Multi-Unit Franchising

When Shelly Sun and her husband JD founded BrightStar, their full-service healthcare staffing agency in 2002, the concept was rooted in their experiences searching for quality care for JD's sick grandmother. "We were managing multiple relationships and thought how great it would be to have one company handle the entire continuum of care," says Sun, CEO of BrightStar.

In early 2008, Moe's Southwest Grill was still something of a newcomer in Mexican fast-casual segment. But in the eight years since it had been founded, not much new work had been done on either the restaurant prototype or its menu. So when Focus Brands acquired the franchisor in August 2007, then CEO Steve Romaniello reached out to Paul Damico to see if he was interested in not just running the brand, but freshening it up and reenergizing it.

It was my first week as COO of Sopra Brands. My job was to oversee the company's existing franchise brands (no small task), and to oversee the development and implementation of a brand-new frozen yogurt franchise from its inception--in a crowded category, during a full-blown recession, for an opening date that was already months behind schedule.

As savvy franchise companies continue to flourish in a challenging economy, FUSR continues to bring you good news each month, highlighting brands that are adding units, increasing comp store sales, striking deals with investors, and continuing to grow. And, as the U.S. struggles through its "jobless recovery," growth-oriented franchisors continue to look overseas for expansion opportunities. With the recent flurry of M&A activity in franchising, we've expanded this month's column.

As savvy franchise companies continue to flourish in this challenging economy, FUSR will continue to bring you good news each month, highlighting brands that are adding units, increasing comp store sales, striking deals with investors, and continuing to grow despite the economy - maybe even because of it. And, as the U.S. struggles through its "jobless recovery," growth-oriented franchisors continue to look overseas for expansion opportunities.

As savvy franchise companies continue to flourish in this challenging economy, FUSR will continue to bring you good news each month, highlighting brands that are adding units, increasing comp store sales, striking deals with investors, and continuing to grow despite the economy - maybe even because of it. And, as the U.S. struggles through its "jobless recovery," growth-oriented franchisors continue to look overseas for expansion opportunities.

Franchise Update Media Group (FUMG) the leading industry resource for franchise development, today announced that registration for the 12th Annual 2010 Franchise Leadership and Development Conference is on track to setting new attendance records. More than 200 franchisor executives representing more than 150 brands will meet at the premier industry sales and development event, which will be held September 22 - 24, 2010 at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead, Atlanta.

As savvy franchise companies continue to flourish in this challenging economy, FUSR will continue to bring you good news each month, highlighting brands that are adding units, increasing comp store sales, striking deals with investors, and continuing to grow despite the economy - maybe even because of it. And, as the U.S. struggles through its "jobless recovery," growth-oriented franchisors continue to look overseas for expansion opportunities.

There was a sports theme in the air as legendary NFL player and Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Ditka addressed the crowd at the recent Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas. Coach Ditka talked about the importance of having great players. And finding and developing great franchise players was on the minds of the numerous franchise sales and development executives attending the event. All agree that finding great franchisees is critical to building a successful franchise system.

Despite the surging growth in franchisors using multi-unit development strategies over the past 20 years--especially the past decade--this approach is not always a sure bet for successful franchise growth, and certainly not for every franchisor. For example, the multi-unit model may make a great development tool for an established retail-oriented brand seeking heavy market penetration in a given territory, but it may not be right for a newer service-based brand testing a smaller market

Starting up a new company is risky business, even in a healthy economy. Despite the troubles and fears that have plagued the economy and business world in the past year, many new franchise concepts have hung out shingles, and others that were just barely off the ground are thriving today.

Franchise Update Media Group (FUMG), the leading industry resource for franchise development, today announced that the ninth annual Multi-Unit Franchising Conference will be held March 24-26, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Attendance for 2010 is expected to be even higher than the record-breaking 2009 conference, which hosted 525 attendees, 78 exhibitors and 80 sponsors, a 54% increase over 2008.

Las Vegas was the backdrop for the 2009 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, held in mid-April at the fabulous Bellagio hotel, where multi-unit high rollers were searching for sure bets at the "Playing 2 Win" themed-event, sponsored by Franchise Update Media Group.

Franchise development teams are trying to defy the seemingly insurmountable odds of today's economy by creatively ramping up their sales efforts. Tactics such as discounted franchise fees, reduced royalties, buy-back guarantees, and other incentives have been pouring onto the franchise marketplace in recent months. The innovative techniques seem to be getting results.

Working to restart the economy's engine of job creation, President Obama announced Monday that the Treasury Department would invest as much as $15 billion to boost lending to credit-hungry small businesses.

Many franchisors have reached their limit on expanding into suburbia, but the imperative to grow remains strong. In response, an increasing number are training their sights on America's cities.The move to the suburbs has been a decades-long trend in the United States, and franchisors have followed suit. But more than half of the U.S. population live in the country's top 25 metropolitan areas, and nearly 80 percent live in the top 100 metro areas.Cities are complex, crowded places, running the gamut from blighted ghettos to luxury high-rises. Suburban commuters flood into them by the millions each day to work and shop, creating a vibrant marketplace. And the under-served inner cities are hungry for retail goods and services, jobs, and entrepreneurial opportunity, making them fertile ground for franchisors who take the time to learn, understand, and develop relationships with the people who live there.The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, studies inner cities with a focus on economic development. According to ICIC, "[T]he inner city retail market offers significant profit potential for retail companies now operating in the highly competitive, over-saturated suburban markets." According to an ICIC study, the country's inner cities contain:

John Smythe says he was a typical 21-year-old when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1965. "I was just kind of rolling through life and not really giving it that much thought," says the 62-year-old veteran today. The Army was a good experience for him, and where he learned the skills and philosophies he's using today as a CMIT Solutions franchisee in Everett, Wash.

Standard operating procedure, or SOP, is a term widely understood by those who have served in the armed forces. SOP refers to a step-by-step method for how a mission or function will be carried out. Veterans understand the importance of implementing and following SOP for a task to be executed and the mission completed successfully. This systematic approach sounds very similar to the franchising model, and is why more and more veterans are finding successful post-military careers in the world of franchising.

Franchise Update Media Group, the leading industry resource for franchise development, recommends franchising as the best opportunity for success for many people looking to start their own businesses. Franchised businesses combine the most attractive aspects of both worlds: the independence of entrepreneurialism, backed by the support and proven systems of Corporate America.

Lisa Flynn, a mother of two young boys, never relished having her children photographed. For her, birth announcements and holiday portraits meant either spending a small fortune for a professional photographer who didn't cater to colicky clientele or settling for cheesy props and fuzzy blue backdrops at the mall portrait studio.

Kahala Corp. moves fast. When we first spoke with Chris Prasifka in late March, he was executive vice president to the CEO. Two weeks later he was president of Kahala Franchise Corp.--and charged with leading the franchisor and its 13 brands from 4,600 units to 10,000 units by the end of 2010 (an average of 170 units every month for 32 months).