A participant in the discussion forum brought up a good point whether a “delivery only” local restaurant business was an especially good business model. Steak-Out was the franchise mentioned, which delivers char-broiled steak and chicken dinners, salads, sandwiches….you get the idea. Why do you get the idea? Because the food is similar to the restaurants we all know – Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, and Chili’s. The difference is Steak-Out is delivery or pickup only, and the others are sit-down AND are starting to contract out delivery to local entrepreneurs. Having a dinning room exposes your menu to more people. In turn, more people will be familiar with your menu and more likely to think about using you for delivering business lunches or family dinners. The more you are exposed to a product, the more likely your to think of it when the time for the service comes. It’s partly a numbers game, and I’d rather have my customers experience my product in person in my controlled atmosphere then exposing them to my product on a piece of paper, coupon or flyer. I’m not saying delivery only business are a bad idea, I just wouldn’t want to take the risk when my competitors out-of-the-box are going to be exposed to exponentially more customers. That raises my marketing costs. Pizza is the only food that has carved out room for delivery-only stores. Papa John’s is going from delivery only to delivery + sit down. A 75-unit Subway franchisee group in South Florida bought the telephone number 888-SUB-TO-GO. Orders are processed via the store’s POS system and then delivered by Subway employees. Can a delivery-only subshop startup and compete with that? I doubt it, and I wouldn’t want to risk my capital trying. If you are buying a restaurant, you should consider what …

So, you bought a franchise and it’s been successful for a few years and now you want to sell it.  The franchisor reserves some influence and financial discouragement.  The two biggest considerations given to the franchisor are: Right of first refusal – the franchisor can match your highest legitimate offer and buy your franchise Transfer fee – a fee you must pay to the franchisor for the privilege of transferring your licensing rights and obligations to another party Sample Transfer fees: FOOD: Pizza Factory: $12,000 Quizno’s: $5,000 Dominic’s of New York: $1,000 + 6% of sales price Submarina: $1,000 Cheeburger Cheeburger: $12,250 Pizza Patron: $5,000 The Dugout: $5,000 Arby’s: $13,500 Doc Green’s Gourmet Salad: negotiated at time of sale Jerq’zine:  $10,000 Original Hamburger Stand: $250 Sub Station II: $5,000 Steak-Out: $18,750 Fazoli’s: Reaonable attorney, accounting, training and other related costs OTHER: Bartercard: 10% of sales price Herman’s World of Sports: $12,500 Sears Carpet and Upholstery: $3,000 – $6,000 (depends on market size) Stone Mountain Carpet Mill Outlet: $2,500 Screenz:  $5,000 Tax Centers of America: $1,000 Sports Clips: $25,000 Fantastic Sams: $20,000 or 10% of sales price (whichever is greater) Hair Cuttery: $5,000 ($0 if franchisee for 5+ years) Fastframe: 5-10% of purchase price  

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 …