Food Franchise

Posts Tagged ‘Franchise Opportunities’

If you have been considering starting your own business, then before you get the ball rolling, you might want to consider doing a search on already developed businesses for sale. Buying an already established business could save you a lot of time and effort. It is considered that already established businesses are less prone to failure than new business startups.

Buying a business is one of the most important decisions you will ever have to make, so it is not something you want to rush into. Take your time and do your home work before you make the financial and emotional commitment.

Searching through business for sale websites, newspaper business for sale classifieds and business for sale magazines is a great start. Home based businesses, franchise opportunities, business opportunities, cafes, restaurants, transport, landscaping, trades and services, beauty salons, internet businesses are just to name a few.

Searching for businesses for sale via the internet will save you time and effort due to the fact that you can do it from the comfort of your own home. It also allows your spouse and family members to view the listings with you. Getting the ‘green light’ from your husband, wife or significant other is usually the last hurdle before signing on the dotted line. It is always advised to sit down with your family members and really go through all the aspects of the business you are considering buying, as this decision will almost certainly affect their lives one way or another. A perfect example of this is ‘will you have to change residency in order to run the business’?

There are a number of Australian business for sale websites which have quality business for sale listings, allowing you to contact the owners directly. On the other hand, for those of you that would rather have someone else doing all of the hard work for you; you can use a business broker. However, sometimes business brokers can be distracted due to the heavy work load, and as a result the purchase or sale of your business may not get the attention it deserves.

Q: I will be retiring this year at age 60 and intend to fulfill my lifelong dream of owning my own business. I’m too old to start from scratch, so I’m looking at several franchise opportunities, including fast food, auto parts, and an accounting service. What should I consider before choosing one? Anthony R.

A: Congratulations on the retirement, Anthony, and on the new business venture. As the old adage goes, when one door closes, a drive-through window often opens (or something like that).

Given the franchise types you are considering the first thing you should ask yourself is whether or not you want to spend your golden years cooking fries, selling mufflers, or doing taxes.

Franchising can be a great way to start a business career, but you should make sure you’re not just trading one job for another. Unless you plan on being an absentee owner, which I highly discourage, you are gong to be working in the business just as an employee would, so be sure the business you choose doesn’t turn your lifelong dream into a never-ending nightmare.

The primary advantage of buying into a franchise system is that it allows you to enter business quicker with a proven system, while minimizing risk and increases the odds for success.

The primary disadvantage is that you give up considerable freedom in how the business operates. In many ways franchisees are not really their own bosses because they are required to follow the rules set down by the franchisor.

Many franchise owners also quickly tire of asking: “Do you want fries with that?” and become absentee owners, which usually leads to the business being sold or shut down.

No matter what franchise you’re considering, you should ask yourself the following questions before making a decision:

* Do you have past experience that pertains to the type of franchise you’re thinking about buying?

* Are you prepared to work long, hard hours?

* Are you an effective manager?

* Are you willing to share your revenue with the franchisor?

* Are you willing to follow the franchisor’s rules and regulations?

* And the biggie: do you have access to the necessary capital to invest in the franchise?

The big franchises like McDonald’s and Midas Muffler can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy into, but unless you are a total business savant, the franchise is virtually guaranteed to succeed.

It’s true that even a McDonald’s closes on occasion. Roy Croc spins in its grave when it happens, but happen it does, so keep that in mind. There are thousands of lower cost franchises that you can buy into, but the lower the investment typically means the risk of success is higher.

As a rule, franchise operations are generally more successful than independent startups because they have a proven concept, a ready market, an established customer base, and a business model that can be replicated over and over again. Less than 5% of franchises fail during the first few years as compared to an 80% failure rate of independent ventures.

Many people have done very well as franchisees and often end up with multiple franchise operations. Adversely, many have not done so well because they bought into a franchise system that either was not all it was purported to be or they discovered that they did not fit into the franchisee’s mold.

The key is to pick the franchise system that is right for you. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:

* Purchase a franchise that complements your skills, work experiences, and interests. Don’t start a business in a field that is totally foreign to you.

* Plan on becoming an owner-operator versus an absentee owner. Absentee owners lose control and interest quickly and the franchise suffers because of it.

* Gather as much information as you can about the franchises you are interested in. You are considering investing a lot of money to buy into a system, so know who you are dealing with and what you are paying for.

* Experience the product or service firsthand, as a customer would. If you don’t like the service you get at McDonald’s, don’t invest in a franchise thinking you can fix their problems and run things better. You can’t and you won’t.

* Interview other franchisees to gauge the franchisee satisfaction level.

* Ask how many franchises have closed and for what reason.

* Ask about initial and long-term training and support.

* Make sure the franchisor is profitable and financially sound.

* Finally, do your due diligence. Request a disclosure document that includes in-depth information about the franchisor and if a franchisor refuses to produce such a document, take that as a huge red flag and mark them off your list.

The key to achieving substantially more sales and wealth is to Franchise Your Business the correct way. Franchising can be a very intimidating and pricey process. Franchisors can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then fail because they lack the proper structure and systems necessary to succeed – nobody showed them. The solution is to break the process down into three simple goals: Structure, systems/support materials and training. The costs are extremely low because they are part of the process. Another element involved in making Franchise Opportunities feasible for companies, is for the Franchise Consultant to be sensitive to a business’ need to minimize expenses.

A Franchise Expert that offers a Pay As You Go program can create a tremendous advantage and opportunity to a business wanting to franchise. Very simply, this shifts the risk to the franchise development company to perform for the business wanting to franchise without the franchisor being out of pocket lots of cash up front. Even though franchise opportunities abound, good, quality Franchising Help can prove elusive. A good Franchising Advisor, and especially one that will work with you on a Pay As You Go program where you only pay for the services you are receiving currently, is crucial to your success as a franchisor.

In general, people want to own a business without thinking; therefore owning a Franchise is the conduit for many entrepreneurs because franchises are business systems that are easily duplicated. Typically, many business owners spend their own money opening up satellite offices and hiring employees who do not even care about the business- to run it. Their logic is that this is the best way to control growth and keep the consistency and uniformity of their product or service. However, if you can get the same results – why not use the resources of an entrepreneur who has skin in the game, to use his/her own money to brand their business without having the out of pocket expenses?

To create franchise wealth, you have to leverage your efforts while minimizing costs.

If you are a business owner and really want to expand your business, you should take a serious look at Franchising. The Franchising Information below can greatly assist you in starting the process of Franchising Your Business. This information can also be utilized by entrepreneurs wishing to talk to businesses about franchising. In short, you will better understand just how EASY and SIMPLE it is for businesses to expand through franchising. It is all about structure and systems.

Structure refers to Disclosures. Franchise systems are regulated by Federal and State agencies requiring a set of disclosures intended to protect the applicant. These disclosures are collectively known as the UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular). When you work with a good Franchise Consultant, they prepare this document for you, customizing it for your particular business, adding provisions to protect you while assisting you in defining your Franchise structure. The UFOC also houses the Franchise Agreement. As the UFOC is a summary of what an applicant should expect – the franchise agreement in comparison is the UFOC on steroids. Every detail is threaded through the Franchise agreement covering items such as: investment expectations, fees, restrictions on products/services a franchisee can offer, multi area marketing programs and responsibilities of franchisee/franchiser. A Franchising Expert / Advisor works with clients to define these items while incorporating provisions that do not commit the Franchisor, but allows for options in the future. For example, a business may feature a document which states: Franchisor may form a franchisee elected franchise advisory council whose purpose is to determine how national advertising monies are spent.

Systems refer to what has been developed in the business and presented in an organized fashion to the Franchisee. This is what the Franchisor provides to Franchisees by way of reference materials. And of course a Franchise Expert makes this EASY. A good Franchise Development Consultant will provide clients with template versions of an Operations Manual, Pre Opening manual and various other supporting pieces intended to systemize and structure their business operations in a cookie cutter format. For example: The operations manual for a non-restaurant business contains over 330 pages. A Franchising Expert / Advisor will require their client to customize the operations manual with their company name, logo and add the “meat & potatoes” of their business into the various sections- all the proprietary stuff. For example, most clients will take the marketing/advertising section of the Operations Manual and make every marketing piece they have ever used into a template format ready to be used by future franchisees in their area.

Taking all these pieces together, including the UFOC and reference materials, allows enough cross-pollination to nicely create a training/orientation program/discovery day. By utilizing the structure of the franchise system (UFOC), the Operations Manual and Pre-Opening manual, a Franchising Expert can work with clients to determine what items to focus on when training Franchisees. After all, an entrepreneur who invests a large sum of $$ to brand their business must be able to run with it immediately after training. A good way to go about this is to create an outline of the training/orientation program, complimented by a PowerPoint presentation. The training and orientation program can be broken down into modules so it can be easily moved around and tailored to the audience. For example: A Franchise Consultant could create a 3-day training program with each day broken down into modules. If, for example, a franchisee needed more attention on the administrative functions in day two of training, they could simply move the next scheduled module around with the second half of administrative module of day three so they could spend more time on that area without losing momentum and without jeopardizing the timeline.

Structure, systems and training are the key ingredients for a successful Franchise system. As a potential Franchisor, you will need good tools and consistent information streams so you can impart what you learn and let it Create Franchise Wealth for you. And for those vendors, who wish to work with many Franchisors to assist in their franchise business, remember that about 85%-90% of franchisees use the same vendor for services that their Franchisor uses.

As you contemplate Franchising Your Business, here are some questions you can consider to see if Franchising is the right tool for expanding your operation.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to expand without having to worry about capital outlay and having to hire employees?”

Customers who you have heard say they would like to see another one of these in other areas.

“Have any of them ever indicated that they would like to own one of these?”

Just remember that a Franchise Consultant will take the intimidation out of the process of Franchising Your Business. A good consultant will take it one step at a time by providing Structure and creating systems and training programs needed to successfully duplicate your business. If a Franchise Consultant can also allow you to “pay as you go” so you don’t have large upfront costs, then it will probably make sense to let that qualified Franchise Expert create Franchise Wealth for YOU.

Ownership of a franchise can be a perfect way to supplement your retirement income. A franchise can help you build up your retirement account, or give you additional income on top of your planned retirement monies. It is, however, quite important to select a franchise that suits your needs and personality.

There is a wide range of franchise opportunities available but a few basic guidelines can help you narrow down the choices.

Step 1: Figure out how much money you are willing to put into your franchise. You can purchase a franchise for as little as a couple thousand dollars, or you can buy one for many times that. In general the larger the investment requirement, the more established and higher the earning potential. Most franchises offer good risk to reward ratios, meaning that for the money you invest the risk is relatively low while the gain is high.

Step 2: Figure out how much time and effort you wish to pour into your franchise. Getting your franchise off the ground and generating income can be a daunting task, particularly if you don’t have much time to devote to the job. In this case search for a franchise that is well established and provides the support you require. If you have the time and energy to devote to developing your franchise some of the smaller, and more individual franchises could be the way to go. Another thing to look at in your franchise is its mobility. Smaller, mobile franchises such as mobile food or product vendors can provide amazing opportunities for the adventurous person, particularly retirees who wish to travel. One usually works at special events, normally weekends only, providing ample time during the week to explore. If the time required to run a mobile franchise is too high for your tastes, look for a franchise in a permanent location. With a good manager and good employees the time input required from the owner can be very low.

Step 3: Research the franchise options that fit your needs. Look around your hometown for interesting franchise opportunities. Keep an eye out for a product niche that isn’t filled, and for products or services that would sell well in your regional location. Travel and visit special events, look at what the vendors are selling. Maybe one of their products interest you; examine both food and non-food items. Look to friends, family, and the Internet for ideas. Make a list of several franchise opportunities that interest you.

Step 4: Pick your franchise. Contact the headquarters of the different franchise companies you are interested in. Listen to presentations on the franchise. Read about what the franchise offers you, what it requires, and what its potential is. Talk to other owners of the franchise if you know any, find out what they like and don’t like about it. Above all ask questions. It’s better to know the answer to a question before you buy; it may change your whole opinion of the franchise opportunity.

Step 5: Purchase your franchise and get started. Once you’ve chosen which franchise interests you, you are ready to begin. This is the biggest step; up until now you are only testing the waters. Once you purchase its time to truly get your feet wet. Don’t worry, help is always available. Look to your franchise headquarters, other franchise owners, and your friends and family for good ideas and advice.

Step 6: Have fun.

If you’re interested in having a franchise, you probably want to pick from the best ones out there. No one wants to pay a lot of money to start up a franchise, only to have it fail. Naturally you probably have a preference for what type of business you like the best. You have to ask yourself what’s more important – the type of business that you would like to patronize, or the type of business that you can make the most money at. Ideally you should try for both, but that’s not always possible. In order to make sure you have the highest chance of success, pick from these top franchises and you won’t have to worry as much about whether you can afford to do it and whether you can make it work and make a living off of it:

-7-Eleven

-Subway

-Dunkin’ Donuts

-Pizza Hut

-McDonalds

When you choose one of the franchise opportunities listed above, you can feel safe knowing that they’re the top five ranked franchises based on the ‘Franchise 500,’ which has been around since 1980 and is seen on the Entrepreneur.com Website. These five are the top options based on several areas of financial and business importance, including how much money can be made off of them and how high the rate of failure is for a franchise from that particular company. Also looked at are areas like the financial strength that the company has overall, the stability, the growth rate, how long the company has been in business and how much it costs for start-up of a franchise. The access to financing for starting up a franchise is also very important, because most people who want to do this can’t afford to pay for it out of pocket.

Most of us can name a few very successful coffee franchise names off the top of our heads. It is no secret that they have taken on a life of their own. The familiar logos and advertisements are familiar to people. Since consumers are very happy and content with what they know it helps them to step inside the location.

They also know they can get the same great coffee drinks they love regardless of which one they step into. This is important as people can be very different when it comes to their taste for coffee. What you think you will be getting is very different when you go to a new location. It may be stronger, weaker, more expensive, and the sizes will vary. With a coffee franchise though they know exactly what they will get each and every time.

Should you decide to take part in such a business you will find it can be costly to get in the door. Even if you have the money though there is no guarantee that you will be able to get them to accept your application. Such entities have quite a reputation to uphold so they don’t want to risk it falling down on them. They want people with the right skills, ethics, and business goals to be owner’s of their coffee franchise locations.

You will find the criteria for each of them to be slightly different. For example one may be fine with the fact that you don’t have very much experience in the coffee business. They figure they can train you on the basics of it and you can bring your managerial skills from other types of products into play successfully.

Others will expect you to have some in depth knowledge and understanding of their business and how they operate. Doing your homework is important because you want to be successful with the coffee franchise you become involved in. You don’t want to be unhappy with the policies and guidelines you will have to follow along with.

That is perhaps one of the biggest complications for those that do follow a franchise. Sure, they can get the publicity and the consumers but they don’t feel they have accomplished much personally. This is because they are limited in their freedom to change things up. Basically you will be tied into the decisions of the corporate offices. Yet there are plenty of benefits to that as well.

For example you won’t have to worry about advertising your business. There will be plenty of that going on with the coffee franchise name linked to it. You will also have the right procedures and equipment to get the job done. You can be sure all of this has been carefully evaluated, tweaked, and evaluated again. Therefore some common coffee shop blunders that can cost you money and customers will be avoided.

There are some great opportunities out there for a person in regards to a coffee franchise. Take the time to learn all you can. Honestly evaluate if this type of business is right for you or not. It is a good fit for some people but not others. You may be making money with your coffee franchise but if you aren’t happy with your role in it then none of that really matters. You want a business you can be proud of and are passionate about.