Secrets To Franchise Success

Owners should be prepared to follow the system and to do their own marketing.

(Monday, April 03, 2006) - Grant Fawcett had worked for his family's six McDonald's restaurant franchises. So when he was looking at business ownership last year, he and wife Amy, another McDonald's franchising veteran, chose franchising. They bought the master franchise to build or franchise as many as 27 Apple Spice Junctions to provide box lunches and catering to corporations in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The first is in Irvine. Hundreds of thousands of people like the Fawcetts own franchises sold through 2,300 companies in a hundred different industries. And that is just in the U.S. Franchising is a means of distributing products and services in which a company provides a brand and operating system to franchisees who provide the money and elbow grease. Trying to understand how these two groups – franchisers and franchisees – make this potentially lucrative, sometimes contentious relationship work, I just wrote "What No One Ever Tells You About Franchising" (Kaplan Publishing, $18.95). If you've ever considered taking your savings or a buyout from your corporate employer to start your own business and thought that buying a franchise would be the safest way, here are some tips from my book to help you decide. Research before buying. Before Ken Smith bought a Handyman Network franchise in Milford, Conn., he researched the industry and found it was growing rapidly. He studied several companies, collected their Uniform Franchise Offering Circular that spells out the details of each business, interviewed company executives and existing franchisees. Some franchises cost more than a house. Study before you invest. Secrets to franchise success NOT BOXED IN: Amy and Grant Fawcett plan to own some Apple Spice Junction locations and to sell franchises. The business provides box lunches and catering for corporations.
Franchisees who become millionaires buy multiple locations and master agreements to develop a large geographic territory for a franchiser. The Fawcetts will be a bit of both. They will own some of the locations themselves and sell franchises for other locations. What is important is to find a relatively undeveloped area, a growing franchiser and a concept without too much competition.

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