Accor North America, one of the nation’s largest hotel owners and operators, premiered a new diversity program titled the Accor Pinnacle Program at the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers today. The Accor Pinnacle Program offers knowledge, guidance, and tools through a wide-range of services and initiatives to help minority and women owners and investors succeed in the lodging industry.

“The Accor Pinnacle Program is all about providing franchise opportunities and ownership within the lodging industry,” said Dean Savas, senior vice president of franchise for Accor North America. “We offer assistance to those who are new to the lodging industry, as well as seasoned investors, through Pinnacle’s various initiatives. The program allows hotel owners and investors to utilize our expertise as an experienced owner and operator to help them succeed.” (more…)

Protingent Staffing, a Pacific Northwest leader in technology staffing today announced plans to expand service in select markets through franchise ownership. This expansion model was chosen to leverage the franchisee owner’s familiarity with their local labor market and business climate, giving them a competitive edge.

Protingent Staffing executives have spent the last few years studying successful franchises in the staffing industry, interviewing key people and reviewing their cost structure, business plans and best practices. The result is the launch of a world class franchise program that includes comprehensive back office support, initial and ongoing training programs, shared online database of clients and consultants, proprietary online timekeeping system and a solid business process developed from years of industry experience. (more…)

Not only was Maid Brigade’s 17th annual convention a rousing success, it was the largest in the history of the company. With 64 different franchises represented and 185 attendees, Maid Brigade went overboard to make sure the convention offered something for everyone.

“At last year’s convention we announced that we had embarked upon a mission to move Maid Brigade from a good company to a great company. We are beginning the second year of what promises to be a multi-year march to greatness,” explained Bart Puett, president of Maid Brigade, Inc. “Our goal and mission has not and will not change. We intend to be the highest quality maid service provider in the industry. We want Maid Brigade to be ‘the standard for quality cleaning.’” (more…)

Pet Butler, the nation’s leading pet waste cleanup service, has acquired the pet waste operations of Shovel Jockey Inc, one of its remaining competitors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the two companies announced today.

The acquisition further increases the penetration of Pet Butler into its home market, where it now offers service to more than 95 percent of the metropolitan area. The acquisition, coupled with rapid growth in its franchise operations, has solidified Pet Butler’s standing as the largest pet waste cleanup service in the nation. (more…)

Anthony and Yasmyn Maccaroni of Mercer NJ were recently awarded a Kids At Heart franchise in Somerset County and parts of Morris County, NJ. “After researching different franchise opportunities for over two years, we finally decided to join the Kids At Heart family because we recognized the vast potential Kids At Heart Photography has to become the nation’s leading youth photography company, but more importantly, we felt the Kids At Heart working environment and the opportunity to work with children would be a rewarding lifestyle.” (more…)

A name and telephone number scrawled across a napkin became the genesis of a small restaurant chain in Mexico expanding into the U.S. marketplace.

Doug Thomas had regularly traveled throughout Mexico, always on the lookout for authentic tacos, particularly the nation’s signature tacos al pastor - marinated pork cooked on a vertical rotisserie and thinly sliced from the spit, similar to Greek gyros.

In 2005, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua while eating at a restaurant, Thomas asked a server to pass along the fateful napkin to the owner of Chih’ua Tacos y Cortes in Chihuahua City. Thomas also left several messages, and a month later Victor Hugo Pacheco called. (more…)

Casa Latino Franchise Corporation, America’s leading Latino real estate franchise company, announced today the appointment of Lisette Caraballo as Senior Vice President and Director of Franchise Sales. The former emerging markets director of Cendant Corporation, the franchisors of Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and ERA brands, joins Casa Latino with extensive real estate franchise experience and a long-standing track record of success in the Hispanic real estate industry. In her role, Ms. Caraballo will help lead the company as it continues to grow its model worldwide. (more…)

Perhaps Kermit the Frog was wrong when he said it’s not easy being green. Today, even cleaning companies are going green, with a Boise business helping to lead the way.

The Boise franchise of Maid Brigade, owned by Russ Biaggne, Russ Biaggne II and Matt Orem, was used as the primary model and inspiration for the Maid Brigade to adopt environmentally friendly practices with its cleaning franchises nationwide. Maid Brigade became the only national housecleaning service to use cleaning products certified by Green Seal Inc., a nonprofit agency that sets environmental standards for manufacturers and industries, according to Maid Brigade. (more…)

Realty Executives International recently awarded the development opportunity for the state of Colorado to the company’s Mid-America Region, which is led by Steve and Nancy Summers, and also includes the states of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

Because of the extensive growth and longtime success of the company’s Mid-America Region, which is based in metropolitan Kansas City, Realty Executives International chose to unite the Colorado real estate franchises with the other Mid-America Region’s states, creating one of the international company’s largest regions. (more…)

Roni Lynn Deutch talks in exclamation points about, well, lots of things — “I’m a baseball freak!” I’m not your typical geek tax attorney!”

There’s only one response to the latter: She’s not kidding!

Television viewers across the country know Deutch as the “tax lady” whose in-your-face commercials generate buzz even among those who aren’t necessarily looking for a way to escape the clutches of the taxman.

Although she’s tasted success with her tax-resolution legal practice, Deutch isn’t putting any periods on her aspirations. She is taking on a new franchise venture, Roni Deutch Tax Centers, with nothing less than market domination in mind. (more…)

With a new franchise office in the Victor Valley, iSold It cqis offering to make it easy for local residents to sell items on eBay.

For goods with a minimum value of $40, the company will photograph the merchandise, determine its value on eBay and market it on the eBay Web site. (more…)

The Chico-grown company known for letting customers build a burger to their liking is now building a franchise operation.
Burger Hut has everything in place to start taking applications for franchising, having worked for the past year arranging legalities and details.

“We heard it often: ‘Do you offer franchises?’ ” said director of franchising Rick Kusie. (more…)

Kitchen Tune-Up, the creator of patented surface reconditioning technology for updating kitchens and baths, has awarded Ron Reichert and Bob DiToto, Delaware franchise owners, with the top honor “Franny of the Year” award.

The honor was presented at Kitchen Tune-Up’s annual convention, January 27th in Anaheim, CA. The Franny Award goes to the top overall franchise in the system as judged according to performance in several categories, including sales, customer service, and range of offerings. In addition to the award, system recognition and placement on the Kitchen Tune-Up Wall of Fame, Reichert and DiToto were also each presented with an all expense paid Alaskan cruise, which they will be embarking on this month. (more…)

The Melbourne, Florida based Kinderdance® International, Inc. has been steadily expanding since its founding in 1979. The expansion of the company into 4 countries and 37 states has made it imperative to expand the corporate support. Kinderdance® has just announced its newest Vice Presidents.

Darlene Van Der Wal – Vice President of Operations

Richard Maltese – Vice President of Franchise Development (more…)

Decorating Elves, an upscale holiday lighting and decor company, announced that it is franchising its business starting with the state of Florida.

“Our service has become so popular that we are unable to fulfill customer requests outside of our coverage area,” said, Nick Schriver, founder of Decorating Elves. “Franchising is going to give us the opportunity to grow our business and serve those customers in other areas of the state of Florida.” (more…)

Columbus, Ohio based WingsXtreme Inc recently announced that a second location would be opening in Bloomington, Indiana near the Indiana University Campus in August of 2007. This location would be owned by franchisee, Christopher Kurtz.

Cory Johnson envisioned and founded WingsXtreme in March 2002, with the dream of offering his customers a tasty alternative to pizza delivery when hunger called in the midst of busy lifestyles. The first WingsXtreme, was carryout and delivery-only, and served the needs of Ohio State University students, as well as area residents and businesses. (more…)

The Connecticut Dunkin’ Donuts Franchisees on June 28 awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Matthew Stern of Niantic. The award was a part of the 2007 Dunkin’ Donuts Connecticut Franchisee Scholarship Program that provided a total of $100,000 in local scholarships to deserving high school seniors. (more…)

As Wikipedia.org states it: “Franchising is a method of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses trademarks and tried and proven methods of doing business to a franchisee in exchange for a recurring payment, and usually a percentage piece of gross sales or gross profits as well as the annual fees.” franchising is a big business in the US. It’s not only the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, Dominoes, and other big players that are offering franchise opportunities. There are many small and medium companies offering franchising models too. Product distribution franchisee simply sells the product manufactured by the franchisor for example Pepsi, Ford, etc.; while a business format franchisee uses a franchisor’s product, service and trademark, along with the complete method to conduct the business itself, such as the marketing plan and operations. Examples of such a model are fast food chains, retail outlets, convenience stores, educational institutions, etc. (more…)

It may take some labor to find the right franchise so don’t throw in the towel. There are a number of sources for the information you will need before selecting the right franchise. It may take some effort to find the right franchise so, don’t compromise.

There are a number of sources for the information you will need before selecting the right franchise. Some web sites allow you to read more detailed information on a brand and give you an idea of price and royalty structure, etc… (more…)

The franchise experts agree that the Liberty Tax Service business model is appealing to a diverse America, and comes with an affordable price tag. Liberty Tax Service’s franchise opportunity represents the only tax service to be listed on all three of these well-respected industry lists: Entrepreneur magazine’s “Franchise 500,” Black Enterprise’s “30 Hottest Opportunities for Minorities,” and Hispanic Enterprise’s “Top 25 Franchise Opportunities for Hispanics.” Entrepreneur also named Liberty Tax as a “fastest growing,” and a “most affordable” franchise. (more…)