The Zoom Room Launches the Nation's First Dog Agility Franchise Opportunity
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 2, 2009 - The Zoom Room, recently featured on Animal Planet, is now offering the only brick-and-mortar dog training franchise in America, as well as the only dog agility franchise opportunity in the world. Dog agility is the fastest-growing dog sport in the U.S., according to the American Kennel Club. It was just a matter of time before someone figured out a way to develop this popular pastime into a full-blown pet business. A matter of time and the right person. That person turns out to be Los Angeles native Jaime Van Wye, who as founder and owner of the Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center and Canine Social Club, this week announced their nationwide dog franchise opportunity.
The Zoom Room, conceived as a franchise from its inception, was created to be the ideal dog business by Van Wye, the nation's leading pet business consultant and the Dog Daycare Chair of the Pet Care Services Association. An unrivaled expert in helping entrepreneurs start a dog business, Van Wye designed the Zoom Room as a streamlined, fun-filled business that incorporates everything great about working with dogs.
In 2001, Van Wye opened Rover Kennels, which soon became the go-to boarding facility in L.A., frequented by the dogs of celebrities like Tom Cruise, Kelly Clarkson, and Tyra Banks. Van Wye grew the business from two employees to 25 in under three years. The business became a tremendous success, grossing over $750,000 in the first year alone.
But in addition to Rover's success, it was also "a phenomenal learning experience," says Van Wye, who quickly learned the pitfalls of pet services: demanding dog owners, unreliable employees, and enormous liability issues, not to mention an often prohibitive start-up cost.
In 2007 Van Wye sold Rover to develop the Zoom Room, a dog franchise that eliminates all aspects of boarding, thus removing liability issues. By subtracting the need for employees, a Zoom Room is run "by a single, passionate proprietor, someone who combines a love for dogs with savvy business sense."
"The Zoom Room," says Van Wye is "not a drop-off training facility; this sets us apart from competitors. We train owners to train their dogs, and to more deeply understand, communicate and bond with their pets." A tired dog is a happy dog, and Van Wye is committed to her belief that "a well-trained dog is an even happier dog - not to mention one with much happier owners. In our experience, placing an emphasis on agility training is an extremely effective means to reach this goal."
Dog agility, practiced recreationally, is the perfect bonding experience for an owner and dog. The key to dog agility is teamwork and communication - core components of a great relationship with one's dog. Integral to the Zoom Room's brand identity, agility training appeals to active lifestyle dog owners. Although they offer dog training classes like puppy training, dog obedience, tricks training, therapy dog training and even Pup-Lates™ the gym-like atmosphere dominates. Even their sporty retail section furthers the impression of an upscale human fitness club.
As a Canine Social Club featuring a Hound Lounge and Doggy Disco™, the Zoom Room can host a dog birthday party, Bark Mitzvah, or local dog club in their indoor dog park.
As a dog franchise, the Zoom Room is a true pioneer. Not only is it the first dog agility franchise; it is the only brick-and-mortar dog training franchise opportunity in the U.S. Absolutely no prior dog training experience is required.
Please visit the Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center for more information on the availabiliy of their pet franchise, or call 877-ZOOM-ROOM.
About the Zoom Room:
The Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center was established in 2007 by Jaime Van Wye, a graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a degree in philosophy, who has trained dogs in search and rescue, bomb and drug detection, criminal apprehension and tracking. She is a Certified Master Dog Trainer and a Professional Level Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals. Van Wye speaks regularly for the Pet Care Services Association, of which she serves as the National Dog Daycare Chair. She is the author of the satirical self-help book, How to Have an Ill-Behaved Dog (Knock Knock), as well as a regular columnist for Pet Care Services Magazine and Dog's Life Magazine.
Learn more about the opportunity at the Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center.
Contact:
Mark Van Wye
Zoom Room Dog Agility Training Center
310-382-4148
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Don Boroian / Francorp
Francorp has worked with 112 of the most recent Franchise 500 companies. This is important from the perspective that Francorp as a consulting firm has done work with these franchise systems, many of which Francorp developed from the ground up. Francorp is renowned as the world leader in franchise development and new franchise launches. The firm continues to develop successful franchise systems today after 34 years of franchise consulting work. Look over the Francorp corporate site for more information on the firm and the clients Francorp has developed.
www.Francorp.com
www.Francorp.com
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Francorp to Exhibit at the Franchise Middle East Exposition
Franchising Middle East expo opens
Dubai: Mon, 2 Mar 2009
Franchising Middle East (FME), the region’s leading exhibition for the franchise sector, opened at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, with 72 exhibitors from 22 countries.
The exhibition, now in its sixth year, aims to provide an injection of business ideas to the Middle East market as international brands come to Dubai with a view to expanding across the Middle East with local partners, said organisrs.
'Never has the franchise concept been more vital to business growth than in today’s economic environment,' stated Abdul Rehman Falaknaz, president of International Expo Consults (IEC), organisers of FME.
'Franchising offers local entrepreneurs access to established brands and business models, while international players are provided with a chance to tap into new markets at relatively low set-up costs.'
Big names from Europe, Asia and the Middle East are exhibiting at the show this week, including participation from Cremeria Vienna, Subway, London Dairy Café and Tom Tailor.
Master Franchisers from Jebel Ali Free Zone is leading a delegation of international brands, many of whom are debuting at the show. These include Zerga, Bed + Bath, Padini Authentics, Trio and New Zealand Naturals.
Franchise consultants such as FranExcel and FranCorp will be on hand to offer would-be entrepreneurs advice on how to set up franchise operations in the region.
FME is the region’s only exhibition that offers a world of exciting opportunities to international franchisers to access the thriving Middle East and North Africa (Mena) market and launch their franchise concepts.
The exhibition facilitates direct communication between entrepreneurs and potential franchise buyers from the region and beyond.
The show has earned a name for providing an ideal networking opportunity for the franchising industry in the Middle East, which industry analysts have estimated is worth $30 billion.
'With the franchise industry already growing at 25 per cent per annum, the UAE and the rest of the GCC region is a fertile market for franchise companies to expand into,' Falaknaz added.
'With approximately 85 per cent of the UAE population comprising expatriates, this is the market that needs to be catered for.'
FME 2009 takes place from March 2 to 4.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai: Mon, 2 Mar 2009
Franchising Middle East (FME), the region’s leading exhibition for the franchise sector, opened at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, with 72 exhibitors from 22 countries.
The exhibition, now in its sixth year, aims to provide an injection of business ideas to the Middle East market as international brands come to Dubai with a view to expanding across the Middle East with local partners, said organisrs.
'Never has the franchise concept been more vital to business growth than in today’s economic environment,' stated Abdul Rehman Falaknaz, president of International Expo Consults (IEC), organisers of FME.
'Franchising offers local entrepreneurs access to established brands and business models, while international players are provided with a chance to tap into new markets at relatively low set-up costs.'
Big names from Europe, Asia and the Middle East are exhibiting at the show this week, including participation from Cremeria Vienna, Subway, London Dairy Café and Tom Tailor.
Master Franchisers from Jebel Ali Free Zone is leading a delegation of international brands, many of whom are debuting at the show. These include Zerga, Bed + Bath, Padini Authentics, Trio and New Zealand Naturals.
Franchise consultants such as FranExcel and FranCorp will be on hand to offer would-be entrepreneurs advice on how to set up franchise operations in the region.
FME is the region’s only exhibition that offers a world of exciting opportunities to international franchisers to access the thriving Middle East and North Africa (Mena) market and launch their franchise concepts.
The exhibition facilitates direct communication between entrepreneurs and potential franchise buyers from the region and beyond.
The show has earned a name for providing an ideal networking opportunity for the franchising industry in the Middle East, which industry analysts have estimated is worth $30 billion.
'With the franchise industry already growing at 25 per cent per annum, the UAE and the rest of the GCC region is a fertile market for franchise companies to expand into,' Falaknaz added.
'With approximately 85 per cent of the UAE population comprising expatriates, this is the market that needs to be catered for.'
FME 2009 takes place from March 2 to 4.-TradeArabia News Service
Francorp Middle East
Franchise demand in UAE to expand
Armina Ligaya
Last Updated: March 02. 2009 10:12PM UAE / March 2. 2009 6:12PM GMT
Customers line up at Popeye's, a fast food outlets. Experts say franchising is likely to expand this year as people seek alternative forms of income. Jaime Puebla / The National
DUBAI // The franchising industry in the UAE will continue to grow in the coming year as regional investors shift away from property and financial markets, and out-of-work executives seek new forms of employment, industry insiders say.
“The potential for growth is there,” said Matthew Shay, president and chief executive of the International Franchise Association, on the sidelines of the Franchise Middle East Exhibition in Dubai. “From what we’re hearing from our members, [the UAE] is still a positive climate.”
The US market, valued at US$1 trillion (Dh3.67tn), was forecasted to see declines of 1 to 2 per cent in 2009, according to a study conducted by the IFA and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Mr Shay said.
However, he expects the UAE market to have a brighter outlook due to relatively easier access to credit and its role as the gateway to the region. Mr Shay estimates the UAE franchising industry, valued at about $30 billion, will grow between 5 and 8 per cent.
“This is one of those places that you can’t skip; you have to do business here,” he said.
Local investors are also looking to get into the franchising game as the traditional investment avenues such as property and the financial markets are less stable, said Imad Charafeddine, managing partner of the UAE branch of Francorp, a franchise consultant.
He said franchise inquiries have increased by 20 per cent in the past two months.
It is a similar pattern at the Kuwait-based Middle East Franchising consultancy, which has seen a 25 per cent jump in inquiries, according to its deputy chief executive, Barrak Al Homaisi.
“A lot of people who have lost their jobs and have a good amount of savings are looking to start their own business,” he said.
Mr Shay said typically in economic downturns, as unemployment rates go up, more people look to start their own business, and franchises are an easy option. However, he said recent studies in the US show access to financing will drop by 30 per cent in the next year.
“This [crisis] is an opportunity for franchises, but the rub is lack of access to credit.”
Mr Charafeddine said this is less of a problem in the UAE because Emiratis can secure funds from Government agencies and expatriates with a business background can still be granted start-up funds.
In the past five years, the UAE industry has grown by about 25 per cent to roughly 400 franchising systems, said Sary Hamway, the Dubai-based chief executive of FranExcel, a franchise consultancy that organised the World Franchise Forum alongside FME.
Franchise inquiries have gone up, he said, but investors were more hesitant to buy.
“It will continue to grow,” he said. “Retail franchises are good because it is medium-risk, and medium investment.”
Darren Smith, manager of retail and marketing support with Emarat’s coffee chain Bakeria, said the tightening credit markets have also helped to bring down the cost of rent. Outside of the major city centres, some rents have gone down from Dh350 a square foot to Dh150, he said.
“Now, suddenly, you’re hearing a word you haven’t heard before from landlords: negotiate.”
Global brands are now clamouring to enter the region to access the strong demand for international food brands, said Steve Rothenstein, the international operations manager for tasti D-lite, a US chain of low-fat yogurt stores.
“In the UAE, the people like their food brands from around the world,” he said. “It’s a great area to do business — friendly, ease of entry, and they know what they’re doing here in terms of infrastructure.”
Armina Ligaya
Last Updated: March 02. 2009 10:12PM UAE / March 2. 2009 6:12PM GMT
Customers line up at Popeye's, a fast food outlets. Experts say franchising is likely to expand this year as people seek alternative forms of income. Jaime Puebla / The National
DUBAI // The franchising industry in the UAE will continue to grow in the coming year as regional investors shift away from property and financial markets, and out-of-work executives seek new forms of employment, industry insiders say.
“The potential for growth is there,” said Matthew Shay, president and chief executive of the International Franchise Association, on the sidelines of the Franchise Middle East Exhibition in Dubai. “From what we’re hearing from our members, [the UAE] is still a positive climate.”
The US market, valued at US$1 trillion (Dh3.67tn), was forecasted to see declines of 1 to 2 per cent in 2009, according to a study conducted by the IFA and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Mr Shay said.
However, he expects the UAE market to have a brighter outlook due to relatively easier access to credit and its role as the gateway to the region. Mr Shay estimates the UAE franchising industry, valued at about $30 billion, will grow between 5 and 8 per cent.
“This is one of those places that you can’t skip; you have to do business here,” he said.
Local investors are also looking to get into the franchising game as the traditional investment avenues such as property and the financial markets are less stable, said Imad Charafeddine, managing partner of the UAE branch of Francorp, a franchise consultant.
He said franchise inquiries have increased by 20 per cent in the past two months.
It is a similar pattern at the Kuwait-based Middle East Franchising consultancy, which has seen a 25 per cent jump in inquiries, according to its deputy chief executive, Barrak Al Homaisi.
“A lot of people who have lost their jobs and have a good amount of savings are looking to start their own business,” he said.
Mr Shay said typically in economic downturns, as unemployment rates go up, more people look to start their own business, and franchises are an easy option. However, he said recent studies in the US show access to financing will drop by 30 per cent in the next year.
“This [crisis] is an opportunity for franchises, but the rub is lack of access to credit.”
Mr Charafeddine said this is less of a problem in the UAE because Emiratis can secure funds from Government agencies and expatriates with a business background can still be granted start-up funds.
In the past five years, the UAE industry has grown by about 25 per cent to roughly 400 franchising systems, said Sary Hamway, the Dubai-based chief executive of FranExcel, a franchise consultancy that organised the World Franchise Forum alongside FME.
Franchise inquiries have gone up, he said, but investors were more hesitant to buy.
“It will continue to grow,” he said. “Retail franchises are good because it is medium-risk, and medium investment.”
Darren Smith, manager of retail and marketing support with Emarat’s coffee chain Bakeria, said the tightening credit markets have also helped to bring down the cost of rent. Outside of the major city centres, some rents have gone down from Dh350 a square foot to Dh150, he said.
“Now, suddenly, you’re hearing a word you haven’t heard before from landlords: negotiate.”
Global brands are now clamouring to enter the region to access the strong demand for international food brands, said Steve Rothenstein, the international operations manager for tasti D-lite, a US chain of low-fat yogurt stores.
“In the UAE, the people like their food brands from around the world,” he said. “It’s a great area to do business — friendly, ease of entry, and they know what they’re doing here in terms of infrastructure.”
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Francorp Client Success in 2009
Francorp Client Success in 2009.
Francorp Clients continue with great success through difficult economic times! Recently in the past months Entreprenuer has again released the coveted Franchise 500 list, which is a documented list of the fastest growing 500 franchise systems in the U.S. Each year companies and professionals in the franchise industry wait anxciously to see who has made the list, which industries are growing quickly and how all the top franchise companies are doing currently.
Francorp is acknowledged as the industry leader in franchise development and consulting work in launching and developing new and existing franchise concepts and organizations. Francorp has been in business for over 33 years with almost 20 offices around the world. Clients have included McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Auntie Anne's, Omni Hotels, Jimmy Johns, 800-Flowers and many others. This year on the Franchise 500 list, Francorp has 112 clients with whom the firm has worked with at some point, or continues to work with.
112 of the top 500 fastest growing franchise systems have worked with Francorp Consulting.
Francorp works with companies of all sizes and years in the franchise business. Here are some of Francorp's more recent clients who are experienceing success right now in 2009. These are franchise systems that will in the years to come gain more and more exposure, but for right now are just getting a foothold in the market.
Patrice and Associates, www.PatriceandAssociates.com - 3 franchises sold in 2009
Hot Box Pizza, www.gethotboxpizza.com – first franchise sold
Play Party, www.playparty.net – first franchise
Advanced Maintenance, www.advancedmaint.com – 7th location
Sofi’s Crepes, www.sofiscrepes.com – 3rd location -1st franchise in 2009
Al’s Beef and Nancy’s Pizza, www.alsbeef.com - 6 Franchises sold in 2009
For more information on other great franchise concepts and on how to franchise a business, visit Francorp's corporate site, www.francorp.com.
Francorp Clients continue with great success through difficult economic times! Recently in the past months Entreprenuer has again released the coveted Franchise 500 list, which is a documented list of the fastest growing 500 franchise systems in the U.S. Each year companies and professionals in the franchise industry wait anxciously to see who has made the list, which industries are growing quickly and how all the top franchise companies are doing currently.
Francorp is acknowledged as the industry leader in franchise development and consulting work in launching and developing new and existing franchise concepts and organizations. Francorp has been in business for over 33 years with almost 20 offices around the world. Clients have included McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Auntie Anne's, Omni Hotels, Jimmy Johns, 800-Flowers and many others. This year on the Franchise 500 list, Francorp has 112 clients with whom the firm has worked with at some point, or continues to work with.
112 of the top 500 fastest growing franchise systems have worked with Francorp Consulting.
Francorp works with companies of all sizes and years in the franchise business. Here are some of Francorp's more recent clients who are experienceing success right now in 2009. These are franchise systems that will in the years to come gain more and more exposure, but for right now are just getting a foothold in the market.
Patrice and Associates, www.PatriceandAssociates.com - 3 franchises sold in 2009
Hot Box Pizza, www.gethotboxpizza.com – first franchise sold
Play Party, www.playparty.net – first franchise
Advanced Maintenance, www.advancedmaint.com – 7th location
Sofi’s Crepes, www.sofiscrepes.com – 3rd location -1st franchise in 2009
Al’s Beef and Nancy’s Pizza, www.alsbeef.com - 6 Franchises sold in 2009
For more information on other great franchise concepts and on how to franchise a business, visit Francorp's corporate site, www.francorp.com.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Don Boroian - Franchising and the Economy Presentation
In November, Francorp's Chairman, Don Boroian, did a presentation on the economy and its effect on franchising. Here is the transcript from that presentation and what was said about how franchising would be affected by our current economic downturn.
Hi, I am Don Boroian, Chairman of Francorp. I’d like to talk to you today about a couple of things that are very important to us as we meet this challenging economy right now that is raising havoc with a lot of the financial markets. It will definitely have an effect on franchising as well. However, contrary to what you might think, it is going to have a positive effect. For example, the biggest growth of franchising has occurred during these downturns in the economy. And we are going to look at it in two ways. First of all, why it makes sense, for you as a franchisor to expand during this particular time. And secondly, why you need to change your message to prospective franchise buyers to meet the economic perceptions that people have about whether or not it is a good time for them to buy a franchise.
First of all, as a franchisor, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the market. Many companies, right now, as they hear all of the economic woes and credit issues and so on are pulling in their horns. They’re not expanding, particularly companies who are looking to expand with borrowed money or looking for investors to open operating units. First of all, we all know that investors don’t invest in companies to open ten stores. The return on investment to venture capitalists is not sufficient to justify that kind of investment. They don’t want to be in a situation where their money is tied up for three or four years before they begin to turn a profit. By the time you open operating units and put managers in them and the amount of return on invested capital at the unit level, which generally, is about fifteen percent, has to be split between the investor and you. It’s just not a sufficient amount of money. In addition, during times like this, investors are investing their money in distressed merchandise. Depleted value of stocks are a bargain for investors. And the money from the venture capital people is not going into start ups or development into relatively new companies. However, there’s a silver lining to all of this. And that is, that as a franchisor, your ability to move out into the marketplace is going to be enhanced by the availability of opportunity for you. For example, if you are in retailing or in restaurants or any business that needs to go into a shopping center or into inline stores, there are going to be more vacancies in areas now that you might not be able to get into when times are good and business is booming. Those stores were already filled. Right now, some of those stores will become available. Even though you may not have the capital to go into those stores personally, this is where franchisees come in. And while we hear all the talk about credit and difficulty in getting credit, remember, we’re dealing with a different buyer. For example, if you have a retail store or if you have a restaurant, you need hundreds of customers to come into your store, every day, every week.
But in franchising, we don’t have to sell hundreds of franchises every week or every day or every month. We only need to sell one or two, certainly, in a time like this, if you’re a new emerging franchisor. And the people that you’re going to be selling franchises to are more abundant now in quality. These are people that are being laid off, downsized, reengineered in companies that are laying off people or are going out of business. And these are the people that have been working in these companies for a number of years. They have good credit. They have a high credit score. They have equity in their homes; that can get refinanced at their local bank because they have longevity in their community and they are very good credit risks. In addition, these are people that have excellent job skills. Many of them are middle managers. These are people that always really would’ve liked to own their own business; were afraid to leave the job and risk their fortunes on starting a business. But now that, that decision has been made for them, they’re on the market. And many of these people have gone to job interviews only to find that companies in their same industry, that have just laid them off, are also laying off people. That’s when we get their interest in buying a franchise.
So that from your standpoint, as a franchisor, there are going to be a lot of opportunities because your competitors that are not franchising, are not going to be occupying more stores, borrowing money, opening more branches, opening more markets for their businesses. A good case in point right now is Starbucks. They’re closing 700 of their stores. Now for Starbucks, to put a manager in an outlet and to make the entire investment in the store and to be able to make a profit over and above the manager’s salary, is quite different than for a franchisee who is to buy a franchise and go into a business and work 60 hours a week. In many cases just making their salary, without even a profit over and above that, meets their needs. They just want to own their own business, be their own boss, be the captain of their own ship, master of their own destiny. And so many of these kinds of situations or companies that have corporate owned locations; those locations are going to be available. In retailing, in the food service industry, in anything that occupies a store, where someone has already done the leasehold improvements, in the restaurant business they have the walk in coolers, freezers, 3-compartment sinks, and grills and so on. And many of the landlords are bending over backwards giving free rents to get tenants in there to occupy these spaces. And in the service business as well, many of your competitors, those of you in service businesses; these companies are going to be cutting back on their expansion because it takes capital and not only just the start up capital but the burn rate. When we sell a franchise, a franchisee doesn’t expect to make money for the first two years. If they just barely take out a salary initially, to get the business going, that’s pretty much expected. They don’t expect to walk in on day one to be turning a salary and a profit.
But companies today can’t afford to do that if they’re borrowing a lot of money at their banks because, first of all, the bank financing isn’t available to that extent. And certainly, as the credit markets and standards tighten, it makes it more difficult for companies to expand with company owned units, where typically it takes two years to get to a breakeven point. And so those of us that are franchising our businesses have a great opportunity here because our competition is pulling in their horns.
You have three choices right now in this current challenging market. Number one, pulling your horns, hunker down, climb in a fox hole, wait until the storm blows over. If you do that, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunities. But companies that need capital in order to expand their own company owned units are going to have to do that because they don’t have the available capital.
A second strategy is to do what you’re doing right now. Just keep on going and keep on your current expansion strategy. But again, companies that are doing this with their own company units are inhibited by the inability to get capital and by their inability to move out into other markets and support these kinds of expansions.
A third option and this is an option great for franchisors, because this is an opportunity to look around and capture markets that are being abandoned or not expanded into by your competitors. And by franchising, you’re allowing yourself to go into these markets with the capital resources and the human resources of others. So from your standpoint, as a franchisor, this is the time to move out. And as we talk to prospective franchisors whether it’s through our regional director program, whether it’s through the people who contact us, whether it’s the seminars that we do, or the advertising that we do, and we talk to companies who are considering franchising. And looking at this as an optional strategy, we’re quick to point out to them that now is the time to expand your business into a market that’s weakened.
The time to attack the fort is when the walls are crumbling. And the walls in many of these companies today, which were well fortified, are crumbling because they are reliant totally upon bank financing that isn’t going to be there to the extent it has been in the past. And as franchising affords you the opportunity to expand, it does so by you finding those one or two or three people each month who do have good credit, high credit scores, who are looking to own their own business, who will make that investment, who will be the human resource solution for you as well as a capital solution, as they invest in buying the land, building the business or developing their markets. And it gives you the opportunity to move into a market that is weakened. This is the time. The lions in the Serengeti always attack the weakest of the prey. And this is the time for us to move into the marketplace by franchising into these markets while the companies that are reliant totally on expansion capital in either internally generated, borrowing money, bringing in investors or through other means. And we have an added opportunity here to raise funds through the investment of individuals. And we don’t have to get 300 of them a month or a hundred a day.
We only need to get 2 or 3 or 4 people to buy a franchise each month. These are people with good credit. These are people with equity. These are people with 401(k)s. These are people with savings. These are people with family and friends that will help them get started. So, take advantage of this opportunity now. And from the franchise buyer’s point of view, let’s take a look also at why we need to adjust our message. In the past our message was be your own boss, be master of your own destiny, captain of your own ship. Now is the time to get into this expanding world of whatever your concept is. But that message is changing now because now people have a perception that this may not be a good time to go into their own business. Because you know already how to run that business, they’re getting a jump start. And so this is an opportune time for you to look over the marketplace at a much better qualified group of people, who are desperately seeking either a job, which is very difficult to replace, similar to the one they’ve had or to start their own business. And because these are not people that are high risk, they’re not as likely to start their own business from scratch because they know the rate of business failures is about 95 percent of all new businesses that start. According to the Department of Commerce 95 businesses, 95 percent of all start ups from scratch fail within the first 5 years. And so with a franchise, the odds are in their favor and these are people who are more conservative, who are comfortable following the plan. And now that decision has been made for them, that they’re out in the marketplace without a job, they’re taking a look at you, as a franchisor, and what you offer. So what we can tell the prospective buyers today is that we have a system, we have it worked out. We have a complete business model. We have the opportunity for you to learn. We will teach you everything you need to learn. You don’t have to know anything about our business. We’ll teach you, we’ll help you. There are available stores now. There are landlords that are giving free rent and doing leasehold improvements and tenant improvement allowances.
There are competitors that are on the ropes, some of them going under. Now is the time to buy a franchise, to get yourself established, to get yourself started with our assistance as franchisors helping you. Now is the time. So don’t hunker down, don’t crawl in the fox hole. Now is the time to move out. Take advantage of the weakened economy, the weakened market, your weakened competitors. Sell these franchises and help people get started. And show the prospective buyer why now is a good time for them to capitalize on this opportunity that this challenging economy has presented.
Don Boroian
Chairman
Francorp, Inc.
www.francorp.com
Hi, I am Don Boroian, Chairman of Francorp. I’d like to talk to you today about a couple of things that are very important to us as we meet this challenging economy right now that is raising havoc with a lot of the financial markets. It will definitely have an effect on franchising as well. However, contrary to what you might think, it is going to have a positive effect. For example, the biggest growth of franchising has occurred during these downturns in the economy. And we are going to look at it in two ways. First of all, why it makes sense, for you as a franchisor to expand during this particular time. And secondly, why you need to change your message to prospective franchise buyers to meet the economic perceptions that people have about whether or not it is a good time for them to buy a franchise.
First of all, as a franchisor, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the market. Many companies, right now, as they hear all of the economic woes and credit issues and so on are pulling in their horns. They’re not expanding, particularly companies who are looking to expand with borrowed money or looking for investors to open operating units. First of all, we all know that investors don’t invest in companies to open ten stores. The return on investment to venture capitalists is not sufficient to justify that kind of investment. They don’t want to be in a situation where their money is tied up for three or four years before they begin to turn a profit. By the time you open operating units and put managers in them and the amount of return on invested capital at the unit level, which generally, is about fifteen percent, has to be split between the investor and you. It’s just not a sufficient amount of money. In addition, during times like this, investors are investing their money in distressed merchandise. Depleted value of stocks are a bargain for investors. And the money from the venture capital people is not going into start ups or development into relatively new companies. However, there’s a silver lining to all of this. And that is, that as a franchisor, your ability to move out into the marketplace is going to be enhanced by the availability of opportunity for you. For example, if you are in retailing or in restaurants or any business that needs to go into a shopping center or into inline stores, there are going to be more vacancies in areas now that you might not be able to get into when times are good and business is booming. Those stores were already filled. Right now, some of those stores will become available. Even though you may not have the capital to go into those stores personally, this is where franchisees come in. And while we hear all the talk about credit and difficulty in getting credit, remember, we’re dealing with a different buyer. For example, if you have a retail store or if you have a restaurant, you need hundreds of customers to come into your store, every day, every week.
But in franchising, we don’t have to sell hundreds of franchises every week or every day or every month. We only need to sell one or two, certainly, in a time like this, if you’re a new emerging franchisor. And the people that you’re going to be selling franchises to are more abundant now in quality. These are people that are being laid off, downsized, reengineered in companies that are laying off people or are going out of business. And these are the people that have been working in these companies for a number of years. They have good credit. They have a high credit score. They have equity in their homes; that can get refinanced at their local bank because they have longevity in their community and they are very good credit risks. In addition, these are people that have excellent job skills. Many of them are middle managers. These are people that always really would’ve liked to own their own business; were afraid to leave the job and risk their fortunes on starting a business. But now that, that decision has been made for them, they’re on the market. And many of these people have gone to job interviews only to find that companies in their same industry, that have just laid them off, are also laying off people. That’s when we get their interest in buying a franchise.
So that from your standpoint, as a franchisor, there are going to be a lot of opportunities because your competitors that are not franchising, are not going to be occupying more stores, borrowing money, opening more branches, opening more markets for their businesses. A good case in point right now is Starbucks. They’re closing 700 of their stores. Now for Starbucks, to put a manager in an outlet and to make the entire investment in the store and to be able to make a profit over and above the manager’s salary, is quite different than for a franchisee who is to buy a franchise and go into a business and work 60 hours a week. In many cases just making their salary, without even a profit over and above that, meets their needs. They just want to own their own business, be their own boss, be the captain of their own ship, master of their own destiny. And so many of these kinds of situations or companies that have corporate owned locations; those locations are going to be available. In retailing, in the food service industry, in anything that occupies a store, where someone has already done the leasehold improvements, in the restaurant business they have the walk in coolers, freezers, 3-compartment sinks, and grills and so on. And many of the landlords are bending over backwards giving free rents to get tenants in there to occupy these spaces. And in the service business as well, many of your competitors, those of you in service businesses; these companies are going to be cutting back on their expansion because it takes capital and not only just the start up capital but the burn rate. When we sell a franchise, a franchisee doesn’t expect to make money for the first two years. If they just barely take out a salary initially, to get the business going, that’s pretty much expected. They don’t expect to walk in on day one to be turning a salary and a profit.
But companies today can’t afford to do that if they’re borrowing a lot of money at their banks because, first of all, the bank financing isn’t available to that extent. And certainly, as the credit markets and standards tighten, it makes it more difficult for companies to expand with company owned units, where typically it takes two years to get to a breakeven point. And so those of us that are franchising our businesses have a great opportunity here because our competition is pulling in their horns.
You have three choices right now in this current challenging market. Number one, pulling your horns, hunker down, climb in a fox hole, wait until the storm blows over. If you do that, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunities. But companies that need capital in order to expand their own company owned units are going to have to do that because they don’t have the available capital.
A second strategy is to do what you’re doing right now. Just keep on going and keep on your current expansion strategy. But again, companies that are doing this with their own company units are inhibited by the inability to get capital and by their inability to move out into other markets and support these kinds of expansions.
A third option and this is an option great for franchisors, because this is an opportunity to look around and capture markets that are being abandoned or not expanded into by your competitors. And by franchising, you’re allowing yourself to go into these markets with the capital resources and the human resources of others. So from your standpoint, as a franchisor, this is the time to move out. And as we talk to prospective franchisors whether it’s through our regional director program, whether it’s through the people who contact us, whether it’s the seminars that we do, or the advertising that we do, and we talk to companies who are considering franchising. And looking at this as an optional strategy, we’re quick to point out to them that now is the time to expand your business into a market that’s weakened.
The time to attack the fort is when the walls are crumbling. And the walls in many of these companies today, which were well fortified, are crumbling because they are reliant totally upon bank financing that isn’t going to be there to the extent it has been in the past. And as franchising affords you the opportunity to expand, it does so by you finding those one or two or three people each month who do have good credit, high credit scores, who are looking to own their own business, who will make that investment, who will be the human resource solution for you as well as a capital solution, as they invest in buying the land, building the business or developing their markets. And it gives you the opportunity to move into a market that is weakened. This is the time. The lions in the Serengeti always attack the weakest of the prey. And this is the time for us to move into the marketplace by franchising into these markets while the companies that are reliant totally on expansion capital in either internally generated, borrowing money, bringing in investors or through other means. And we have an added opportunity here to raise funds through the investment of individuals. And we don’t have to get 300 of them a month or a hundred a day.
We only need to get 2 or 3 or 4 people to buy a franchise each month. These are people with good credit. These are people with equity. These are people with 401(k)s. These are people with savings. These are people with family and friends that will help them get started. So, take advantage of this opportunity now. And from the franchise buyer’s point of view, let’s take a look also at why we need to adjust our message. In the past our message was be your own boss, be master of your own destiny, captain of your own ship. Now is the time to get into this expanding world of whatever your concept is. But that message is changing now because now people have a perception that this may not be a good time to go into their own business. Because you know already how to run that business, they’re getting a jump start. And so this is an opportune time for you to look over the marketplace at a much better qualified group of people, who are desperately seeking either a job, which is very difficult to replace, similar to the one they’ve had or to start their own business. And because these are not people that are high risk, they’re not as likely to start their own business from scratch because they know the rate of business failures is about 95 percent of all new businesses that start. According to the Department of Commerce 95 businesses, 95 percent of all start ups from scratch fail within the first 5 years. And so with a franchise, the odds are in their favor and these are people who are more conservative, who are comfortable following the plan. And now that decision has been made for them, that they’re out in the marketplace without a job, they’re taking a look at you, as a franchisor, and what you offer. So what we can tell the prospective buyers today is that we have a system, we have it worked out. We have a complete business model. We have the opportunity for you to learn. We will teach you everything you need to learn. You don’t have to know anything about our business. We’ll teach you, we’ll help you. There are available stores now. There are landlords that are giving free rent and doing leasehold improvements and tenant improvement allowances.
There are competitors that are on the ropes, some of them going under. Now is the time to buy a franchise, to get yourself established, to get yourself started with our assistance as franchisors helping you. Now is the time. So don’t hunker down, don’t crawl in the fox hole. Now is the time to move out. Take advantage of the weakened economy, the weakened market, your weakened competitors. Sell these franchises and help people get started. And show the prospective buyer why now is a good time for them to capitalize on this opportunity that this challenging economy has presented.
Don Boroian
Chairman
Francorp, Inc.
www.francorp.com
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