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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.

John Gantes has been in the restaurant business his entire life. "From the time I was a little kid, I worked around restaurants. I'm from Greek heritage and my dad had a restaurant when I was growing up, so I knew the business. Unlike my dad, who was very content to have one restaurant, that wasn't what I really wanted to do."
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 8,952 Reads 339 Shares
The cruise industry has been growing at an average rate of more than 8 percent since 1980. An estimated 84 million passengers have set sail on a cruise of two days or more in the past 25 years. Of that 84 million, 64 percent took to open waters in the past 10 years, and 33 percent during the last five, according to research by the Carlson Travel Network.
  • 2,021 Reads
Listening to franchisees with multiple brands discuss business sounds a little like stock brokers strategizing with clients about their portfolios.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 7,586 Reads 1 Shares
The do-it-yourself (DIY) handyman trend boosted the fortunes of home supply stores for decades. But as baby boomers aged and time became more precious than money for this generation, "do-it-for-me" (DIFM) handyman services have blossomed - and franchise companies have been quick to take advantage.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 8,119 Reads 1 Shares
If you are a multi-unit franchise owner on a fast growth path, you are always on the lookout for sources of capital to help grow your business. That is why you will want to take a serious look at one of the latest developments that enables you to get capital, using your future credit card sales. This arrangement promises to help you raise the funds you need to expand, purchase more franchises, buy equipment and inventory, and modernize your operation.
  • 2,914 Reads 4 Shares
Outsiders think that franchising is a quick and easy way to get big bucks--there's even a new book out that promises "instant success" in franchising. You know that's not true. It doesn't matter where you get in, there's a ton of work, and some fair amount of suffering as a franchisor or franchisee gets up to speed.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 2,950 Reads 2 Shares
While politicians wrangled over the Mexican-U.S. border situation in 2006, one thing remained certain: people on both sides of the border love Mexican food. Americans have come a long way from Taco Bell, embracing Mexican food more and more each year, in all its flavors and variations.
  • 10,731 Reads
The biggest challenge in every business, and I really think this is more of a challenge even than finding good people, is once you get them, how to you keep them?
  • Thom Winninger
  • 2,906 Reads 1 Shares
When a franchise deal becomes large enough to attract the interest of venture capital and private equity firms, it almost always involves buying franchisors, not investing in franchisees. But that picture is changing as 1) multi-unit franchisees and area developers continue to grow larger, and 2) the money available for investing at the private equity level continues to pile up.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,008 Reads 10 Shares
With well over 100 company-owned units in operation mostly on the west coast, El Pollo Loco decided that its franchise program needed to change if the company was going to handle the growth it was anticipating from 190+ franchised units. The product, flame-grilled chicken with a Mexican flair, was right for a market more interested in healthier eating.
  • Ripley Hotch
  • 3,533 Reads 3 Shares
Big money, in the form of private equity, is finding a home in franchising, and bringing big promise to area developers and multi-unit operators-and to franchisors and franchise executives as well.
  • 5,148 Reads 1 Shares
Potbelly Sandwich Works
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What's the outlook for franchise finance in 2006? [i]Area Developer[/i] asked several industry veterans for their take on who's financing area developers and multi-unit operators today.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,861 Reads 7 Shares
Smoothie and juice franchises are healthy and hot. "Juice and smoothies, including juice and smoothie bars, frozen dessert stores, and the mix segment, are forecasted to be approximately $2 billion in retail sales for 2006," says Dan Titus, president of Juice Gallery Multimedia, a consulting and publishing company concentrating on the needs of juice bars and restaurant start-ups.
  • 2,441 Reads 30 Shares
Chew on these numbers and take into consideration the implications for you and your organization from the perspective of your customers and your employees - who you hire and whom you sell to. You will see great numbers to keep in mind when positioning your company, your next office and your next marketing push. Many of these numbers come from my work in the construction, landscape, and business-to-consumer industries, which understood these numbers many years ago. Construction, landscaping, manufacturing, and related industries are in the trenches and don't understand why so many other industries are not getting it.
  • Mauricio Velasquez
  • 2,826 Reads
No, neither the price of gasoline nor its impact on your multi-unit, multi-brand franchise business will be reduced under of the recently passed energy and transportation bills. However, both the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005, could have a noticeable impact on the tax bills of every franchised business - as well as those of their owners and operators.
  • Mark E. Battersby
  • 3,154 Reads 1,021 Shares
The numbers are overwhelming: there are more than 12 million businesses in the United States, and over the next five to seven years more than half of these companies will change hands. Of the six million owners who will sell their businesses in the next several years, most will not take specific steps to ensure a smooth transition from their ownership. Even for the few owners who have made an attempt to plan for their exit, their efforts usually fall far short of a comprehensive exit plan.
  • Will Lindenmayer
  • 2,965 Reads 1 Shares
Who likes income taxes? Tax preparation services, that's who! Entrepreneurs who have successfully used the franchising business model to spread their brand across the globe are enjoying unprecedented success and expansion in 2006.
  • 3,280 Reads 86 Shares
For a multi-unit franchisee, the relationship with a customer doesn't end with the sale. Each purchase of an item or use of your service is a single transaction between an individual customer and an individual employee. Whether it is a quick meal at a sub shop or a thorough home cleaning, this transaction should be the beginning of a long-term relationship with your customer. After the transaction, the relationship must be grounded in not only the quality of the product or service, but also in the strength of your response to customer needs. How do you gauge and evaluate your quality of product, service and response beyond the price tag?
  • Thomas J. Winninger
  • 3,419 Reads 16 Shares
Family business teams in the franchise industry help prove the old adage that two good ideas are always better than one. That continues to be the case for Kelly Saxton and his family.
  • Joan Szabo
  • 3,021 Reads 7 Shares
When looking at a franchise opportunity, the big question often asked is 'how much can I make?' Coming up with those projections isn't always easy. It takes a little digging on your part. Even so, most area developers have enough experience and are wise enough to know how to find the best franchise opportunities that will reap a good return on investment (ROI).
  • Joan Szabo
  • 13,512 Reads 3 Shares
It's every multi-unit operator's nightmare: You have a solid group of healthy performing units until you notice one beginning to decline - lower sales numbers, declining traffic, increased customer complaints, unusually high employee turnover. Or maybe you decide to take on a new unit that has been a low performer. It can be a difficult situation, but it can also provide an opportunity filled with high returns if handled properly. Here are some approaches, tips and insight to what some area developers have done to turn around poor performing units.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 3,377 Reads 47 Shares
Jersey Mike's Subs
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In my previous column, I discussed the first two pieces of how to build an organization that grows your franchise business. Part one was planning the structure of your organization over time, based on your territory, market, or development growth in terms of your team. Part two focused on the functional role of individuals within the organization. The third piece is how to develop pools of talent.
  • Thom Winninger
  • 3,337 Reads 11 Shares
Fast food chicken franchising has come a long way from 1939, when Colonel Harlan Sanders introduced Kentucky Fried Chicken. Since then, brands like Church's, Chester's, and Popeyes have spread the gospel of fried chicken not only across the continent, but across the world. Fried chicken has become American as apple pie, and everybody wants a piece.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 3,508 Reads 13 Shares
The difference between satisfied customers and loyal customers can sink a multi-unit franchisee. But there is also good news here.
  • Jack Mackey
  • 4,217 Reads 3 Shares
It's all her son's fault! Twenty-eight years ago, says Alice Schleicher (pronounced "Slisher"), her then 16-year-old, Rick, came home and said, "'Mom and Dad, I saw a restaurant and I want to buy it.'" It was a KFC in Sellersburg, Indiana. "We kind of looked at each other and said, 'Okay, well, we'll buy it.'" She envisioned having four someday. So far, she's exceeded that by 50.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 9,727 Reads 1 Shares
"Today you can work anywhere," says John Metz from his home in Buffalo, where he spends three months a year--the winter months. "It's a wonderful thing. I dial in to my office in West Palm Beach through a VPN and get everything I want. I can dial into the POS systems and get real-time information on all my restaurants. What else do I need? It's just like being in West Palm." Except for the snow.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 14,603 Reads 2 Shares
It's a family affair all the way around at United States Beef Corp. Founded in 1969 when Bob and Connie Davis purchased their first Arby's restaurant – just five years after brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel opened the first Arby's in Boardman, Ohio – today the Tulsa-based franchisee is headed by their sons Jeff, CEO, and John R. Davis, president. And a focus on a family-type atmosphere in its restaurants completes the picture.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,286 Reads 349 Shares
Gina Mehr has experienced success; now she wants to be effective.
  • Linda Ray
  • 4,443 Reads 1,014 Shares
Clara Osterhage says she is "the employer of choice in Dayton, Ohio." "I treat them the way I want to be treated and I pay them weekly," she says. "I could cut costs in half by paying every other week, but I know how important it is to them. It's a huge recruitment benefit. I have people who will never leave me."
  • Linda Ray
  • 7,755 Reads 274 Shares
Tom Hofer has always been tuned into his own drive and sense of where he belonged. "I did real well in a retail environment after college, but I always knew it wasn't me," Hofer says. "I definitely knew I wanted to own my own business, but wasn't sure what to do. So when the opportunity came up for me to buy a territory with Spring Green, it felt right."
  • Linda Ray
  • 3,609 Reads 9 Shares
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