The trend has been for franchisors, especially for publicly traded ones, to sell more and more of their corporate owned stores. Why? The financial argument has been that earnings are stabilized by managing a franchise operation (simple income streams) rather than managing the nuances of local operating businesses. And, for the most part that makes sense both financial and practically. One company who is bucking that trend is Swisher Hygiene, acquired in 2004 for less than $20 million by Steven Berrard and Wayne Huizenga…the team behind AutoNation, Blockbuster and Waste Management. While their business haven’t all been models of success except for AutoNation, they have grown business fast and made a lot of money. Berrard was also CEO of Jamba Juice. You probably have never heard of Swisher Hygiene. The company sells low cost chemicals and cleaning services to business, especially foodservice and restaurants, such as the 3-compartment sink systems where EcoLab has traditionally dominated. In 2004, it was making an average of $17 per week per customer, with a base of about 30,000 clients. They feel the opportunity in this $9 billion market is in increasing sales to each existing customer and acquiring new ones. Swisher also was an amalgamation of 93 franchisees all working out of their trucks. Now, they acquired most of their franchisees, most recently their Chicago franchisee. The stock has fluctated greatly in the past year when it went from $2 to $10 per share, now it’s back down to about $5 per share. I don’t know if they will succeed, but it will make for an interesting case study one day. Hopefully the franchisees who took a buyout with stock will be better off than they were as franchisees.

New smoothie franchises seem to be opening as fast as Starbucks and now Chipotle’s. Unlike coffee, a “smoothie” is not a staple of the American palate and never will be. Nonetheless, the smoothie business has been hot lately with the likes of Jamba Juice (who reinvented the market), Smoothie King, Maui Wowi, and Planet Smoothie dominating the marketplace. They’ve been riding the omnipresent “health” wave by using tasty fruits and vegetables and vitamin powders in their potions. But how long will smoothies be perceived as healthy? You should be asking that question if you are thinking of buying a smoothie franchise. Just as financial markets always returning to the equilibrium, so do businesses. Eventually the product will commoditize, the market will saturate, and prices will drop (See the sub sandwich market). The process can be accelerated by negative news, just as the low carb movement (which I followed for a while) subsided. For example, if the national spotlight continues to highlight the high calorie count of smoothies defeating the impression of a healthy alternative to fast food, same store sales will suffer leaving smoothie franchisees with a lot of silent blenders. It’s already happening in the United Kingdom. Mississippi’s The Sun Herald reports: Thinking of ordering a smoothie for a healthful light snack between meals? Although these sweet fruity treats can be low in fat and rich in vitamins and nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin C, they can have a lot of sugar and calories. For example, a medium-sized Citrus Squeeze from smoothie chain Jamba Juice packs about five times as much sugar (103 grams) as a regular-sized Hershey’s milk chocolate bar (22 grams). It has 470 calories – more than a McDonald’s double cheeseburger (460 calories). Instead, try a lower-calorie smoothie option like of one of Jamba’s …

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 …

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