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Franchise Articles

Browse our selection of franchise articles and features to help further your knowledge in opening and operating a franchise business. Our exclusive features cover the , , , , , , and site of the franchise business. Written by the editorial team that produces Franchise Update Magazine and Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine, the franchise industries premier magazines.

Desi Williamson has led a diverse career as a corporate sales and marketing executive, entrepreneur, motivational coach for the Minnesota Vikings, and now restaurant owner.
  • Desi Williamson
  • 5,830 Reads 165 Shares
Do your employees know what makes your company radically different from all of your competitors?
  • Rick Barrera
  • 9,302 Reads 1,491 Shares
Steve Bowen knew how to handle a good paint job. But as an independent businessman he was stretched thin and was wearing many different hats as he tried to manage his own painting company.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,697 Reads 195 Shares
Access to capital has been a bane to franchise growth for nearly three years. Much of the blame has been placed on lenders, who have been notoriously gun-shy since the September 2008 financial debacle.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,565 Reads 57 Shares
A financial legacy can provide an incomparable "leg up" to offspring--if they are adequately prepared. However, inelegant handling of the training stage can create generations of enmity, or breed unmotivated individuals with an entitlement attitude. A family business (especially if some offspring participate in day-to-day operations while others do not) presents even more complexity, particularly in the area of "fairness." Following are a few things to think about as you grapple with starting the preparation process.
  • Carol Clark
  • 4,966 Reads 45 Shares
Until your organization figures out how to drive higher sales and profits at existing stores, adding new units is very risky. The only time McDonald's got in real trouble came when they focused on growing sales by adding new units while neglecting to grow same store sales.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 8,840 Reads 1,014 Shares
In the course of my speaking and consulting engagements, I've found that many franchisees have given up even trying to get meaningful references on promising job applicants. From the frustrating experiences recounted to me by others and my own company's policy, I know that most employers will report only dates of employment and the starting and ending wage or salary figures.
  • Mel Kleiman
  • 8,041 Reads 1 Shares
It's been said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. You'll notice that most of the same brands have returned to this year's Multi-Unit 50 lists.
  • Paul Wilbur
  • 9,766 Reads 1 Shares
For years, Jeff Orlando has read with fascination the articles in franchise and business magazines about super-successful entrepreneurs. "It's amazing to read about these guys who have 87 Burger Kings and 92 Wendy's units and these unbelievable homes and lifestyles," says the Killeen, Tex., resident. However, he adds, it's also nice to read about "regular guys like me," who choose to define their success in a different way.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 6,290 Reads
Timing the sale of a business can be a stressful process. In today's tenuous economy, it's nearly impossible to predict your business's financial future, let alone its value on the open market.
  • Mike Handelsman
  • 5,233 Reads 29 Shares
Service recovery. Those two words can make the difference between success and failure. And yet most people in management positions don't know what the term means, let alone how to use service recovery to establish a loyal customer base and increase sales.
  • John Tschohl
  • 5,641 Reads 177 Shares
Potbelly Sandwich Works
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Some two decades into the pizza business with Domino's Pizza, Dave Melton has acquired quite a bit of knowledge when it comes to building a great team around him.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 5,022 Reads 37 Shares
Kevin Hatton is honest enough to admit that when he became an EMT at age 18, he came to the job with no noble or lofty motives.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 7,989 Reads
Basic business fundamentals teach that organizations won't experience much prolonged success without strong leadership and management in place.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,830 Reads 1 Shares
In case you haven't heard, franchises hold a place of honor in the world of data thieves. In fact, chains are the favorite target of hackers trying to steal payment card information. The most recent figures from Visa indicate that up to 97 percent of data compromises are suffered by smaller merchants and "specifically franchisees"--particularly those in the restaurant, clothing, sporting goods, and hotel industries.
  • David Ellis
  • 7,029 Reads 69 Shares
As there is an unnatural rise in the federal debt level in the US, an increasingly large number of people are turning to debt relief companies for help. While there are people who are looking for authentic debt consolidation firms for help, there are some other class of people who are pondering over the prospects of opening a franchise debt consolidation business.
  • Steven Roberts
  • 14,770 Reads 2 Shares
That's a great question! In fact, none of us can get better without knowing how we are doing in key performance areas.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 6,672 Reads 1 Shares
As multi-unit franchisees with 24 Sizzler restaurants, Gary and Sally Myers spend a lot of time together at work, where he is president and CEO of their Temecula, Calif.-based company, and she is vice president of marketing.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 14,954 Reads 2 Shares
As we like to say here, numbers tell only one part of the story. The individual franchisees who create those numbers flesh them out, give them character, make them come alive.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 4,600 Reads 1 Shares
You might not know it from reading the news, but there's a lot of money out there looking for a good home, and high-performing multi-unit franchise companies have become targets for private equity investors. Estimates of available private equity peg the pent-up funds at about $500 billion, more than enough pie for most multi-unit franchisees to get a slice--if they have what it take to appeal to investors.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 9,279 Reads 634 Shares
Before you become a franchise business owner, you need to do your homework. After all, starting a franchise is a lot of work. You need to make sure that you're making the most out of your time!
  • Lesley D'Arcy
  • 20,919 Reads 17 Shares
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Many restaurant operators and dealmakers are hoping for a return to the pre-2008 environment, when multiples were robust, liquidity was flowing, equity was prolific, and debt capital was plentiful.
  • Dean Zuccarello
  • 6,752 Reads 115 Shares
Andy Lanz got started in franchising right out of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. With the help of his parents, the newly minted economics graduate purchased a Cousins Subs franchise in nearby Verona. Then he added a Figaro's Italian Pizza franchise as well as a Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream operation, and put them all together inside his first 2,500-square-foot store.
  • John Carroll
  • 7,434 Reads 1,014 Shares
Back in 1981, with the prime borrowing rate at an all-time high of 21 percent, most bank customers felt that those cameras they have in banks to photograph robbers should, in all fairness, be pointed at the "real" crooks: the lending officers. At such rates most companies found it difficult (if not impossible) to borrow money. Actually, it wasn't so hard to borrow money--it's just that no one could repay it.
  • Steve LeFever
  • 7,746 Reads 185 Shares
As the economy starts to turn around, franchisees often find themselves in need of funds to expand. As consumer demand increases and expansion makes more sense, the challenge of how to finance growth can create new dilemmas.
  • By: Stephen J. Sheinbaum
  • 12,088 Reads 6 Shares
The Great Recession has shifted the thinking and behavior of consumers, forcing franchise brands to respond with changes of their own as they try to keep up with the new normal. Indeed, no discussion of franchise trends in 2011 and multi-unit operators' favorite brands can begin without a nod to the recent economic turmoil and its residual short and long-term effects.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 6,808 Reads 4 Shares
Hot business opportunities come and go in franchising but one that's currently providing a sizzling opportunity is child services franchises, according to a new study by Franchise Business Review. The report examines a number of franchise models within the child services sector to assess the franchise investment opportunity. The businesses evaluated encompass many different offerings, including tutoring and education, sports and physical development, child care, retail/resale stores, and niche services like photography and event hosting.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 6,847 Reads 1,021 Shares
As a young man, Army veteran and athlete Randy Merrill followed his natural interests into training and coaching at some of the nation's top fitness chains. The Atlanta native became one of the top producers for American Fitness Centers (later bought out by Bally Total Fitness) and then helped expand Australian Body Works, now known as LA Fitness, from five to 12 locations in the Atlanta market.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 9,858 Reads 2 Shares
It would be fantastic to have a franchise that is so far and away superior to anything else on the market that there is simply no comparison. In the real world, most of us have competitors that have products and services (shiny objects) that perform reasonably well compared to ours.
  • David LaBonte
  • 6,722 Reads 353 Shares
If I were to ask 100 business operators to define customer service, I would guess that 97 of them would say this: Customer service is providing the customer with service that is fast, accurate, and courteous. While those are indeed elements of customer service, there is more to it, so much more.
  • John Tschohl
  • 7,225 Reads 475 Shares
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