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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.

National marketing efforts on behalf of franchisees have always been one of the benefits of operating within a franchise system. Generally, you sign on, open a store, and you get brand support and marketing from the franchise system. That’s a great advantage, but some multi-unit operators like to take matters a step further... or even several steps further by taking local marketing into their own hands. There are many unique and creative ways for multi-unit operators to approach local marketing. Done right, it’s much more creative and involved than direct mail or coupons, and the results can be taken to the bank. Here are a few twists and tips we uncovered.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,553 Reads 12 Shares
Contrary to what the financial media would have us believe, a financial fortune is not made—or retained—by exploiting hot stock tips or by jumping from fund to fund based on the latest "Top 10" list. In fact, selection of individual securities doesn't even make the short list of the top few most important portfolio decisions you will make.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,516 Reads 6 Shares
Most people are not naturally suited to be wise investors. While traditional economic theory advocates making decisions in a calm, collected, and rational way, and only after carefully evaluating all viable alternatives (homo economicus) the day-to-day reality is usually much different.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,181 Reads 3 Shares
In the $150 billion worldwide hair-care industry, Regis Corp. rules the roost. Regis has 55,000 corporate and 33,000 franchise employees in its more than 11,000 salons worldwide. Company brands in North America include Regis Salons, MasterCuts, Trade Secret, Supercuts, and Cost Cutters. (The company has about 60 brands gloally.) Regis owns a four percent domestic and two percent worldwide market share and predicts $2.4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2006.
  • 18,316 Reads 3,290 Shares
UPS Capital Business Credit, the financing arm of UPS, recently announced it is adding franchise finance capabilities to its portfolio of small business offering.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 3,681 Reads 15 Shares
Financing small-business growth is now moving into the field of franchising. Minneapolis-based Winmark Corp. is branching out from its portfolio of more than 800 franchised retail stores in the U.S. and Canada to a new brand allowing its franchisees to lease business equipment to small-business owners.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 4,799 Reads 1 Shares
In some parts of the country, Papa Murphy's is still unknown. The typical reaction, according to Senior Vice President of Development Kevin King is, "You've got a thousand stores?"
  • 11,851 Reads 1,015 Shares
No one can question the mammoth success that eBay has experienced over the past decade. It's the virtual place where one person's junk becomes another's treasure. Consider this: In 2003, nearly $24 billion worth of merchandise changed hands through eBay. That's more than $65 million in sales every day. In fact, it's estimated that eBay provides a marketing platform for more than half a million Internet entrepreneurs.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 2,353 Reads 3 Shares
Panera, phenomenally successful today, had an uncertain start. In 1993, Boston-based Au Bon Pain acquired the Saint Louis Bread Company and its 20 stores. From 1993 to 1997, the company "re-staged" the Saint Louis brand, increasing unit volumes by 75 percent. Somewhere en route, with visions of national expansion dancing in their heads, managment changed the concept's name to Panera Bread.
  • 4,617 Reads 26 Shares
MaggieMoo's began in 1989 in Kansas City but didn't start franchising until 1996, when the company was purchased by its current ownership. Since then it's been steadily uphill for both franchisor and ice cream lovers alike. Today the brand has 190 units and continues its rapid expansion.
  • 4,741 Reads 135 Shares
"A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz." That's what Humphrey Bogart, American icon, said way back when. Today, the once-lowly hot dog has become an icon of its own, especially at sporting events around the world.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 5,578 Reads
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Wouldn't it be great if you could call a home repair service, book an appointment, and be guaranteed they'd show up on time (and not within a four-hour window!), be courteous and respectful, and perform a reliable, professional job?
  • 3,473 Reads 11 Shares
The legend is familiar: In 1950, Bill Rosenberg opens the first Dunkin' Donuts store in Quincy, Mass. In 1955, he licenses the first franchise. In 1960, his dream of franchisors and franchisees working together is realized in the founding of the International Franchise Association. In the coming years he would become involved in philanthropy and be called the "father of franchising as we know it today" by Nation's Restaurant News
  • 29,041 Reads 1 Shares
Starbucks may have blown the coffee market wide open to mass consumption, but its competitors are quickly redefining how coffee is served-especially the speed at which it's delivered.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 8,890 Reads 4 Shares
Fourth in the overall rankings on the this year's AD50 list is 1-800-Got-Junk? All of its franchisees are multi-unit owners (or potentially), says CEO Brian Scudamore. "It's a pretty simple strategy," he says. "Find the right people, and once they've been successful with one franchise, then offer another."
  • 4,119 Reads 48 Shares
Multi-unit franchising continues to expand in 2006. And the "Area Developer 50" continues to track the industry's transition from its early decades of single-unit owners to today's multi-unit owners and area developers. 2006 marks the third year of what might be called "The Shift": more franchising units controlled by multiple unit franchisees than by single-unit owners, according to statistics compiled by FRANdata, which puts the number at 52 percent.
  • 2,950 Reads 11 Shares
In the world of ice cream retailing, many believe that mix-ins and premium ice cream originated in 1973 when Steve Herrell opened the now-legendary Steve’s in Somerville, Massachusetts. Today’s brands make those days seem almost quaint, like Henry Ford’s Model T in a world of 200-mph Ferraris.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 2,448 Reads 17 Shares
Americans love to have fun--and despite their bulging waistlines, they also like to keep fit--or spend money trying! Between these two trends there's a lot of room for franchise growth--whether for seniors, juniors, or in-betweens!
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 2,666 Reads 9 Shares
In 1963, women's advocate Betty Friedan wrote in her book, The Feminine Mystique, that women were preparing to break new barriers. Friedan lived to see her prophecies come true before her death earlier this year. And nowhere are the broken barriers more apparent than in multi-unit franchising.
  • Linda C. Ray
  • 4,174 Reads 1 Shares
Franchising can provide an opportunity for you to clean up. Whether it's inside your home or the clothes on your body, there are many choices. Busy Americans are driving explosive growth in the cleaning industry. With little time of their own to clean, U.S. consumers are spending more than $9 billion a year on residential cleaning-a figure expected to grow at a rate of more than 20 percent a year.
  • 2,564 Reads
So many companies today train their employees to "duplicate" the customer experience, to treat every person who walks through the door exactly the same way. I have seen too many companies fail using this strategy. Forget about what is easier to train your employees to do: not every customer wants the same experience.
  • Thom Winninger
  • 4,151 Reads 12 Shares
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The surest way to lose a good employee is to leave him or her up in the air about what the job is and how to do it.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 4,157 Reads 3 Shares
State regulators across the country are out to blur the distinction between franchisors and employers. If they succeed, they could crimp the growth of one of the franchise industry's hottest segments: franchise providers of janitorial, security guard, industrial gardening, delivery, and other services to commercial clients.
  • Barry Kurtz and Richard Rosenberg
  • 5,532 Reads 1 Shares
"To get a good job, get a good education." How many millions of kids have heard that from a concerned parent? And in that simple statement lies boundless opportunity for educational and tutoring franchises worldwide.
  • 10,444 Reads 440 Shares
"Our first salon was a real struggle," explains Doug Barnes. "There were times when we didn't know if we'd have enough money to get through the next day." But those hard times helped forge a determination that he and his wife Elizabeth rely on still today. And it must be a formula that works because today, Barnes operates 26 Cost Cutters and three Supercuts locations throughout Nebraska and Iowa, and Regis Corporation, the parent company of Cost Cutters and Supercuts, just recognized him with its 2005 Multi-Concept Franchisee of the Year Award.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 5,261 Reads 192 Shares
March 30th marked another celebration of outstanding achievement in multi-unit franchising when the 2006 FAB Awards were presented to four franchisee winners who demonstrated a level of performance resulting in significant contributions to franchisor systems. At the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort, Spa & Golf, attendees got to see franchising at its best at the Fifth Annual Multi-Unit Franchising Development Conference & Expo.
  • Carren Bersch
  • 4,317 Reads 29 Shares
Web-based Performance Dashboards give you the power to analyze information about the performance of your business and the key activities you manage. As the name dashboard suggests, these are web-based tools that continuously display the current state of your key business metrics. And among the most vital signs of your business health are customer satisfaction scores and customer loyalty trends.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 8,343 Reads 144 Shares
A healthy economy and a continued demand for both long- and short-term employees is driving personnel agencies and temporary employment services-and they love the work. Staffing services is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. In 2004, the staffing industry generated more than $63 billion in revenues, with temporary staffing accounting for approximately 90 percent and permanent placement contributing the remainder.
  • 2,261 Reads 4 Shares
You have spent a lifetime setting and achieving goals, working plans, and building your business. You are well versed in the intricacies of managing scores of employees and multiple franchise units. You know real estate financing, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and the complexities of business accounting. You have dealt with personnel law, planning commissions, unemployment insurance filings, and periodic loan reviews. In short, you have been incredibly successful and you are fiscally astute.
  • Carol Clark
  • 3,007 Reads
Harry Loyle bought his first MotoPhoto store in 1985. Today he owns the company--well, three quarters of it anyway. But as president and CEO, he is, at last, in control. How he got there is a story of passion, persistence, disappointment, frustration, the achievement of a long-held dream, and a complex acquisition deal completed in February 2003.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,798 Reads 7 Shares
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