I must admit that my thinking on franchises is a bit dated. I still envision someone being stuck making sandwiches behind a counter at their sub shop 52 weeks a year. While this is still true for many franchise opportunities there is a growing number of franchise businesses that offer more flexibility and opportunity for multiple operations.
StartupJournal has an article on how much easier some of the new franchises have become to operate.
The franchising world is letting loose. Gone are the days of one owner being chained behind the counter of a single store day in, day out. Today, there are absentee owners who oversee their operations from laptops and Treos, and owners who maintain dual careers or run multiple franchises. At Hollywood Tanning Systems Inc., more than half of the 330 franchise owners have another job. The chief executive of Sport Clips Inc. hair salons estimates that 10 hours a week is a “generous allowance” for owners to physically be in stores. And franchisees for the Decor&You Inc. interior-design business can receive decorating and product training at home whenever they like via online video seminars.
(Thanks to Matt Nicholson for passing this along).
I think this article makes a good point about the successful entrepreneurs who open multiple franchises: “about half of all franchise units are controlled by multiunit operators” and then states this is occuring because “franchisers who wanted to retain talented franchise owners chafing to grow beyond a single unit.”
This contradicts what I read in Fast Food Nation in which is talks about often times the only way for a franchise to be profitable is if the owner opens more than one (at least related to fast food franchises).
Also, in class you talked about opening a restaurant and how the owner would be chained to the establishment. I wonder if their will be a switch towards remote ownership in independent restaurants with the new available technology?
It’s “franchising made easiER”, not easy. One shouldn’t forget that whatever is said, owning a franchise (or a business for that matter) will always be time consuming and risky. Spending 10 hours a week in a store doesn’t mean you work only 10 hours…
It is not easy to open more than one franchise at a time and often money is not he only means to succeed.
Well, I sometimes think the days when one sat behind the counter all day taking care of his business were better.