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Business owners understand the importance of advertising and the need to maximize how their dollars are spent. But how do you do that? For multi-unit franchise operators, much is at stake. Here's a look at what four area developers have done to make the most of their advertising spending.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,919 Reads 51 Shares
Whether it's Kung-Pao Chicken, Shrimp Teriyaki, noodle bowls, or chicken lettuce wraps, more and more Americans are searching for healthier and more exotic alternatives. This desire to eat better and experiment with flavors helps explain much of the growth in Asian food franchise concepts.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,735 Reads 81 Shares
Outsourcing has become an accepted method for companies to solve staffing needs. It's a strategy that allows firms to benefit from specific expertise--without the accompanying expense. Mostly, it's been applied to functions like HR, accounting, and payroll. Today, franchisors can outsource their franchise development.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,608 Reads 7 Shares
The human voice has remained notoriously difficult to capture and convert accurately into text using computers. However, superb programs exist today that, in their ninth and tenth iterations, are finally pretty accurate at transcribing your dictation - once they have been properly trained.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,052 Reads 2 Shares
Being an area developer, most outsiders would think, is a guaranteed stress-builder. After all, minding a number of businesses--let alone starting them up--has more problems in more directions than your average C-level exec faces every day.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 2,919 Reads 3 Shares
Staffing accounts for well over 50 percent of a franchise company's expenses, says Charlie Simpson, executive vice president and chief operations officer at Great Clips. And at Great Clips, he says, that figure is probably over 60 percent. Lowering that number can help a company compete--on price, in the short term. But when hiring for success, there are more important considerations than money.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,358 Reads 1 Shares
He always meant to quit working at Jack-in-the-Box and pursue his goal of becoming a doctor in the United States. Instead, he found success beyond his wildest dreams...in franchising.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 51,497 Reads 16 Shares
Kitty and Jamil Alaily, Cost Cutters franchisees for 22 years in Northeast Wisconsin, have nearly completed the hand-off of their 40 salons (including 4 Supercuts) to their 28-year-old son, Jihad. After two and half years of planning and execution, Kitty Alaily offers some hard-won advice.
  • 3,770 Reads 30 Shares
The Home Depot is the big fish in retail hardware and home improvement centers. Founded by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, their first store, opened in Atlanta in June 1979. Today, Home Depot has more than 2,100 stores and 350,000 employees with annual revenues approaching $100 billion. When it comes to U.S. retailers, Home Depot's annual sales rank second only to those of Wal-Mart.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 61,321 Reads 455 Shares
Edible Arrangements had three stores in 2002. By August 2006, there were 527, with locations in Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.K., and the Middle East. Currently adding stores at the rate of eight or more a week, the company predicts 1,000 units in early 2007. Staffing up for growth this steep requires some serious hiring: HR, meet ASAP.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,863 Reads 2 Shares
Area developers usually come to the party with experience in franchising and the industry they're in--or at least one of the two. In the case of new Precision Tune Auto Care area developers Dick Lippert and Al Unser, Jr. (yes, that Al Unser, Jr.), neither has franchise experience. But Lippert brings a strong track record of business success. And Unser? Well, he knows a little something about cars.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 3,108 Reads 10 Shares
American Family Care
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American Family Care
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American Family Care
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When it comes to succession planning, the Northwest may be the country's most evolved region. Maybe it's all that Microsoft money looking for a home, or maybe it's the waters of the Columbia racing toward the Pacific.
  • 3,222 Reads 2 Shares
2006 is a good year to be in the franchise recruitment business. That's because it's a good year for franchising. As franchising heats up, the demand to fill positions also intensifies----and so does competition for GOOD people to fill them.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 4,251 Reads 3 Shares
Many owners and operators have long realized that employees are one of the major assets in their multi-unit or multi-brand franchise business. Franchise operations usually have quite a bit invested in hiring and training its workers. A smart owner or operator knows that improving a business asset can reap rewards far exceeding the cost of any improvements made. Similarly, the value of people to your organization improves with investments in additional training and education.
  • Mark E. Battersby
  • 7,092 Reads 787 Shares
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
  • 2,382 Reads 7 Shares
If you're looking to add women franchisees--and according to every statistic, you should be (more are looking, and more have the means and skills), then you should know what women want (our apologies to the movie).
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 4,488 Reads 25 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
  • 8,515 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
  • 4,411 Reads
What was happening in the franchisor community? The Italian legislature had proposed that no franchisor be allowed to offer franchises in Italy unless it had a history of operating at least two units in the country before it began franchising. Ultimately, Italy adopted a more flexible experience standard. Then China adopted a two-unit, one year of experience standard as a precondition for franchising there in its 2004 Franchise Measures.
  • Carl E. Zwisler
  • 10,684 Reads 3 Shares
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
  • 3,169 Reads 5 Shares
Vocelli Pizza
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Vocelli Pizza
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Vocelli Pizza
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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.
  • 3,563 Reads 3 Shares
During the last few years, franchising has experienced an impressive growth in Spain, from 634 franchise systems in 2002 to almost 900 in January 2006, with over 54,000 franchised outlets now open. Accordingly, having access to accurate and relevant information regarding franchisors is very important for a growing number of prospective franchisees, consumers and future franchisors.
  • Laura Montoya Teran
  • 7,526 Reads 290 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
  • 2,788 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
  • 3,715 Reads 13 Shares
When communicating with Spaniards face-to-face or by telephone and e-mail, it is important to show a great deal of sensitivity to the other person's feelings. Tact, diplomacy, cordiality, and warm graciousness are basic elements of social and business interactions in Spain. In fact by U.S. standards, the distinction between social and business communications is often blurred. The priority is not merely "face-saving," but positive "face-building" that results in good personal relationships. Therefore, criticism or negative feedback, however true or justified, should be avoided until a strong bond of mutual trust and confidence has been formed.
  • Gary M. Wederspahn
  • 5,200 Reads 8 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
I have written often on the subject of the complexity of franchise agreements, and the clear trend over the past four decades to make them even longer and more complex. Why has this trend developed?
  • Rupert M. Barkoff
  • 4,550 Reads 24 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
  • 3,035 Reads
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