Leveraging Market Disruption to Grow Your Brand

The franchise industry's biggest challenges today are labor shortages, supply chain issues, and inflation. Franchise brands can adjust their strategies to help their franchisees through these tough situations and propel their growth. 

Labor Shortages, High Turnover, and Low Staffing 

The labor shortage and hiring crisis have made business development more challenging. Surveys earlier this spring found that 42% of restaurant owners are experiencing moderate to significant staffing shortages and in some cities, the employee turnover rate is as high as 24%.

Q) How can a brand help its franchisees hire and retain employees? 

A) Brands must empower their franchisees with the resources and materials to create a positive culture at their locations.

Poor employee morale leads to high turnover, negative customer experiences, and revenue loss. Employees are a brand's first impression, so brands must assist their franchisees in implementing programs that keep their employees satisfied. Memorable events, awards, recognition, and exclusive merchandise help employees feel appreciated and really connected to a brand.

Great companies make people feel included even before hiring, so showcase your company culture during hiring fairs, and send out street teams to discuss competitive wages and benefits. Encourage your teams to spread the word. Testimonials increase authenticity and are the best way to demonstrate why newcomers would love to work for your brand.

Supply Chain Issues, Rising Costs, and Inflation 

A recent survey found that 95% of restaurants face supply chain disruptions, and 75% have changed menu items. Additionally, 73% of business owners have increased their average selling prices. Worse, 64% of consumers say they'll cut back on spending if prices keep rising.

Supply chain and labor issues don’t just affect a single location, they impact the customer satisfaction across the brand. When materials become more expensive or hard to find, brands use new suppliers, which often leads to product differences, inconsistent customer experiences, and negative reviews.

How UMI Can Help 

While market disruption can negatively impact employee and customer experience, brands can take these four steps to mitigate it, and UMI can help make it easy.  

1. Avoid shortcuts. Customers and employees have many choices. Paying your workers less or sharply raising your menu prices will only hurt the brand in the long run. 

2. Appreciate Your Employees. Our team can help you complete projects faster, relieving the burden on current employees. Plus, we’ve developed special programs and swag to celebrate our employees' birthdays, anniversaries, and other achievements and we help our clients do the same.

3. Streamline operations to improve workflow. Our integrated logistics services optimize supply chain performance for brands by lowering costs and mitigating risk while delivering higher quality. 

4. Replace uncertainty with efficiency. Thanks to our suite of warehousing and fulfillment solutions, an extensive network of suppliers, and collective expertise in marketing, sourcing, and procurement, our clients are much less impacted by the current issues and uncertainty.

Jason Pierret is a sales and marketing leader with UMI Turn-key Marketing Solutions. UMI has over 23 years of experience supporting fast-growing multi-unit brands. Combining an expert account team with a powerful technology platform built to drive brand growth. From strategic planning to design, execution to analysis, UMI seamlessly brings innovative, results-driven initiatives to life. Schedule a demo to learn more.

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UMI Marketing Solutions
UMI has over 23 years of experience supporting fast-growing multi-unit brands. From strategic planning to design, execution to analysis, UMI seamlessly brings innovative, results-driven initiatives to life. Learn More