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It's every multi-unit operator's nightmare: You have a solid group of healthy performing units until you notice one beginning to decline - lower sales numbers, declining traffic, increased customer complaints, unusually high employee turnover. Or maybe you decide to take on a new unit that has been a low performer. It can be a difficult situation, but it can also provide an opportunity filled with high returns if handled properly. Here are some approaches, tips and insight to what some area developers have done to turn around poor performing units.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,329 Reads 47 Shares
In my previous column, I discussed the first two pieces of how to build an organization that grows your franchise business. Part one was planning the structure of your organization over time, based on your territory, market, or development growth in terms of your team. Part two focused on the functional role of individuals within the organization. The third piece is how to develop pools of talent.
  • Thom Winninger
  • 3,270 Reads 11 Shares
Fast food chicken franchising has come a long way from 1939, when Colonel Harlan Sanders introduced Kentucky Fried Chicken. Since then, brands like Church's, Chester's, and Popeyes have spread the gospel of fried chicken not only across the continent, but across the world. Fried chicken has become American as apple pie, and everybody wants a piece.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,412 Reads 13 Shares
The difference between satisfied customers and loyal customers can sink a multi-unit franchisee. But there is also good news here.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 4,166 Reads 3 Shares
It's all her son's fault! Twenty-eight years ago, says Alice Schleicher (pronounced "Slisher"), her then 16-year-old, Rick, came home and said, "'Mom and Dad, I saw a restaurant and I want to buy it.'" It was a KFC in Sellersburg, Indiana. "We kind of looked at each other and said, 'Okay, well, we'll buy it.'" She envisioned having four someday. So far, she's exceeded that by 50.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 9,608 Reads 1 Shares
"Today you can work anywhere," says John Metz from his home in Buffalo, where he spends three months a year--the winter months. "It's a wonderful thing. I dial in to my office in West Palm Beach through a VPN and get everything I want. I can dial into the POS systems and get real-time information on all my restaurants. What else do I need? It's just like being in West Palm." Except for the snow.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 14,521 Reads 2 Shares
It's a family affair all the way around at United States Beef Corp. Founded in 1969 when Bob and Connie Davis purchased their first Arby's restaurant – just five years after brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel opened the first Arby's in Boardman, Ohio – today the Tulsa-based franchisee is headed by their sons Jeff, CEO, and John R. Davis, president. And a focus on a family-type atmosphere in its restaurants completes the picture.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,215 Reads 349 Shares
Gina Mehr has experienced success; now she wants to be effective.
  • Linda Ray
  • 4,359 Reads 1,014 Shares
Clara Osterhage says she is "the employer of choice in Dayton, Ohio." "I treat them the way I want to be treated and I pay them weekly," she says. "I could cut costs in half by paying every other week, but I know how important it is to them. It's a huge recruitment benefit. I have people who will never leave me."
  • Linda Ray
  • 7,621 Reads 274 Shares
Tom Hofer has always been tuned into his own drive and sense of where he belonged. "I did real well in a retail environment after college, but I always knew it wasn't me," Hofer says. "I definitely knew I wanted to own my own business, but wasn't sure what to do. So when the opportunity came up for me to buy a territory with Spring Green, it felt right."
  • Linda Ray
  • 3,556 Reads 9 Shares
Julie Wilson believes in succession. She currently is sharing her experience with her newest partner, Beth Driskill, in hopes that Driskill will be able to make the transition into ownership as smoothly as she did.
  • Linda Ray
  • 3,738 Reads 1,014 Shares
Sonny’s BBQ
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Sonny’s BBQ
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Linda Fong loves franchising. Not only does she own three Liberty Fitness locations, but one Fast Signs franchise and a Phlato's Closet store. "I can grow the other businesses by increasing sales," Fong says. "I'm opening more fitness locations because that's how I can grow that business."
  • Linda Ray
  • 4,124 Reads
Todd Watkins may look like a type-A power franchisee with 22 Martinizing locations and the title of largest franchisee in the system. But the 41-year-old Michigan father has other priorities.
  • Linda Ray
  • 4,690 Reads 25 Shares
Charles Loflin has won Wingstop franchise's awards for highest sales in 2004 and 2005. Last year, he had a million-dollar store. In 2006, he'll have two.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 9,619 Reads 2 Shares
In 1992, after 25 years in the high-tech industry, Bill Criego opted to start his own company as a franchisee for Batteries Plus in the Minneapolis area. By 1995, he'd drafted wife Laurie, a sales manager in a consulting services firm, to join him in the business. By 2003, son Michael, a former airline pilot, decided to come aboard and help run the operations for the stores, which now number ten. (They'll open the 11th in a couple of months and plan others in the future.)
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,249 Reads
When Randy Lawrence's entrepreneurial spirit led him to leave his post as vice president of corporate operations for Back Yard Burgers to open his own restaurants, he did it with a vengeance: he signed a seven-year development agreement to open a whopping 28 Back Yard Burgers in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 3,803 Reads 12 Shares
Junior high sweethearts and now 17 years married, Jan and Mark Mansfield have pooled their skills to achieve great success with 39 Sport Clips salons in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,553 Reads 95 Shares
More than 26 years ago, North Carolinians Tommy and Donna Haddock bought their first Bojangles' franchise. Things worked out so well, with him taking care of store operations and her working on insurance, workers comp and other "bureaucratic red tape," that they've never felt the need to try another franchise organization.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 6,853 Reads 1 Shares
For a man who values family so highly, Jeff Rogers has accomplished a lot in the world of business and franchising. He's been at the top of his class in advertising, winning numerous awards; a turnaround specialist advising troubled companies (more awards); and has taken the helm at more than one struggling franchise company, where he worked his magic to transform a loser into a winner (yes, more awards, including 1997 Turnaround Entrepreneur of the Year from Inc. magazine, IBM, and Deloitte.)
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 6,450 Reads 6 Shares
Multi-unit, multi-brand franchising has achieved a milestone: More franchises are owned by multi-unit developers than by single-unit franchisees. So we thought you'd like to know how big some of these guys are. Area Developer magazine introduces this annual feature, profiling some of the industry's most successful multi-unit franchisees. Working with FRANdata to compile a list of the largest multi-unit franchisees, "The Big 99" (ranked by number of units), rest assured our editors also know that when it comes to franchising, size isn't everything.
  • Eddy Goldberg, Linda Ray & Deb Selinski
  • 4,044 Reads 1 Shares
You wouldn't know it from looking at his photo, or at his remarkable string of successes in taking failing chicken franchises and giving them wings, but Aslam Khan grew up poor. "I was born in poverty," said Khan in a 2001 interview, "and had a deep desire to move away from it. I wanted to do better."
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 10,375 Reads
Marco's Pizza®
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Marco's Pizza®
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Marco's Pizza®
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Customer satisfaction data must correlate to comp sales growth. Otherwise, there is no reason to worry about providing great service--if there is no positive financial result from that effort. Without financial linkage to business results, there is no external validity to the customer satisfaction measurements and you are probably measuring "satisfaction"incorrectly. Let's look at a proven method of measuring your customer's experience that gives you clear financial linkage to comp sales growth.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 3,152 Reads 1 Shares
Child care-related franchising is hot-and has been for several years. No wonder: the continuing trend of working mothers, as reflected in U.S. Census data. In 2003, about 65 percent of mothers with at least one child under age six worked year-round, compared with 56.8 percent in 1993. More than 70 percent of single mothers have jobs outside the home, and 59 percent of mothers with children under one year of age work outside the home. Furthermore, with rising birth trends showing about four million babies are born every year in the U.S., the population of children under age five is expected to grow from almost 19 million today to more than 21 million in 2015, and close to 30 million in 2050.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 4,714 Reads 330 Shares
Successful franchise selling must employ 1) an effective and qualifying process; 2) strong relationship-building with candidates; and 3) a compelling system for closing the deal. These three triggers are universal within any franchise recruitment program.
  • Steve Olson
  • 4,472 Reads 5 Shares
The hair care industry is a $50 billion annual business in the U.S. Seems as though there's a hair cutting niche for every type of American. There are salons for guys, gals, kids, even pets. It's a highly fragmented industry composed of mom-and-pop shops as well as franchise operations. And in 2006, it continues to be a strong area for franchising.
  • 2,143 Reads 7 Shares
When Linda Burzynski was offered the CEO slot at Liberty Fitness, the franchising veteran says she hesitated, in part because she didn't feel she was in the best shape, physically, to head up a health and fitness organization.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,371 Reads 23 Shares
Whether you are a franchisor or a multiunit franchisee, you must have noticed that the marketing and sales landscape is changing. No matter what kind of business you're in, status quo marketing and sellingis no longer going to get you the resultsyou need or want. In a business-to-consumer franchise system you will see the demographic changes in your customer marketplaces more quickly than in business-to-business. Time to wake up and smell the demographic coffee!
  • Mauricio Velasquez
  • 3,736 Reads
Once there were day spas, places for women (and a few brave men) to spend time being pampered and rejuvenated with lotions, potions, and massages. Today there are medical spas, or MedSpas, which take all the comfort and care of day spas and add the latest in medical technology. MedSpas provide services in comfortable retail settings, services once confined to medical settings and performed by dermatologists and plastic surgeons.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,170 Reads 448 Shares
I have read many "How To" articles on real estate. Often, they were written by attorneys, estate agents, or learned Ivy League professors in need of publishing. They quote facts, point to figures, refer to charts, and on occasion come up with something of value to the reader. The problem, in all fairness to these authors, is that it is difficult to write about real estate without a clear and specific idea of what their readers need or are looking for.
  • Lewis Gelmon
  • 3,477 Reads 20 Shares
Franchise UPDATE, a franchising industry powerhouse, recently rolled out an inventive and client-friendly recruitment system through its website, Franchising.com. Benjamin Foley, webmaster of Franchise UPDATE, developed the new website with improved franchise recruitment features that are unmatched in the industry. Launched in January 2006, the new offerings at franchising.com allow clients to easily view their web stats, adjust filters for potential franchise leads, and post recent company press releases and media placements. "Franchising.com features innovative technology that adapts to our clients' ever-changing needs," said Gary Gardner, CEO and co-founder of Franchise UPDATE. "The simple interface offers an easy way for our clients to increase their exposure on the web, at no cost to the client."
  • Fishman Public Relations
  • 2,759 Reads 10 Shares
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