Do you love animals? Sometimes the best franchise opportunities are the ones you’ve never thought of and are a labor of love. Here are some I found unique and interesting:
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I rarely deviate from franchise talk, because that is what people come here to read. But, I just watched this heart touching tribute to former President Ronald Reagan on the 1-year anniversary of his death. I recommend people watch it regardless of their own political affiliation. Sometimes we need step back from business and keep perspective about what is truly important in life. Reflecting on great Americans can sometimes help us in that personal journey.
Have you been putting off the decisions that are important? Are you spending your short time on earth the way you want? What if you knew you were gong to die in 2 years, what would you do different? Attorney Carolyn Elefant from MyShingle.com legal blog wrote a touching reminder that life is sometimes unexpectedly short no matter how healthy our lifestyle, and the decisions you make TODAY are important and long lasting.
How you lead your life is your decision, and maybe the risk of buying a franchise is a risk worth taking.
I’ve been thinking about the soup franchise idea more after the Soup Nazi article I posted. While I don’t think the Soup Nazi franchise is the one to buy (store size and look is bad, management is poor), I think the soup franchise concept does have real potential. The only soup franchise I know of that almost entirely focused on soup is ZOUP! Fresh Soup Company with a $25K franchise fee. The carryout business seems extra compelling too. Soup franchises can serve fast (how fast can you laddle soup?) and the changing menu of soups recipes can be infinite. Zoup, for example, has 12 soups daily. I think a soup focused franchise with a Panera Bread look and feel will be the next QSR boom.
Business uniform suppliers like Cintas have been wildly successful. The academic uniform business can learn a thing or two from the Cintas’s of the world. Can similar success be found in academic uniforms? So far the company has a compelling and fair proposition. Let’s take a look.
Educational Outfitters is attempting to establish a national presence with academic uniform stores through franchising.
The company claims to be the first franchise opportunity that offers retail stores selling school uniforms and dress code apparel. Their customers are parents of students enrolled in Kindergarten through 12th grade at private, parochial, Christian and public schools.
Pros:
Cons:
I thought about this business, and maybe they can improve on the marketing angle by selling the uniforms in a flat-fee uniform service for students. For example, $75 will give the student a uniform with up to 3 “free” exchanges for new uniforms over the year in case of stains, rips or size changes. This worry free approach will enable premium pricing, give parents peace of mind, and tells a simple differentiating story. Or, perhaps they can rent used uniforms for a lower price if the fabric can last that long. Both are examples of moving towards the Cintas uniform rental model.
In my opinion, Educational Outfitters has the makings of successful franchise. The fee structure is fair, the market is growing, non-academic embroidery can supplement income, uniform purchases are required for many students, and the competition is generally inexperienced at competing with aggressive multi-unit retail powerhouse. I’d buy it!
There are tons of eBay drop off stores popping up such as Orbit Drop, QuikDrop, and AuctionDrop’s relationship with The UPS Store . Many of them are franchises. None of the franchises have a household brand name, so the value of the franchise is in the training. Orbit Drop, for example, receives a fee of 35% of the selling price up to $501, then the percentage reduces free lessens as the sale price increases.
Is the franchise brand, training and support worth the $15,000 franchise few and 6% royalty? Probably not for someone with mild business savvy who has experience selling on eBay. $5,000 franchise fee + 3% royalty would be my limit, which is enough to pay for a good consultant to help you set up and maintain your business systems. Most high volume eBay sellers are already familiar with eBay and the eye-popping 3rd party eBay selling tools. If you are going to open your own store (besides regitering a state and federal trademark for you store’s name), go visit and learn from similar franchises in your area. Spend that $15,000 on your store and marketing.
I think the idea is good, and I was wondering when someone would start these. But, I question at this early stage in the industry whether the ongoing franchise fees of 5-6% will kill the margins need to be worthwhile. Look at other consignment and used reseller franchises such as Winmark’s Play It Again Sports to use eBay as another sales channel.
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April 7, 2005 UPDATE: Imagine this Sold is opening up their fist Canadina franchise. The franchise is fee is on the high side from what we’ve seen with others – $20,000 and for additional stores, $10,000 each. The royalty is 6% of net profit (all shipping & handling profits are excluded from net profits for royalty purposes). There is also a mandatory 4% “art work” fee which they claim is used to maintain signage designs (you still have to pay for all advertising media buys). The typical investment to open a store is between $120,000 and $180,000. That’s a lot of eBay sales ($6000,000 in sales would be needed to cover the high-end investment if you retain 30% of total sales as a selling fee).
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