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Browse our selection of franchise articles and features to help further your knowledge in opening and operating a franchise business. Our exclusive features cover the , , , , , , and site of the franchise business. Written by the editorial team that produces Franchise Update Magazine and Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine, the franchise industries premier magazines.

Franchising is the champion of small business expansion, and Franchising.com is the official home page of the industry, offering 50,000 pages of information for interested consumers. The site is the most comprehensive intelligence and information resource for more than 2,400 franchises worldwide, covering 24 franchise industries, and more than 250 sub-industries.
  • Franchise Update Media
  • 8,077 Reads 25 Shares
Our next financial concept? OPM (other people's money). As a former commercial banker, I've had the opportunity to see both sides of the "debt/leverage" issue. When you go to a bank for a business loan, your banker (whether they tell you or not) will quickly compute your debt-to-equity ratio. As bankers, we viewed debt as an equivalent of risk: the higher your ratio, the more debt you have in proportion to equity. Therefore, the higher your financial risk. Let me explain why this is so. It all goes back to the financial basics: Assets = Liabilities + Net Worth.
  • Steve LeFever
  • 9,477 Reads 1 Shares
There's nothing more American than fast food restaurants - and some of them even serve apple pie! Fast food franchises have been meeting the growing needs of the country's on-the-go car culture and diverse life styles, complete with late-night hours and 24-hour service. For decades, hamburgers, tacos, chicken, pizza, and subs were the mainstay of the fast food sector. In recent years, as customers began seeking healthier options, these standbys have been joined by wraps, smoothies, salads, frozen yogurt, and more. In 2010, one franchisor began offering vending machines containing fresh fruits and vegetables, protein drinks, and other health-oriented snacks.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 6,031 Reads 157 Shares
Jason Mann learned early that a career in advertising sales could get you just so far in life. And that wasn't far enough for him. So in 1999, at the age of 30, Mann stepped out of his sales role and joined forces with his father to enter the franchising business.
  • John Carroll
  • 4,164 Reads 11 Shares
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and its international affiliate, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), are currently reviewing proposed new lease accounting rules that, if approved, will significantly affect the retail and restaurant industries.
  • Dwayne Shackelford
  • 11,346 Reads 1,151 Shares
Ask a group of multi-unit franchisees about the importance of customer service and you're likely to get a unanimous response. Strong customer service leads to positive operating results. However, creating a business environment that puts this customer service-focused strategy into action can be more difficult than it seems. The goal is to create a customer experience that brings loyal customers back again and again. One of the most knowledgeable experts on doing just this will be a featured speaker at this year's Multi-Unit Franchising Conference.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 4,643 Reads 40 Shares
Just like in professional sports, a Most Valuable Player award is carefully and selectively bestowed on only a handful of the very best players. These players are unique and possess a drive to perform and win that goes beyond what most of their contemporaries can muster. This is the kind of individual selected annually for the Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine MVP Awards.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 6,208 Reads 57 Shares
Tom Kazbour doesn't believe the secret to success lies in studying the ABCs of business. He believes new franchisees can whiz on past most of the alphabet and focus on the letter "V."
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 15,287 Reads 1 Shares
Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine today announced the winners of the annual MVP (Most Valuable Player) Awards. These awards honor successful franchisees who have demonstrated outstanding performance in building their businesses, growing their brands, and serving their communities.
  • PRESS RELEASE
  • 5,396 Reads 12 Shares
In 2008 we dodged an international financial meltdown. In 2009 we saw the technical end of the second-longest-running recession in U.S. history. In 2010 we are wrapping up the first year of the recovery in a less-than-robust fashion. Let's look ahead to 2011 and what is in store for franchising and, in particular, access to capital.
  • Darrell Johnson
  • 4,972 Reads 1 Shares
Multi-brand franchising allows multi-unit operators to balance risk and ride out the uncertainties of the marketplace in many ways...
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 5,574 Reads
Tropical Smoothie Cafe
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Franchising continues to grow--not only in size, but in complexity--and in recent years, a huge part of that growth is attributable to multi-brand franchising.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 6,394 Reads 212 Shares
With the stock market on a run at the start of 2011, I began thinking about the similarities of how stock investors and franchisees choose an investment. The obvious consideration in both cases is whether to make an investment, but that's just the starting point.
  • Darrell Johnson
  • 5,888 Reads 1 Shares
Franchisees are an optimistic lot, expansion-minded, on the grow, always alert to new opportunities. And for them, multi-unit franchising represents one of today's most attractive opportunities. Whether it involves increasing the number of units of their current brand or adding new brands to their holdings, the allure of multi-unit franchising is attracting the best and brightest franchisees in the business with increasing frequency.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 5,020 Reads
Pierre Panos, a South African native of Greek descent, leaves little to chance. When the violence in his country became too dangerous in the early 1990s, Panos--a former Coopers & Lybrand accountant who'd followed his father into the restaurant and real estate industries--wanted to emigrate to a country where he and his family could be safe and settle for good.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 13,815 Reads 5 Shares
Multi-unit franchisees dominate today's marketplace, controlling more total units than their single-unit counterparts--and an increasing number are operating multiple brands.
  • Kerry Pipes and Eddy Goldberg
  • 4,756 Reads 21 Shares
Multi-unit franchising is one thing. Multi-concept franchising is something else entirely. Nevertheless, it's a place--and a choice--that many franchisees love, and where they excel. These determined operators look for growth opportunities and potential across several concepts, sometimes in wildly different sectors. The multi-concept franchising model offers power in numbers (units, brands, territory, and income potential), as well as the security of spreading their risk across different concepts in a diversified portfolio.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 9,204 Reads 1,023 Shares
Do you do your utmost to be recognized as the best? Or do you strive to be average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill? While it's not what anyone is aiming for, mediocrity is commonplace--mediocre products, mediocre services, and mediocre customer service are the norm.
  • Mel Kleiman
  • 5,418 Reads
Every business operation that's ever manufactured or sold a widget has relied on vendors. The people and companies that supply everything from paper and office supplies to mushrooms and cheese - and everything in between - are an integral part of a successful business operation.
  • Kerry Pipes
  • 24,958 Reads 1 Shares
The idea of operating a Taco Bell restaurant first came to Iris Cohn one evening in 1982. That's when her husband, Dick, came home and told the family he wanted to open a Taco Bell in the Chicago area. So the couple took their daughter, Jennifer, to one of the restaurants, where they proceeded to order one of every item on the menu. "We were hooked," she recalls. Putting everything on the line, the Cohns became the first Taco Bell franchisees in the Chicago metro area, growing steadily over the years to become one of the brand's largest franchisees.
  • Debbie Selinsky
  • 5,763 Reads 55 Shares
In his book, Hire The American Dream, Dave Melton writes about his first boss, Frank Meeks. Melton writes of how Meeks was not only a personal inspiration but an icon within the community of Domino's Pizza. Meeks was the first franchisee inducted into the Domino's Chairman's Circle Hall of Fame.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 6,983 Reads 1 Shares
Doner Shack
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What is Franchise Social Media? Basically, it's more than just social media. It's the application and utilization of social media within a franchise environment. Sure, many of the same principles apply. But, franchising is different than most small business models. It's unique in many ways beyond the typical B2B or B2C model. There are specific disclosure laws that are a major part of the franchise candidate recruitment process. Even from a consumer proposition standpoint, the integrity of the entire franchise organization must be considered. And, one cannot discuss social media in a franchise environment without touching upon guidelines, policies and procedures, and brand uniformity.
  • Paul R Segreto
  • 17,447 Reads 2 Shares
By now everyone is familiar with the Domino's Pizza "turnaround" campaign that's been all over the airwaves. The brand created a high profile marketing campaign that addressed negative consumer attitudes about its pizza by embracing the criticism and showing consumers that the brand was listening. The project has been an overwhelming success for the 9,000-store chain and president and CEO J. Patrick Doyle will offer an insider's look at the campaign from soup to nuts when he keynotes the 2011 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas April 27-29.
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 5,544 Reads 8 Shares
Restaurant franchisees gathered in New York last month for the International Restaurant & Foodservice Show. The event typically attracts restaurant owners and partners (34% of attendees last year were from the restaurant industry and 40% of these individuals were managers and key decision makers) who come to bone up on the latest strategies, techniques, and technology. There's always plenty to see and do at the event.
  • Rick Lauber
  • 7,347 Reads 259 Shares
Every commercial landlord wants national franchises and chain stores for tenants. They have name recognition and a proven track record in business. So when it comes to expanding your own operations and negotiating further leases, lead with your strengths. If you are opening a franchise location, you are automatically more desirable to a landlord. If you are opening your third, fifth, or tenth franchise location, you are even more attractive because you are proven successful! Here are three strategies to implement in your lease negotiations.
  • Dale Willerton
  • 10,132 Reads 1,023 Shares
Retaining employees is an ongoing challenge for new franchisees -- and a key ingredient in building a successful business. After training employees to do their jobs well, the franchisee's goal is to retain them as productive, reliable workers. It costs much more to hire and train replacements than it does to work with current employees to improve their job performance.
  • Eddy Goldberg
  • 26,349 Reads 5 Shares
On many occasions during the past year, I've seen and heard the past 10 years dubbed as "The Lost Decade." From a stock market perspective--with prices essentially flat between 2000 and 2010--it's not hard to understand why. Upon writing this article, the annualized return on the S&P 500 over the past 10 years was -0.68 percent, versus the average return of 6.28 percent since 1929 (according to FactSet Data Systems). Interestingly, over a similar time frame, aggregate corporate profits have doubled while total household net worth is about 50 percent higher.
  • Carol Clark
  • 5,147 Reads 14 Shares
The economy continues to show signs of improvement and the executives at Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine's Multi-Unit Franchising Conference have factored this new business reality into the planning of their annual event. This year the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference will take place April 27-29 at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The theme is "What's Next. Plan Tomorrow Today."
  • Multi-Unit Franchisee
  • 10,803 Reads 554 Shares
Multi-unit franchisee owners should be fully aware of the specific considerations relevant to small commercial site development prior to committing to a lease or property purchase. The challenge of fitting many required components onto a small parcel can be daunting, especially when considered in conjunction with evolving local ordinances and state regulations, which are on the rise. The best method of ensuring that the proposed site will work, and do so in the most efficient manner possible, is to apply rigorous due diligence in the development design process.
  • Bob Ziegenfuss, P.E.
  • 9,286 Reads 3 Shares
Charles Smithgall is the incoming Chair of Franchise Update Media Group's 10th Annual Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, April 27-29, 2011 at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. This is the only national conference focused exclusively on multi-unit franchisees. The theme this year is "Plan Tomorrow Today."
  • Charles Smithgall
  • 4,491 Reads 40 Shares
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