District of Columbia Feature Articles

District of Columbia Feature Articles

Looking for a franchise opportunity in District of Columbia? Whether you're a first-time business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur, District of Columbia offers exciting potential for franchise success. With thriving markets in key cities like Washington D.C., there's a perfect environment to launch and grow a franchise. From food and beverage to retail and services, the diverse economic landscape in District of Columbia is ripe for franchise opportunities. Explore the best franchise options today and take the next step toward business ownership in District of Columbia.

Informative articles to support business buyers, franchisees, and franchisors in District of Columbia.

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
  • 3,143 Reads
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
  • 2,638 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
  • 5,810 Reads 1 Shares
Greg Helwig, vice president of system development for Sylvan Learning Centers, says the company didn't set out to grow with multiple units. It just happened naturally, with an existing franchisee adding a unit, then another.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,652 Reads 3 Shares
Today, ever-on-the-go Americans are finding less and less time to take care of the dust and dirt that fills their homes. Others just simply don't like the mundane, time-consuming tasks of scrubbing and scouring their abode (and commode). That's why over the last three decades home cleaning and maid services have sprouted, flourished, and continue to show significant growth in the franchising industry.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,233 Reads 17 Shares
Training: the second leg of the hiring, training, and retaining triathlon so many multi-unit operators struggle to complete every day. Area Developer asked training experts at three brands - Regis Corp., Little Caesars, and PuroSystems - about their training programs - and how an emphasis on a high-quality training program, incorporating innovation and technology, remains a cornerstone of their growth strategy.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,348 Reads
Despite all of the attention recently focused on income taxes, it is the property tax that is the biggest expense in most businesses - and the most difficult to manage. According to the Council on State Taxation, a Washington, DC, think tank, American businesses shell out more on property taxes than for any other type of state or local taxes.
  • Mark E. Battersby
  • 3,640 Reads 4 Shares
David Asarnow, 38, might make a good case study in the genetics vs. environment debate. His great'grandfather and namesake, David Bauer was an Eastern European immigrant who opened the first discount pharmacy in Newark, NJ in the early 1930s (according to family lore). But it was his grandfather, Jules Bauer, who also built a successful business, who set the 5'year'old David on the business track.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,153 Reads
When she was just 16, Mandy Bryant (now Mandy Bryant Verges) got a job at a Gold's Gym in her home city of New Orleans. She worked a couple of years in sales and did well. In April 1995, owner Steve Smith opened a tanning salon called Electric Beach in the city's Uptown district. When Smith bought out his business partner, he needed a manager for the salon. Bryant asked, he said yes, and transferred the 18-year-old to the salon as its new manager.
  • Eddy Goldberg and Kerry Pipes
  • 3,884 Reads 40 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
  • 51,483 Reads 15 Shares
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.
  • 3,209 Reads 2 Shares
McAlister's Deli
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McAlister's Deli
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McAlister's Deli
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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.
  • 4,499 Reads 26 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
  • 14,512 Reads 2 Shares
But with a father who was a barber-turned-businessman and franchise owner, and a mother who was a stylist herself, they knew something about the hair business.
  • Tom Steadman
  • 14,134 Reads 5 Shares
Being a big fish always helps, especially in a big pond. But big fish still have problems-or opportunities as the more optimistic prefer to call them. And it certainly helps to have a positive outlook when you become an area developer. Topping the list of problems/opportunities are the usual items: location, hiring and retention, financing, etc.-but magnified by the number of units, as well as the number of concepts operating under one umbrella. Area Developer magazine asked four successful "Big Fish" to weigh in on what's tipping their scales as 2005 approaches.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,205 Reads 7 Shares
Jo Kirchner never planned to run a school system. Happily operating her own public relations firm near Atlanta, in 1988 she made a presentation to the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, which was starting a marketing program to attract developers of high quality homes. She got the job, and she started making presentations to area groups about the marketing project.
  • 5,178 Reads 205 Shares
When a franchisor terminates a defaulting franchisee, the franchisor can sue for past due royalties and prevail, if there are no legitimate defenses by the franchisee. Can the franchisor also recover lost future royalties resulting from the early termination of the franchise relationship? Ten years ago, the answer was probably yes. Today, the answer is much less certain.
  • Rupert M. Barkoff
  • 5,610 Reads 1,019 Shares
Franchised businesses generate jobs for more than 18 million Americans and account for 9.5 percent of the private-sector economic output, a study released today by International Franchise Association Educational Foundation reported.
  • 2,797 Reads 6 Shares

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