GNC‘s same store sales for franchised locations were up almost 5.9% during the 2nd quarter from a year ago. The 1st quarter sales were up 1.5%. At least it’s better than 2003 and 2004 when franchisees experience double digit quarter drops in same store sales.

GNC sales have been declining for years now and it it may be the end of the road for this pioneer.

How close are fast food advertising pictures to the real thing?  I’m sure everyone accepts that the food is “prettied up” for pictures, but by how much?   Below is an example, you decide if it is a fair representation. If burger ads are enhanced, what about the materials and representations you get as prospective franchisee?  Is that material “prettied up”? for more humorous analysis of ads, see here.

I just finished negotiating a commercial lease for a restaurant and thought this would be a good opportunity to relay some real time advice on the topic. Everything is negotiable in a lease agreement.  You simply have to ask for it in a sensible and compelling manner.  But just because everything is negotiable doesn’t mean you should try to negotiate everything.  Pick your battles, and accept some reasonable offers. When you’ve been emailing red-lined lease drafts back and forth with the landlord and you’ve reached a stalemate on several key issues, schedule a face-to-face meeting to hammer out the rest.  It will usually help drive things to completion. Be reasonable.  Don’t try to hammer the landlord on every aspect of the lease.  For example, if the price per square foot is reasonable compared to the market, then offer to pay the full rate and focus on other things like build out assistance, CAM, start of lease payments, hiatus of lease payments for remodeling, personal guarantees, etc.  Some landlords hold dear the price the receive per square foot but will heavily negotiate many other things. List everything in an exhibit what you will take with you at the expiration or termination of the lease, or the landlord will claim it as a permanent fixture or improvement and not let you take it. Most parties routinely start a lease negotiation with a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) to hammer out the big details like pricing, tenant improvements and the like.  A minority of other will recommend not starting off with a LOI, such as the self-proclaimed “Lease Coach” who touts his $1k-$7k services at the National Restaurant Association trade shows.  What’s my opinion?  In a perfect world I’d prefer starting out with the lease but I don’t think in the end it …

Project FAL$E HOPE$ is a state and federal sweep by regulators and law enforcement agencies targeting bogus business opportunities and work-at-home scams. We’ve all see the bogus ads for quick money making opportunities (“Make $5,000 week from home working only 10 hours per week!”). This state enforcement list points out the franchisors who violated various state fraud and securities regulations. Some of these names are a surprise: Aussie Pet Mobile (consent order) Bio Performance, Inc (Petition for Temporary Restraining Order, Temporary Injunction and Permanent Injunction and Asset Freeze) Candy King (permanent C&D, administrative fine of $25,000 against Candy King and $7,500 against Gladstone, Candy King barred for five years from offering biz ops in Connecticut, Candy King must offer rescission for approximately $100,000 to affected Connecticut purchaser investors, Gladstone barred for five years from acting as an officer or director of any entity selling biz ops in Connecticut) Coffee Beanery Ltd (consent order) Coffee Heaven (final order to cease & desist) Daily Grind (agreement) Garagetek (summary order revoking registration – New York) GNC (consent order) KaBloom (consent order) Lady of America (order to show cause) Pet Products Delivery Regal Nails LLC (Stipulation and Agreement, payment of $3,000 fine for unregistered business opportunity sales in Connecticut) Tax Recovery Group (permanent C&D from sales of unregistered tax service biz ops and notice of intent to fine issued) Hat tip: “busmagroomer” in the discussion forum Update 2-14-2007: Read Michael Webster’s excellent Misleading Advertising Law blog for your daily dose of provocative Due Diligence for Income Earning Opportunities.

Pharmacy franchise industry snapshot Sponsoring little league baseball teams can be a cost-efficient marketing strategy Take-n-bake pizza (Papa Murphy focused) An MRI franchisee that I know did not have this kind of success with his recruiting business (he recently closed it down when he couldn’t take the cash drain anymore). Aaron Rents same-store sales up 6.9% GNC – Again, company owned store have higher sales than franchised stores – sales growth of 11.7% for company-owned stores and 7.0% for franchise. Some franchises have higher franchisee sales rates, such as Denny’s where company unit same-store sales increased 4.2% and franchised unit same-store sales increased 4.7%, and Panera where September same-store sales grew 5.2 percent in company-owned stores and 6.2 percent in franchise-operated stores Independent businesses may freely copy a franchisee’s best ideas: Seafood restaurant owner – “We’ve had a decent to-go business, but nowhere to put the to-go orders,” Chase said. “It was a 30-minute to two-hour wait in the summer. It was hard to get a space to sit.” As she pondered solutions, she called Outback Steakhouse, who took her order, asked for details on her car and told her to park in a specialized location. Once she did, a camera notified wait staff to walk out with her order and take her money. It was effortless. Inspiration struck the seafood restaurant owner, and it smelled like beef. “I sat there and laughed,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is my answer. What am I thinking?’ So it just went from there, and we fine-tuned it from there.” Instituting the same to-go program as the 915-restaurant chain, Adams unknotted the bar’s tangled crowd flow. Take-out orders swelled from a few dozen to 130-170 orders during season.

Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut) U.S. blended system-same-store sales increased 5%. Colony-based Pizza Inn pizza chain reported a 1.1% increase in same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, during the first quarter 2006. For the 13 weeks ended March 28, 2006, sales for Panera‘s franchised and company-owned stores rose 9.1% and 8.9%, respectively. Systemwide bakery-café sales increased 9 percent for the 13 weeks ended March 28. Aaron Rents reports 13.7% increase in same store revenues. Brooke Franchise ( distributes insurance, financial and funeral services through a network of more than 560 franchise locations) saw same-store sales decrease about 2.5% for the year that ended Feb. 28, 2006 compared with the prior year. March retails sales growth for the Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. rose 3.5% in Canada, 1.7% in the USA. PJC is the fourth largest drugstore chain in North America and the second largest in both the eastern United States and Canada. The Company and its combined network of 2,173 corporate and franchised drugstores (under the banners of Brooks and Eckerd Pharmacy, PJC Jean Coutu, PJC Clinique and PJC Sante Beaute) employ more than 60,000 people. Tim Hortons first quarter same-store sales increased 8.7% at restaurants in Canada and 9.8% in the United States. Wendy’s same-store sales decreased 4.8% at U.S. company stores and 5.2% at U.S. franchised restaurants. Baja Fresh Mexican Grill’s system same-store sales declined 3.6% to 3.8%. Sonic‘s 1st Q 2006 same-store sales growth of 4.7%, slightly above Sonic’s annual target long-term target range of 2% to 4% growth Sales are climbing at Mr. Jim’s Pizza following the launch of Mr. Jim’s new product, Nacho Stix, and the debut of a new branding and advertising campaign. Same-store sales increased for the first two periods of 2006, including a same-store …

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 …