Blimpie fights to stay afloat in an industry with high saturation and tough competition.

Below is the Small Business Administration’s annual compilation of performance data on thousands of franchisee loans it has guaranteed covering loans made from October 1, 2000, to September 30, 2007. A “failed loan” below is when the SBA must step in and pay back a loan that it has guaranteed. However, does failure rate of a loan equal the number of failed franchises? No, because the chart below only captures the worst of the worst, when someone completely abandons their debt obligations. Definitions are tricky and can mask the true data. Franchisees who sell their units and pay off or transfer their loan or franchisees losing money are not caputred. But, the value in the report card can be a vague checklist for avoiding high-failing franchises. Hat Tip: WSJ REPORT CARD Class Leaders Franchiser Failure Rate Failed loans Total loans Comfort Inn 0% 0 158 Primrose 0 0 110 Edible Arrangements 0 0 104 Massage Envy 0 0 61 Holiday Inn Express 1 1 157 Culver’s Frozen Custard 1 1 150 Hampton Inn 1 1 88 Bruster’s Real Ice Cream 1 1 84 Little Caesars Pizza 1 1 72 Fastsigns 1 1 71 Super 8 Motel 2 8 363 Best Western 2 3 156 Choice Hotels International 2 3 144 Rita’s Water Ice 2 2 103 Arco 2 2 85 Zaxby’s 2 2 81 Anytime Fitness 2 1 65 Econo Lodge 3 4 119 Goddard 3 3 109 Subway 4 84 1,974 Dunkin’ Donuts 4 17 410 Sport Clips 4 8 191 Cartridge World Stores 4 5 112 Travelodge 4 4 91 IHOP 4 3 67 Class Trailers Franchiser Failure Rate Failed loans Total loans All Tune and Lube 48% 37 77 Philly Connection 48 30 63 Cottman Transmission 46 75 163 Blimpie Subs & Salads 37 58 158 …

My first post about the topic of there being too many franchise consultant/brokers in the industry now, has prompted a pretty good discussion on a blog I contribute to, BlueMauMau.org, a very popular blog that is targeted to current and future franchise owners. More……… There were over 60 back and forth comments about this topic as of Sunday evening {8-5.} I am quite passionate about this subject, so  are some others in the industry….check out this discussion. {Please come back here when you are done, to continue reading.} The biggest problem I have with the amount of new “consultants” coming into our industry, is how they are being sold the bill of goods. Jim Coen, a 25 year franchise industry veteran up in New England, and fellow blogger,  gives one example of a franchise that sells franchises, to those that want to sell franchises. {Confusing, huh?}  See Below: No Experience Necessary Huge Demand and growing demand for our service No Cold Calling Required Work with the best franchises Tremendous Income Potential, earning up to $25,000 for a single transaction Complete Training Start from your Home Work Part time Only $19,900 to get started $19,900 is quite the bargain, with no cold calling! Some franchises that sell franchises to those that want to sell franchises, have $30k-$50k Franchise Fees up front. To those folks that may be reading this, that are thinking about  becoming a “consultant”, what do you think “no cold calling” means? What this means, in a nutshell, is that these franchises that sell franchises to folks that want to sell franchises will be sending you somewhat qualified “leads.” Well kind of “leads.” More like what I have been calling them for the last 5 years, inquires. A “lead’ is someone who is fairly interested in learning more …

VERY OUT OF DATE.  Do a search instead.  This was manually updated March 21, 2006 Companies Mentioned in Posts (likely incomplete):Automotive 1-800 RADIATORS Oil Butler Lube N’ Go On-Site-Lube Business & Home Services 1-800-WATER-DAMAGE Bartercard Garagetek Help-U-Sell Home Instead Homewatch Caregivers My Girl Friday PropertyGuys.com Sears Carpet & Upholstery Tax Centers of America Cleaning & Maintenance none Computer & Internet (some are listed in “Retail”) Screenz Food and Restaurant Arby’s Auntie Anne’s Blimpies Cheeburger Cheeburger Chipotle Dippin’ Dots Dream Dinners Doc Green’s Gourmet Salad Dominic’s of New York The Dugout Durango Grill Fazoli’s Fire of Brazil Fogo de Chao Goldstar Chili Jamba Juice Jerq’zine Krispy Kream Lenny’s Sub Shops Mauwi Wauwi Original Hamburger Stand Panaderia Taza Papa John’s Pizza Factory Pizza Patron Pretzel Time Quiznos Red Rock Chili San Francisco Soup Co Shane’s Rib Shack Skyline Chili Smoothie King Smotthie Planet Soup Nazi Steak-out Subway Submarina Sub Station II Super Suppers The Soup Box Supercuts Suzanne’s Kitchen We’re Rolling Pretzel Company Wetzel’s Pretzels Z Pizza Zoup! Fresh Soup Co (List all sub franchises) Health & Fitness Curves Liberty Fitness Home Building & Repair Services See “Business and Home Services” above Personnel & Staffing none Pet Retail and Services Camp Bow Wow Doody Calls The Pet Pantry Wag My Tail Interquest Detection Canines Pets Are Inn Retail Franchises Ace Hardware AuctionDrop Battery Plus Best Cuts GNC Educational Outfitters Fantastic Sams Fastframe Foot Solutions Friendly Computers Geeks on Call GNC Hair Cuttery Herman’s World of Sports Imagine This Sold Orbit Drop Play It Again Sports QuikDrop Roosters Men’s Grooming Centers Screenz Snips Its Sports Clips Stone Mountain Carpet Mill Tom’s Foods We the People Categories: eBay drop offs (generally) Hair Travel & Hotel none Industry Lists & Research 2004 Same Store Sales Growth of QSRs (quick service restaurants) Royalty and Advertising …

I pulled together some numbers of required royalty and advertising fees for sandwich franchises: Required Royalty and Advertising Fees for Sub & Sandwich Franchises Subway 12.5 % Quiznos 11 % Mr. Hero 10.5% Blimpies 10% Jersey Mike’s 10% Philly Connection 10% Togo’s Eatery 10% Zero’s Subs 10% Firehouse Subs 9% Jerry’s Subs and Pizza 9% Burger King 8.5% Charley’s Grilled Subs 8.25% Capt. Subs 8% Cousin Subs 8% Hungry Howie’s Pizza and SUbs 8% Subs Plus 8% Great Outdoors Subs 7% Lenny’s Sub Shops 7% Moe’s Italian Sandwiches 7% Nathan’s Famous 7% Pickerman’s Soup & Sandwiches 7% Port of Subs 6.5% Sub Station II 6% Baldinos Giant Jersey Subs 5% An 8% difference in the fees for a franchise with $500,000 in sales is $40,000. Many would die to have that extra $40,000 to hire a qualified manager, enabling the franchisee be more of an absetnee owner. Lower doesn’t necessarily mean better. I would want required pooling of local (maybe regional) funds for collective advertising and promotions.

Sames store sales growth during 2004 of quick service restaurant franchises are doing OK: