Texas Feature Articles

Got a qualified prospect interested in opening up a new franchise but who has never seen one of your stores? No problem for Long Beach, Calif.-based It's A Grind Coffee House, which utilizes a web-based program that allows prospects with a password to get behind a computer screen, log on, and view real-time streaming video of the action inside a store. A camera located behind the counter offers online viewers a live feed of what's going on inside an It's A Grind Coffee House. Prospects can see the store's layout, decor, customers and employees engaged in transactions.

Irvine, CA-based El Pollo Loco has a penchant for serving hand-marinated, flame-grilled chicken and the freshest Mexican foods, and last year the company experienced record sales of $396 million. But executives there say that although their product is important, they owe much of their success to their loyal and dedicated employees. In fact, multi-unit operator Roland Spongberg recently went six years without losing a single manager at his 21 southern California El Pollo Loco locations. So what's going on at this company that's creating this environment of motivated, hard-working employees who stay the course?

Localized support, faster response time, creating new brand awareness, and cracking tough markets are some of the reasons franchise organizations turn to master franchisees to help expand their systems. Sometimes called regional developers, area developers, master franchisees, area franchisees, their names can be as different as the many ways their fees and compensation are structured. What's not different is how these individuals can help quickly build brands, awareness, and stores in a given territory.

Localized support, faster response time, creating new brand awareness, and cracking tough markets are some of the reasons franchise organizations turn to area developers to help expand their systems. Sometimes called regional developers, area developers, master franchisees, area franchisees, their names can be as different as the many ways their fees and compensation are structured. What's not different is how these individuals can help quickly build brands, awareness, and stores in a given territory.

If building a successful brand is all about solid fundamentals, execution, and consistency, why doesn't every franchise do it? "Why doesn't everyone win the Super Bowl?" asks Phil Friedman, president and CEO, who co-led a 1999 buyout of the company.

Franchised businesses generate jobs for more than 18 million Americans and account for 9.5 percent of the private-sector economic output, a study released today by International Franchise Association Educational Foundation reported.

Start spreading the news, you may just want to be a part of New York, New York. The Big Apple heads up the list of the top 20 cities in the U.S. for franchising, according to a new study by Franchise Update and FRANdata. This past summer, executives from Franchise Update commissioned researchers at FRANdata, an organization that collects extensive franchise industry information, to tabulate the rankings. FRANdata analysts drew upon more than 250,000 records of franchise locations out of its proprietary database to calculate the results. "We analyzed Direct Market Areas (DMAs) as outlined by Nielsen. We matched zip codes to DMAs and calculated the number of franchises within those DMAs," explained FRANdata data research analyst Brad Morick, who was responsible for the project. The use of the DMAs helped standardize the analysis and interpretation of the rankings. "To my knowledge, no one else has ever done a study like ours," continued Morick. "Since we collect UFOCs from franchises across the country, we know all of their locations and could easily do a cross match. "

Franchisors in search of new concepts have discovered a rich market in small businesses that could benefit from the perks that larger companies enjoy, but cannot justify or afford them. Having access to these professional services can have a profound impact on the success of small businesses.

Franchise companies do change hands; sometimes often. New ownership is not always sympathetic to the goals of franchisees, and that can cost a system badly. Some franchisees are taking a more aggressive approach to that situation-or the threat of it. They've become owners themselves. And there are good reasons why that strategy might work.

Multi-unit, multi-brand, co-branding, area development--you've seen these defined, and they are distinct entities. Most multi-unit franchisees start with a few, and quickly grow one brand, then add another, and often enter into an area franchise agreement.

Franchisors in search of new concepts have discovered a rich market in small businesses that could benefit from the perks that larger companies enjoy, but cannot justify or afford them. Having access to these professional services can have a profound impact on the success of small businesses.