Franchise Blog

PIR & Associates, Inc., makes turning a successful business into a franchise system EASY, without the hardship of traditional up front start-up fees. PIR has designed a special program that allows entrepreneurs the ability to pay for services as they incur; decreasing the business risk and hardship that expansion can cause.

PIR & Associates Inc., experienced in helping entrepreneurs become franchisors, utilizes the skills and knowledge of experts in business to analyze a company’s current business model and develop the systems necessary to create an infrastructure for expansion and increased profits. New markets and national recognition are just two of the many advantages of franchising.

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Shawn Lowry, president and chief executive officer of Brooke Franchise Corporation, a subsidiary of Brooke Corporation (Nasdaq: BXXX), announced selected March 2007 results.

Lowry announced that Brooke Franchise Corporation assisted franchisees in the start up and acquisition of businesses in March in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. Brooke Franchise Corporation added 12 start up franchise locations, 39 conversion franchise locations and three developed franchise locations in March, and received approximately $7,506,000 in fees, consisting of $6,600,000 in initial franchise fees for basic services, $200,000 for initial fees from buyers assistance programs and $706,000 in other associated fees.

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New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, the world’s largest independent IT training company, announced today that it will expand its technology training offering into convergent technologies by offering CompTIA’s Convergence+ training and certification in select locations starting this month. New Horizons will offer Convergence+ via classroom training and its synchronous elearning option, Online LIVE.

“New Horizons is excited to offer Convergence+ training to help our customers take advantage of the computer and communications technology advancements their business requires,” stated Mark Miller, president and chief executive officer of New Horizons. “New Horizons has a long history of working closely with industry leaders, such as CompTIA, to ensure we provide cutting-edge training solutions to meet the ever changing needs of our global customers.”

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Ruby Tuesday, Inc., one of the nation’s leading casual dining restaurant companies, today announced plans for the opening of five franchised restaurants over the next five years in southern Wisconsin. The restaurants will be developed by RT Holdings of Southern Wisconsin, LLC and operated by RT Restaurants of Southern Wisconsin, LLC. Principals of both companies include Darell Imler, Henry Laka, Ken Kilberger and Don Carlson.

“We are excited about our company’s strategic partnership with Ruby Tuesday to develop the southern Wisconsin market,” said Mr. Imler. “Southern Wisconsin contains many trade areas that are well-suited for this leading casual dining restaurant brand. Ruby Tuesday’s simple, fresh, American dining, combined with the new upscale building prototype, will present attractive opportunities in southern Wisconsin,” he added.

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Art Coley, CFE, Joins AlphaGraphics

AlphaGraphics, Inc., a leading visual communications franchisor and longtime innovator in the printing industry, has tapped Art Coley to lead franchise development for the company. Coley, who will report to AlphaGraphics, Inc. CEO Kevin K. Cushing, will be responsible for leading AlphaGraphics’ initiative to grow the franchise network to more than 500 locations.

Before joining AlphaGraphics, Coley was as Executive Vice President of Franchising for the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED). ICED is the franchisor of concepts such as Computer Explorers, Kwik Kopy, Women’s Health Boutique and Parcel Plus. In addition, Coley served as president of Computer Explorers for four years, growing the number of locations from 58 to 105. Coley’s experience also includes owning and operating a successful small business. He is a Certified Franchise Executive (CFE).

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Fantastic Sams, a full service hair salon brand with nearly 1400 salons in the US and Canada, has announced its plan to open more than 130 locations in the following major cities through franchise ownership: New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. Fantastic Sams new expansion plan furthers its renewed focus on development in growing metropolitan markets nationwide.

“New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston are primed and ready for Fantastic Sams Hair Salons through local franchise ownership,” said Jeff Sturgis, CFE and Vice President of Franchise Sales and Development. “The demographics and consumer lifestyle in each of these markets meet the Fantastic Sams expansion model criteria. Given the strength of our brand and the powerful consumer loyalty associated with our services, the right local salon operator has a head start in building a solid base of customers.”

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Former Company President and COO Takes on New Role

From past franchise owner to president and chief operating officer, Carl Gerhardt of Allegra Network LLC- one of the world’s largest print and graphic communications franchises- is achieving many mile markers within the company. His latest feat: Becoming Allegra Network’s chief executive officer.

Since taking the reigns as president of the company in January 2004, Gerhardt has made a substantial contribution to Allegra Network. Among his contributions, he assisted the company in reconfiguring its management structures by appointing four new vice presidents to help foster the growth of the company. He also helped facilitate the company in implementing several strategic initiatives, including two major acquisitions of graphic communications franchisors, the launch of its Digital Print Centers franchise concept and the diversification of services offered by its 600 franchise members. In 2006, Allegra Network recorded its highest system-wide sales ever with $369 million, which was a 30 percent increase since Gerhardt became president.

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Why new brands are franchising at break-neck speed.

Franchised restaurants have scores of ways to measure speed.

One tally might be how many seconds—or, gasp, minutes—a car spends in the drive-thru loop. Another benchmark might be the time it takes a new-fangled fryer to get potatoes from freezer to front counter. Or how long it takes a pot of coffee to lose its freshness.

As the first quarter of 2007 draws to a close, a new measurement of speed is how fast and aggressive a new brand goes from a handful of stores, or even a single store, to a franchise agreement.

“In the 2007 marketplace, what’s driving concepts into franchising is the speed of the market,” says Darrell Johnson of FRANDATA, a company specializing in compiling and analyzing information about the franchising market.

In the restaurant industry, which sees the public’s reliance on it grow exponentially each year, the speedy marketplace increases the opportunity for emerging and even infant restaurant ideas to go immediately to franchising as a growth model.

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Aviatech, a San Diego based advertising agency specialized in franchising recently came up with a new product called “Affinity Network Online” to deliver leads to the franchise industry.

What is it? Affinity Network OnlineTM is a proprietary Aviatech product representing a customized network of websites optimized to deliver the highest quality leads on a Pay-Per-Lead basis. This lead generation system is accountable advertising in its purest form.

How does Affinity work for you?

Online advertising highlighting your products, services or business opportunities is distributed to Aviatech’s proprietary network of lead generation websites. When a prospect clicks on a banner ad or sponsored text link, viewed on one of hundreds of Affinity Network sites, they are taken to a landing page with a form requesting that specific information be provided.

Once the form is submitted, the prospect information is checked for errors (filter 1) and the consumer receives a “Thank You” email. At that time they are given an opportunity to “opt-out” (filter 2).

All prospects that pass through the “double opt-in” process are submitted for secondary validation (filter 3), where data triangulation and de-duplication ensure that only the highest-quality leads make it through.

Next is the confirmation process (filter 4 – pre-qualified by third party!) which includes call-center follow-up, auto-response emails and possible subsequent marketing emails.

Finally, upon confirmation of each prospect’s interest, the lead data is transmitted to your sales staff to close the deal. Leads delivery can be customized to suit your needs, including integration into your internal lead management system.

Data that fails one or more filters is automatically discarded so your sales team never wastes time with dead-end leads. You pay only for those leads that have been filtered through our stringent verification process. What results is accountable advertising with real-time ROI.

With the high value of franchise buyer leads, no wonder why Aviatech is extending its activity to this very lucrative business.

Now, I would like to learn more about it and maybe get some feedback from franchisors. If you know anything about it, just let us know.

Leaders to Offer Combination of Fitness & Weight Loss Products

Medifast & Cuts Fitness For Men today announced a strategic partnership that will target the millions of “Regular Guys” who are seeking weight loss and fitness solutions. The relationship combines leaders in both the weight loss and fitness franchising categories.

Cuts Fitness franchisees and trainers will offer each Cuts member with personalized attention and guidance with product selection and adherence to the Medifast program. Men who order Medifast through Cuts will receive free personal support and a week free of Medifast with their first purchase of a variety package.

To enhance its fitness offering, Medifast, an innovator in weight loss for men, will offer its male customer base discounted gym memberships to the approximate 75 Cuts Fitness For Men franchises. And for those men who don’t have access to Cuts gyms, Medifast will be offering the newly published book by Perigee released May 1, 2007, “Cuts Fitness For Men– The Ultimate 30 Minute Workout. The new book features easy to read fitness and healthy lifestyle for guys of all ages and sizes.

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Ask the Right Questions Before Selling Your House

With a record number of foreclosures across America, an increasing number of professional home buyers are offering to save homeowners from rising mortgage payments. And HomeVestors of America, Inc., the company famous for its “We Buy Ugly Houses®” billboards, is warning consumers to ask the right questions before signing away your most valuable asset.

In a free report released today by the company entitled, “Nine Questions to Ask a Prospective Home Buyer Before Accepting an Offer,” HomeVestors wants to equip homeowners with information to make smart selling decisions in any real estate market.

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Build-A-Bear Workshop® at Rainforest Cafe® to Open in Galveston

Build-A-Bear Workshop®, an interactive entertainment-based retailer of customized stuffed animals, and Rainforest Cafe®, an adventurous, family-friendly feast for the senses, announced a partnership to open Build-A-Bear Workshop® At Rainforest Cafe®–Where Wild and Wonderful Friends Are Made™– inside a number of Rainforest Cafe locations. The first store opens April 24, inside the Rainforest Cafe at Galveston Island, Texas.

In July 2006, Build-A-Bear Workshop and Landry’s teamed up to open the first-ever Build-A-Dino® – Where Best Friendosaurs Are Made™–at the T-REX Cafe™: A Prehistoric Family Adventure™, A Place to Eat, Shop and Discover™ in The Legends at Village West in Kansas City, Kansas.

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Nashville’s Bar-B-Cutie has been around since 1950 after starting out as a place to get Tennessee-style barbecue from miniskirted carhops. But for decades, the company had only one or two locations.

That’s starting to change. Within the past four years, father and son duo Ronnie and Brett McFarland have begun franchising their business. They have 11 locations in the Southeast, and some coming to Texas, Ohio and Michigan, among other states. Only two locations are corporately owned — at 501 Donelson Pike and 5521 Nolensville Pike, both in Nashville.

Twelve franchised locations are scheduled to open this year.

How they did it…

Master franchises: Bar-B-Cutie is striking deals with franchisees interested in just one or two locations and with people who will control an entire state or region — known as a master franchise. Master franchisees are responsible for developing their own regions and will get a cut — 2.5 percent — of the 5 percent royalty fee on gross sales of their sub-franchisees.

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Knights Inn used its owners and general managers conference here today to introduce its new simplified franchise agreement.

The streamlined format is intended to appeal to a broaders base of potential franchisees, particularly those new to the lodging industry, who may be put off by the traditionally lengthy document. “A typical agreement can be quite intimidating to someone new to the process,” said brand senior vp Rajiv Bhatia. The new four-page agreement replaces a 35-page version. “All the essentials are there. We feel the new version will be welcomed by potential owners. Not only is it a time-saver, but there’ll be cost savings as well since it’ll take an attorney less time to review.”

Streamlined too is Knights Inn’s new custom-designed property management system. Known as Knight Lite, it is approximately 50% less expensive to implement than traditional PMSs and, consequently, can help improve franchisees’ return on investment.

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Nation’s Leading Grilled Chicken Franchise Expects to Open Restaurants in 12 States in 2007

El Pollo Loco, the nation’s leading grilled chicken franchise with 364 locations, has promoted five members of its management team who helped the growing chain open 26 new locations last year and who have key roles in the company’s national expansion strategy.

The new positions are integral to the company’s continued expansion, including 30 new units set to open nationwide by the end of this year and a pipeline of development agreements for locations in California, Arizona, Washington, Utah, Georgia, Illinois, Virginia, Missouri, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.

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In David and Goliath, Small Foot Care Health and Wellness Company Proves It Can Compete With the World’s Best and That Proper Foot Analysis and Orthotics Can Secure Victory

Proving they are a force to be reckoned with, Foot Solutions, the world’s largest franchiser focused on foot care health and wellness and relatively new on the running scene, took the Boston Marathon by storm last week when several of its runners were thrust into the national spotlight with strong appearances despite injuries and biomechanic issues.

Leading the marathon for the first 18 miles, two Foot Solutions runners attempted to do what the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team did during the 1980 Olympics in their famous upset of the supposedly invisible Russian team.

“It was our strategy from the start to run the race hard at the beginning and still finish strong,” said Foot Solutions Elite Running Coach Margaret Sue Bozgoz. “Of course we knew that the odds were not in our favor. Foot Solutions is a relatively small company and cannot afford the top runners in the business.

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The American Association of Franchisee and Dealers (AAFD) has announced that Settle Inn Hotels, LLC and the California Department of Corporations (DOC) are AAFD’s 2007 recipients of the Total Quality Franchising Chairman’s Award for Distinguished Contributions and Service to the Franchising Community.

Settle Inn earned AAFD Accredited Contract status the AAFD’s highest honor for a start-up franchise company. In doing so, the company committed to a franchise culture and franchise agreement that scored a record 99.3% conformity to the AAFD Fair Franchising Standards. Equally important to the AAFD’s strategy to encourage market driven reform of the franchise community, Settle Inn has made its AAFD accredited culture and contract the cornerstone of its franchise development effort.

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Manny and Olga’s Pizza announced today that the company is proud to be a sponsor of Georgetown University’s 2007 Annual Hoyathon. In its seventh year, the Hoyathon is Georgetown University’s annual 24-hour dance marathon whose mission is to raise money for local Washington, DC area children’s charities. The recipient of this year’s proceeds will be Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

By supplying forty pizzas to feed the student organizers, support staff and dancers participating in the Hoyathon, Manny and Olga’s President, Bobby Athanasakis, states, “We are a local business with deep community ties. By supporting local charity events in the Washington, DC and surrounding Maryland and Northern Virginia communities, we feel that we are giving something back to the folks who support our business. The slogan of the Hoyathon is “Wear a Heart on Your Sleeve” and that describes Manny and Olga’s mission to help the communities in which we conduct business. It is both a pleasure and an honor to be asked by the students to assist them with this very worthy cause.”

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c.o.jones is expanding with partners in the Midwest, Mid Atlantic and Southest. After opening an additional 5 locations the company intends to offer franchises. Partners in the next 5 locations will be granted master developer status for a specified geography and a split of the initial franchise fee and ongoing royalties.

The newest locations planned are to be located in Saint Louis, Mo and Charlotte and Raleigh, NC according to founder Bob Potter.

c.o.jones is a fast casual, full service Mexican Restaurant. Prices range from $6.95 – $9.95. Per person check averages $16 at dinner.

c.o.jones Mexican Restaurant based in New Haven, CT. has been open since 1999 and has enjoyed continuous success. Executive Director Tom Coyle stated the company feels that they’ve been able to take Cal-Mex cuisine, add the Margarita and Tequila bar, funky environment and great name. This all helps differentiate c.o.jones from others, and they have made it as simple as possible to operate and run. “The business model is simple, high volume, high margins” said Coyle.

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Personal Best Karate’s Franchise Organization will be honored on April 26th, 2007 with the Community Spirit Award presented by the United Way. This award is given to an organization for their continual outstanding service and commitment to the communiies they serve.

As part of its commitment to families, The Personal Best Organization has provided a Thanksgiving meal to over 8,000 families in need for the Holiday. This event dubbed the “Turkey Brigade” is completely funded and organized by the families involved with the Personal Best Karate Program.

Personal Best has become the single largest financial contributor to New Hope; an organization that provides vital support and shelter from families suffering from Domestic abuse. Each year Personal Best hosts a fundraiser with the money going to New Hopes programming.

In addition to the previous two, Personal Best’s Franchise organization is also the largest mobile blood donor for Mass General Hospital for the past two years. “All of the causes we align with are centered around helping the most vulnerable members of our community. We are proud to be in a position to take this type of leadership role within the communities we call our home” said founder and C.E.O. Christopher Rappold.