Most franchisees will not have social media addressed specifically in their Franchise Agreements. So, there is not much stopping franchisees from participating in social media web sites. New franchisees are now starting to see company’s social media policies in their franchise agreements.What is the big deal with a franchisee setting up a Twitter or Facebook page? Here are a few:
A franchisee’s page is neglected and it reflects poorly on the brand.
A franchisee’s personality can become evident over time with social media – is this good for the brand, is it confusing?
In my opinion, from what I’ve seen with social media for 99.5% of restaurants – an proactive social media strategy is really on good for sending discount promotions to a ready pool of your customers. You can sometimes get ‘buzz’ from online communities, but the resulting increase in sales is almost always negligible.
The marketing function performed by most franchisors can mean the difference between a flat year-over-year sales, and 13% year-over-year decrease in sales. For Pizza Hut’s largest franchisee, NPC, that difference in sales a massive amount of money. Hypothetically, if the average Pizza Hut does $1.5 million in sales, then we are talking about a $195,000 difference per store. With 1,150 stores, we’re talking about $22.4 million. That’s a large distribution check for the owners to miss out on!
Burger King franchisees are suing their franchisor over being forced to price the double cheeseburger at maximum of $1. Franchisees’ problem is that it costs more than $1 to make and sell. I’m sure Burger King corporate response to the loss argument is that the total average sale involving the $1 double cheeseburger turns a profit, because on average people also buy at least a drink and fries.
I’m not suggesting you pick a concept with the lowest fees, but what you receive in exchange for your royalty is important – brand recognition, supply chain discounts, location assistance, quality control of brand, human support, menu development, marketing assistance.
One of my favorite fast casual restaurants is Nando’s who is famous for their marinated Peri Peri Chicken cooked over an open flame. I ate at their London, England locations multiple times and it has quickly become my go-to restaurant when I’m there. One Nando’s opened in the USA last year in Washington D.C., and I believe it is a corporate owned location. They do franchise in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia, and Australia, but not the USA. Their mix of food is clever. While it is a sit down restaurant, ordering takes place at a central counter and the food is brought out to your table.
For appetizers that are served immediately, the offering is Peri Peri nuts, spicy mixed olives, and humus with Peri Peri drizzle…all healthy, all tasty detours from the typical high-fat fried appetizers. See their menu below:Nandosusa Main Menu
Nando’s includes elements that would make it a strong franchise contender in my book (it doesn’t have brand recognition yet in the USA, however).
– Great Tasting Food
– Unique Customer Experience
– Improves on an already familiar taste – chicken
– Casual and fun environment
– Employees seem happy
– Branding is authentic….Portuguese presented in a fun way
On the down side,
– it doesn’t have brand recognition yet
– food preparation is based on human judgment rather than fool proof systems. For example, the chicken is pulled from the open flames based upon a human’s judgment that the chicken is sufficiently cooked.
I like Burger King’s new 20/20 design. It’s this kind of change in customer experience that can reinvent the brand. Concept stores that have been rebuilt with the new design have seen 30% increase in sales compared to the old style.
Burger King’s new broiler, Duke’s Flexible Batch Broiler, is a great piece of equipment too. It will allow more innovation and adaptability by franchisees. The price tag at $6,000 is reasonable.
Whether it be Angus beef or chicken, the Flexible Batch Broiler turns frozen products into char flavored, tender and juicy pieces of meat. A single cook in the kitchen can deliver eight Whoppers or 12 regular burgers in two minutes or less. This would give a production rate of 240 Whoppers and 360 regular burgers per hour. Also, the Flexible Batch Broiler can flame broil products that haven’t been thawed out. Ranging from $5,400-6,900, the Flexible Batch Broiler will save energy, time and money.
For more insight on Burger King’s strategy, see this presentation from an investor conference:
I’ve been noticing a new crop of high-end fast casual franchise concepts that are the size and atmosphere of a traditional sit down restaurant, but orders are taken at the walk-up counter. Ingredient in Kansas City comes to mind. They follow the recent trend of hearth oven baked pizza, homemade pastas, salads and sandwiches.
Vapiano is also an interesting urban-only concept started in Germany and now here in the USA.
It is a very modern, high-end Italian fast casual concept. The chefs are stationed around the dining room, and customers walk up to the chefs who prepare their order right there. A customer’s food and drink totals are tracked using a chip card similar to one you’d see on cruise boats. As the customer leaves the card is scanned and the customer pays. It sounds a bit like a modern cafeteria but the architecture is sleek and hip. The average check ranges from $14.50 to $22, depending on whether it’s lunch or dinner, claims the owner.
Panera Bread (I appreciate their free Wifi) reported company-owned same-store sales increase of 3.3% for its third quarter ended Sept. 29, 2009.
Franchise-operated same-store sales increased 2.5%, marking a systemwide increase of 2.8% compared to the same period last year. The company-owned comps increase showcased transaction growth of 1.8% for the quarter, and average check growth of 1.5%. Average check growth was comprised of retail price increases of approximately 2.25% and negative mix impact of approximately -0.75%.
Buffalo Wild Wings company-owned restaurant sales increased 26% for the quarter versus the same period in 2008.
The growth was driven by a company-owned same-store sales increase of 0.8% and 33 additional company-owned restaurants in operation at the end of the 2009 third quarter. Franchise-owned same-store sales increased 1.9% for the quarter and 52 additional franchised restaurants were in operation during that time.
Discounting hasn’t worked so far for Chili’s and Applebee’s who began offering 2 for $20 meal deals. The problem is total customer traffic is off and these discounts tend to amplify the problem because profit margins are reduced on the customers that do come in. Even P.F. Changs, and Benihana are seeing 10%+ slowdowns in sales just from a quarter ago.
What’s could be worse for Play N Trade and Gamestop than Walmart competing against you in the resale market? Game platform manufactures switching to download-only platforms, so there are no discs or cartridges to buy or re-sell.
I was browsing a few blogs and surprised at how many “we just make simple great burgers, fries and shakes” restaurant and franchises were popping up. Some are going all-organic, most aren’t. McDonald’s new higher-priced Angus beef burger is considered a response to the better burger trend.
Most everyone likes a good burger and are willing to pay up to $5 regularly for good one. I think the new wave of better burger joints will have some staying power compared to other pure trends like tart frozen yogurt, salad or pita/wrap specialty franchises.
From what I’ve seen already from clients, these aren’t wildly profitable until you reach $1 million or more in sales per location assuming your rent is under 7% of gross sales, and that’s very difficult to do.Let’s look at one city.
This article details the legal disputes and subsequent law suit between franchisor Quaker Steak & Lube and a franchisee in Pennsylvania. The franchisee claimed:
[franchisor] lied to him about the restaurant’s prospects for profitability;
approved too large a restaurant for the State College market;
forced him to use a select list of food vendors and menu choices that hurt his chances for profitability; and
did not provide adequate training, startup marketing or operational support.
The franchisee claims a projected $100,000 weekly gross sales ($5.2 million annually) was given to him by the franchisor, when actual revenues were $80,000 a week in 2006, $61,000 a week in 2007 and $45,000 a week in 2008. The judge agreed with the franchisor that the projections were simply that – projections and not historical fact or earnings claims.All other claims were also denied by the judge. That’s how these law suits usually end unless there is real “smoking gun” evidence of a breach of the franchise agreement or fraud.
Back in August 2007, I gave a NexCen Brands an “I wouldn’t buy it” rating after they grossly overpaid for the Pretzel Time and Pretzelmaker acquisition by paying 5x revenue. At the time the stock price was around $7…fast forward 2 years and yesterday it closed at 36 cents and has been as low 5 cents in 2009.Your welcome!
Franchise IT tech guy Todd Michaud wrote an very thoughtful piece on the overlooked issue of data collection and usage by the franchisor. He address the problems of the overt burden on franchisees to subsidize this data collection, and he exposes the fuzzy usage policies of the data. His recommended solution involves compromises in the data collection costs and also urges franchisors share the data and analysis back with the franchisee.
Jim Schwartz, president and chief executive of NPC International Inc., said he was disappointed and “frankly frustrated” with the company’s 12.6 percent drop in same-store-sales from continuing operations for the quarter that ended June 30.
It was the third consecutive negative quarter for the Overland Park, Kan.-based company, due in part to difficult comparisons to last year’s sales tally. That’s when Addison-based Pizza Hut launched its line of Tuscani pastas. Schwartz noted that cash-strapped consumers have been looking for less expensive meals, even among the pizza players.
A former franchisee of Pizza Pizza in Ontario lost his franchise for allegedly falling behind on payments to the franchisor. This whole relationships seems to have gone mismanaged by both sides. The franchisee wasn’t keeping good sales records and delivery drivers were impatient with customers, and the franchisor let bad practices continue for too long.
Which donut hole do you prefer, the “A Hole” or “B Hole?” That is ruffling feather of some franchisees.
Unfortunatley, there is not much the franchisees can do about it legally. Franchisees can only voice their opinion, sometimes it works:
Burger King recently acquiesced to franchisee pressure to tone down its advertising. In the spring, consumer groups and franchisees said that a kids meal with a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon character giveaway was too sexy. In the ad, women with square derrieres dance to Baby Got Back. Same-store sales for Burger King are due at the end of the month, but on Monday, its largest franchisee reported a 5.5% sales drop in the quarter.
A recent study lumps tanning in tanning beds in the same caustic category as arsenic and mustard gas. The tanning industry is simply a rental business, and the rental business can be very lucrative. Just ask my hero Wayne Huizenga who made billions from starting integrated rental businesses Waste Management, Blockbuster Video, and partly Autonation.
The franchise tanning industry has been positioning itself for a reduction in the ultraviolet tanning beds with the spray tan alternative. Most have purchase Mystic tanning beds (see video below) that can be rented in the same manner as bulb beds, plus some locations are offering spray-on artists to spray on manually that perfect tan with a high-end spraying device.
Spray tanning has been booming most evidently in the celebrity ranks, with many celebrities even hiring their own full time spra-on tan artists. Lindsey Lohan is even being sued for allegedly stealing the formula for her new spray tan retail line. All this points to tan growing trend (remember, the trend is your friend) of spray tanning consumers.
Can traditional tanning franchises offering spray tans grab a sustainable piece of this emerging spray tan market?
In the short term, probably yes. But it will take five-figures of investment and marketing for each location. Customers previously visited tanning salons to rent 20-minute increments on tanning beds because tanning beds were too expensive to purchase for the home. But, consumers can now buy spray tan bottles at Walgreens for $5. The key for the tanning salons is offering customers 1) the “spray on artists” and 2) machines that spray the perfect tan. Self application of tanning lotions can leave a person looking laughably orange if applied to heavily or unevenly, or left on too long. So the edge for tanning salons is to have machines and people that can give the tan glow with the spray. Until the self tan sprayers improve it application devices, such as offering inexpensive sprayers and improved formulas that tolerate lazy applicators, the tanning salons that make the investment in spray-on tanning should be able sustain themselves.
A key to growth is attracting woman over 30 years old who have all abandoned traditional tanning salons from their justified fears of UV-light skin damage. These women are currently spending $35 per bottle at department stores for spray tans. Below are a few videos on spray tanning.
GameStop spokesman Chris Olivera declined to comment specifically on Best Buy’s test, but he indicated GameStop’s more than 6,000 stores have advantages over self-service ventures.”Trading in used games and consoles is a highly-assisted activity,” Olivera said in an emailed statement. “We are very confident in our model that allows for our expert associates to help consumers trade in product, a fact not addressed with a self-serve process.”"Likewise, GameStop has over 12 years of skin in the game and understands the highly-regulated business of pawn and resale laws that vary not only from state-to-state, but municipality to municipality,” he added.
Young kids have been self-trained to research and buy online for the best price. I wouldn’t bet on kids paying a premium for simple trade-in transaction. Sorry Play N’ Trade and Game Stop. One angle these speciality stores could still exploit is providing its customers with in-store use of expensive assets, particularly renting by the hour very high-end immersion and 3-d gaming equipment.
You seem to be assuming there are profit margins. Why is that? Please be aware that you need to go back in time and recalculate old numbers for current lease obligations. FuwaFuwaUsagi […]
Is this the same Paul W. Steinberg who failed to pay the taxes on his franchise operations to the extent of over $33,000 with the result that NY State had to go to the expenses of issuing a series of Tax Warrants against him. Go to: http://appsext8.d... […]
Quote from: FuwaFuwaUsagi on February 16, 2010, 05:03:15 PMThe Pundit writes:I was browsing through old posts and came across this one. It's a great one for all to read.My reply:Thanks for the kind words Ryan, but did you up... […]
The Pundit writes:I was browsing through old posts and came across this one. It's a great one for all to read.My reply:Thanks for the kind words Ryan, but did you up my karma points - NOOOO!!!!!! Cheap &(*%$&^ - LOL!!!Once a year, whether ... […]
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