Franchise Operations
To achieve long-term success, franchise systems require operational excellence at all levels, from their stores to their supply chains. Other essential operational factors include franchisee support, recruitment, training, and retaining top talent. Find ideas, tips, and tools to enhance your franchise business operations.
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In my inaugural column as chair of the 2009 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference (right around the corner from April 15-17 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas), I wrote "I think it is important, more than ever, that multi-unit owners like ourselves have the opportunity to hear from others dealing with similar challenges, and to network with them in an open, informal setting. Because as hard as it might have been for some of us last year, the times are even more difficult as we head into 2009."
- Gary Grace
- 3,875 Reads
Everyone knows what the McDonald's logo looks like and what the "Golden Arches" represent. No matter where you go in the world, if you set foot inside a McDonald's you can order a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder and know exactly what it's going to taste like. Established brand awareness, reliability, and uniformity are part of the power of franchising.
- Kerry Pipes
- 40,207 Reads 9 Shares
When you have only one location, it's pretty easy to work both in your business as well as on it.
When you have two locations, most often it's still doable--you can manage it. Almost without exception, however, when you get to three or more locations, you'll find yourself stretched way past your limits. You will be so busy working in your business that you won't have any time to work on it, and that's a recipe for disaster. When the disasters start piling up, it's past time to recruit the unit-level managers (ULMs) you need to keep things running smoothly and help you grow your business.
- Mel Kleiman
- 5,168 Reads 22 Shares
Reciprocity Restaurant Group President Lyndon Johnson good-naturedly lets new acquaintances have a little fun with his name. That's because he's fine with his name. "I can think of a lot worse people to share a name with," says Johnson.
- Debbie Selinsky
- 8,374 Reads 251 Shares
"One day I had 1,000 people, the next day I had a hair salon with 5 stylists," says Richard Bielecki, Fantastic Sams regional owner for South Texas and New Mexico.
- Eddy Goldberg
- 5,083 Reads 2 Shares
As a marketing expert for a string of fast food chains, Bill Welter learned his craft under "three wonderful kingmakers" of the franchising world: Ray Kroc, Colonel Harland Sanders, and Dave Thomas. But it wasn't until Welter got inside the four walls of his own restaurant that he understood the true nature of the business and the keys to its success.
- John Carroll
- 7,809 Reads 1 Shares
In his earlier life as a CPA for a pharmaceutical company, Gary Vega traveled the world extensively. Spending so much time on the company's dime allowed him to stash away his own income until the right opportunity arrived to start his own restaurant business.
- John Carroll
- 7,485 Reads
In these tight economic times, many multi-unit franchisees and area developers are focusing less on continuing the remarkable unit growth they've enjoyed for the past five years, and more on improving performance at their existing units. As consumer spending drops, savvy franchisees see increased royalty streams as a more attractive prospect than spending long hours with struggling franchisees, or worse, shuttering failing ones as the U.S. economy continues to sputter.
- Eddy Goldberg
- 6,499 Reads 218 Shares
Anil Yadav knows what it's like to work his way to the top of the food chain. In 1984, he was a fry cook at a California Jack in the Box, a part-time job intended to help pay his expenses while attending college. Within 18 months he was manager, and after five years had bought his own restaurant. He never quite finished that engineering degree, but today he owns and operates 78 Jack in the Box locations, along with 16 Denny's restaurants.
- John Carroll
- 11,709 Reads 1 Shares
On the Friday morning after Congress voted down the first, "unsweetened" $700 billion bailout package--and with credit frozen and the lending climate getting icier by the hour--franchise sales executives at Franchise Update's Leadership & Development Conference put their heads together in a Friday morning "mindshare" session to brainstorm answers to some tough questions on what they're doing to make sales.
- Eddy Goldberg
- 3,395 Reads 2 Shares
Let there be no misunderstanding: financial performance representations (formerly referred to as "earnings claims" and referred to below as "FPRs") are powerful tools in the franchise sales process.
- Rupert M. Barkoff
- 4,592 Reads 7 Shares
David Ostrowe is a man on a mission--or 20. First, he says he's really working hard to be a great dad. "It's important to me to be the 'Jolly Green Giant' to my daughter, so I'm really working at it," he says.
- Debbie Selinsky
- 13,816 Reads 1 Shares
While there are many good reasons to implement an automated employee scheduling system (two of the more obvious being to control labor costs and improve customer service), few employers realize that there are two additional important benefits to be realized.
- Mel Kleiman
- 6,071 Reads 1 Shares
When Steve Foltz graduated from Eastern Oregon University in 1985 he thought he might be interested in city or government work. To bide his time and help pay bills while he was interviewing for jobs during the day, he took a night job at Rax Restaurant in Portland.
- Kerry Pipes
- 9,435 Reads 2 Shares
When Pat Williamson was a sophomore at the University of Georgia in 1969, he was home from school one weekend and heard about a summer job opportunity. A Frito-Lay route man stocking the shelves in Williamson's father's retail store had asked if there were any kids looking for a summer job. Williamson's grandfather overheard the request and passed along the info to young Pat.
- Kerry Pipes
- 15,211 Reads 4 Shares
After Tom Barnett graduated from the United States Air Force Academy, his first assignment as a lieutenant was to head to UCLA for an MBA. That wound up costing the Air Force a career professional.
- John Carroll
- 5,698 Reads 1 Shares
John Prince has done a lot in his 66 years. He's been a radio talk show host, reporter, stockbroker, and even ran a small hot dog and soup stand. He's worked at SmithBarney, Citibank, been a multi-concept owner, and even started his own franchise brand (more on that later). He's seen franchising from more than both sides now.
- Eddy Goldberg
- 19,845 Reads 5 Shares
The news is depressing, the economy is sinking, financing is hard to get, the market is down, gas prices are up, and competition is fierce. So why are all these multiunit franchisees smiling?
- Bill Hall
- 4,091 Reads 1 Shares
If you were fortunate enough to attend the annual Area Developer Multi-Unit Franchising Conference this April in Scottsdale, you know that the weather was terrific, the facility outstanding, educational sessions abundant, and that franchise networking opportunities flourished late into the cool desert night.
- Bill Hall
- 3,970 Reads 1 Shares
Beyond the unmistakable impact of the Internet and World Wide Web, advances in technologies used every day by franchisees are continuing to change the face of franchising -- and the way franchisees do business.
- Eddy Goldberg
- 4,479 Reads 1,014 Shares
Elaine Stroman was making great money. She had spent the better part of two decades working as a mortgage banking consultant helping people buy and renovate brownstones in old New York City neighborhoods such as Harlem. She worked on 100 percent commission and was completely in charge of every penny she earned.
- Kerry Pipes
- 2,605 Reads 5 Shares
The former Soviet Union was a frightening frontier for expanding businesses in the early- to mid-1990s. The former communist country was experiencing growing pains as it left behind decades of closed existence and began embracing a new economy built around more of a free market-based environment. And it was just this setting that Jake Weinstock and Paul Kuebler dived into headfirst.
- Kerry Pipes
- 8,989 Reads 1,014 Shares
Unfortunately, few multiple-unit franchisees or managers fully understand working capital, how important it is for every business, how it is measured, or how to obtain needed working capital.
- Mark E. Battersby
- 6,874 Reads 2 Shares
How Do I Know? Multiunit franchising offers benefits - and risks - but it's a method of franchising that can be fruitful
- Kerry Pipes
- 3,425 Reads 4 Shares
Looking back at how technology has evolved in franchising, by far the most significant changes have taken place in the area of lead management. Some industry experts trace the first concerns over franchise lead management back to right around the invention of fire, while others maintain the issues arose later on in evolution, shortly after Nixon resigned. No matter. Franchise lead management and the use of technology for other mission-critical functions in franchising have come a long way in the past 20 years.
- Dan Martin
- 5,147 Reads 12 Shares
The franchise community landscape was dramatically different for executive search 20 years ago. When we began servicing the hiring needs of franchisors in 1983, the franchisor population was in the hundreds, with almost all franchisees, owners of individual locations. A very small number of U.S. franchisors had any international presence.
- Doug Kushell
- 4,190 Reads 5 Shares
Until he hit 40, Rick Guerra ran hotels and restaurants "making a lot of money for other people," he says.
- Debbie Selinsky
- 4,700 Reads 15 Shares
Twenty years ago, when you wanted to know what was happening in your stores, you might have called in mystery shoppers. They would clock how quickly your front-line employees were greeting customers, whether your store displays followed the plan-o-gram, and whether your operations manual was in play.
- Bill Fromm
- 4,155 Reads 9 Shares
If history has taught us anything, it’s that not all good things from the past necessarily follow us into the future. Employee attitudes and work ethics that were around two decades ago are no exception.
- Gloria Plaisted
- 5,609 Reads 1 Shares
In professional sports, successful players and teams, can be made or broken by the quality of the coaching. It's no different in the business world. There are so many businesses and executives today who need help in sharpening up fundamental skills, coaching team members, or assistance in growing departments. As a franchise business consultant, you can provide some relief and help them make the right call.
- Kerry Pipes
- 3,117 Reads 4 Shares
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