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Childrens Feature Articles

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Informative Childrens franchise articles to support business buyers, franchisees, and franchisors.

When native San Franciscan Ellen Hui left a career in banking in 1989 to take on her first Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits restaurant, she experienced a big culture shock.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,503 Reads 4 Shares
Ed Doherty has been pushing the envelope on growing a business packed with different franchises - lots of them. To date, they include Applebee's (51), Panera Breads (15), Chevys Fresh Mex (3), and an original concept, the Shannon Rose Irish Pub (1), in New Jersey. And ahead on the menu are the 20 El Pollo Loco locations he's developing in New Jersey.
  • John Carroll
  • 6,531 Reads 1 Shares
Since 1653, when Izaak Walton published The Compleat Angler, "compleat" has come to mean many things beyond what Walton described as "a Discourse on Fish and Fishing." The dictionary tells us it means classic or quintessential. But compleat also implies mastery far beyond the basics, conjuring up words like visionary, leader, even master.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,122 Reads 3 Shares
When Liz Goodwin of Durham, N.C., was announced as the Curves Franchisee of the Year for the Southeastern Region last October, a cry went up from across the Las Vegas hotel ballroom.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 4,932 Reads 20 Shares
Building a portfolio. Growing beyond one unit. Expanding outside a single brand.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,793 Reads 1,014 Shares
Just as the Memorial Day holiday was about to begin, lawmakers preparing to flee Washington, D.C., for vacation, reached agreement on continuing to fund the war in Iraq. That funding bill also raised the minimum wage. Not a big deal, many business owners would say, because half the states already require minimum wages in excess of the federal level.
  • Mark E. Battersby
  • 4,547 Reads 7 Shares
Building customer loyalty is no easy task in today's highly competitive business world where consumers will change brands or products to save even a few pennies. Businesses from mom and pop operations to multi-national conglomerates are routinely looking for new and unique ways not only to recruit customers, but to turn them into loyal, repeat shoppers who also spread the word. As numerous studies have shown, it's much more cost-effective to keep existing customers than to find new ones.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,873 Reads 5 Shares
Franchising can be a snap… or a click. Photography franchising is getting a lot of, er, exposure, and has developed rapidly in recent years.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 8,241 Reads
Franchising is founded on the concept of replicating success at the unit level. But Mary Rogers is taking that premise one better: she's replicating success at the franchisor level.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,583 Reads 22 Shares
Getting laid off by United Airlines in the 1982 recession was perhaps the best business move Regina and Jerry Lillie ever made (even if they didn't actually make it themselves).
  • Eddy Goldberg and Kerry Pipes
  • 4,487 Reads 3 Shares
Pets and pet-related businesses are among today's hottest franchise opportunities--especially in the U.S., where pet owners are notorious for pampering their dogs, cats, birds (and even their rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and fish).
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 4,075 Reads 17 Shares
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Jim Valentine began his franchising career as a McDonald's crew member more than 33 years ago. During his first 12 years in franchising, he was frequently promoted until he became the supervisor of several McDonald's restaurants. That's when he decided to gather all his accumulated knowledge and experience and try his hand at franchise ownership.
  • Eddy Goldberg and Kerry Pipes
  • 4,272 Reads 7 Shares
One of the biggest concerns for franchisees is attracting, hiring, and retaining quality employees. And one of the biggest concerns for working Americans is balancing the competing demands of home and work. For franchise owners willing to be creative, this represents a tremendous opportunity.
  • Thom Winninger
  • 4,762 Reads 12 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
  • 54,152 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.
  • 4,915 Reads 30 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
  • 5,349 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
  • 9,720 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
  • 7,699 Reads
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
  • 6,769 Reads 535 Shares
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
  • 5,802 Reads 82 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
  • 4,636 Reads 12 Shares
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One-third of the nation's population is "minority" (U.S. Census), but only about 10 percent of franchises are minority-owned (National Minority Franchise Initiative). Or, to look at it another way, 90 percent of franchises are not minority-owned.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 7,037 Reads 1 Shares
If someone had told Heidi Morrissey 20 years ago that she'd wind up as heir apparent to the family business, Kitchen Tune-Up, she would have probably rolled her eyes in that way that only a teenager can. And if her four siblings had dared to suggest that she, of them all, was most like their master-salesman father, she'd have repeated the eye roll and added an indignant snort.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 4,923 Reads 10 Shares
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?
  • 4,525 Reads 11 Shares
Franchising could be described as the process of taking one success story and translating and multiplying it into many. Whether through genius or pure luck (usually a combination of both) someone created something that worked once. Naturally, the entrepreneurial thought is; if it worked once it can work again, and again, and again. There begins the seed of the franchising journey that can ultimately lead to great success or unfortunately sometimes great failure. The path to either ending is sometimes determined by the first step taken.
  • Jeffrey Davis
  • 12,506 Reads 307 Shares
When doing business in Mexico, it is essential to establish relationships with associates who are well connected. This requires checking their backgrounds and reputations to determine the depth and breadth of their personal and professional networks. Joining local social clubs and business organizations, participating in the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, and visiting the nearest U.S. consulate and the Commercial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy are useful ways to obtain such information. Cultivating personal relationships with your Mexican banker and local executives of your joint venture partnership also provides access to this kind of business intelligence.
  • Richard Hill
  • 4,139 Reads 5 Shares
Americans love to have fun--and despite their bulging waistlines, they also like to keep fit--or spend money trying! Between these two trends there's a lot of room for franchise growth--whether for seniors, juniors, or in-betweens!
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,174 Reads 9 Shares
In 1963, women's advocate Betty Friedan wrote in her book, The Feminine Mystique, that women were preparing to break new barriers. Friedan lived to see her prophecies come true before her death earlier this year. And nowhere are the broken barriers more apparent than in multi-unit franchising.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 5,358 Reads 1 Shares
"To get a good job, get a good education." How many millions of kids have heard that from a concerned parent? And in that simple statement lies boundless opportunity for educational and tutoring franchises worldwide.
  • 11,690 Reads 440 Shares
There are a lot of ties in life. In baseball, a tie goes to the runner. In the hiring process, a tie goes to the boss's son. Well, for customers choosing between competing stores, a tie often goes to the graphics.
  • Bruce Olans
  • 6,695 Reads 1,023 Shares
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