10" list. In fact, selection of individual securities doesn't even make the short list of the top few most important portfolio decisions you will make.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,449 Reads 6 Shares
Most people are not naturally suited to be wise investors. While traditional economic theory advocates making decisions in a calm, collected, and rational way, and only after carefully evaluating all viable alternatives (homo economicus) the day-to-day reality is usually much different.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,121 Reads 3 Shares
In the $150 billion worldwide hair-care industry, Regis Corp. rules the roost. Regis has 55,000 corporate and 33,000 franchise employees in its more than 11,000 salons worldwide. Company brands in North America include Regis Salons, MasterCuts, Trade Secret, Supercuts, and Cost Cutters. (The company has about 60 brands gloally.) Regis owns a four percent domestic and two percent worldwide market share and predicts $2.4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2006.
  • 18,216 Reads 3,290 Shares
UPS Capital Business Credit, the financing arm of UPS, recently announced it is adding franchise finance capabilities to its portfolio of small business offering.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 3,628 Reads 15 Shares
Dogtopia
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Dogtopia
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Financing small-business growth is now moving into the field of franchising. Minneapolis-based Winmark Corp. is branching out from its portfolio of more than 800 franchised retail stores in the U.S. and Canada to a new brand allowing its franchisees to lease business equipment to small-business owners.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 4,730 Reads 1 Shares
In some parts of the country, Papa Murphy's is still unknown. The typical reaction, according to Senior Vice President of Development Kevin King is, "You've got a thousand stores?"
  • 11,768 Reads 1,015 Shares
No one can question the mammoth success that eBay has experienced over the past decade. It's the virtual place where one person's junk becomes another's treasure. Consider this: In 2003, nearly $24 billion worth of merchandise changed hands through eBay. That's more than $65 million in sales every day. In fact, it's estimated that eBay provides a marketing platform for more than half a million Internet entrepreneurs.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,327 Reads 3 Shares
Panera, phenomenally successful today, had an uncertain start. In 1993, Boston-based Au Bon Pain acquired the Saint Louis Bread Company and its 20 stores. From 1993 to 1997, the company "re-staged" the Saint Louis brand, increasing unit volumes by 75 percent. Somewhere en route, with visions of national expansion dancing in their heads, managment changed the concept's name to Panera Bread.
  • 4,520 Reads 26 Shares
MaggieMoo's began in 1989 in Kansas City but didn't start franchising until 1996, when the company was purchased by its current ownership. Since then it's been steadily uphill for both franchisor and ice cream lovers alike. Today the brand has 190 units and continues its rapid expansion.
  • 4,695 Reads 135 Shares
"A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz." That's what Humphrey Bogart, American icon, said way back when. Today, the once-lowly hot dog has become an icon of its own, especially at sporting events around the world.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,518 Reads
Wouldn't it be great if you could call a home repair service, book an appointment, and be guaranteed they'd show up on time (and not within a four-hour window!), be courteous and respectful, and perform a reliable, professional job?
  • 3,397 Reads 11 Shares
The legend is familiar: In 1950, Bill Rosenberg opens the first Dunkin' Donuts store in Quincy, Mass. In 1955, he licenses the first franchise. In 1960, his dream of franchisors and franchisees working together is realized in the founding of the International Franchise Association. In the coming years he would become involved in philanthropy and be called the "father of franchising as we know it today" by Nation's Restaurant News
  • 28,921 Reads 1 Shares
Starbucks may have blown the coffee market wide open to mass consumption, but its competitors are quickly redefining how coffee is served-especially the speed at which it's delivered.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 8,842 Reads 4 Shares
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