Hyatt To Open Its Andaz Hotel Franchise Brand In India

Hyatt to debut its 'Andaz' hotel brand in India

Global hospitality major Hyatt has announced plans to set up three new properties, including one in India, under its 'Andaz' brand of hotels as it seeks to expand presence in key markets.

A Hyatt subsidiary and Juniper Hotels Pvt Ltd have signed management agreements to build 'Andaz Delhi', a 323-room hotel with an additional 118 Andaz-branded apartments.

Slated to open in 2013, the project would be the first Andaz property planned in India.

Hyatt has already announced plans to expand into 15 new Indian markets over the next five years, with properties coming up in Goa, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The Andaz brand is being introduced in India as part of Hyatt's plan to grow in one of the world's leading emerging markets, senior vice president of real estate and development for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in South Asia Ratnesh Verma said in a statement.

Targetted at the international leisure and business traveller, the project "is consistent with our development strategy of expanding the presence of our preferred brands in key markets with strong and experienced developers and owners," he added.

Andaz Delhi, which will feature amenities like lounge, theme bar, restaurants, spa and fitness center, will join the existing Andaz portfolio of properties in London and the US.

"The Andaz brand is quickly taking hold in the lifestyle hospitality category and is a key component of Hyatt's strategy of increasing our presence in key markets around the world where we see growth potential," Global head of real estate and development at US-based Hyatt Hotels, Steve Haggerty said.

The other two properties are a 183-room hotel in Sanya Sunny Bay, China, and 170-room hotel in Providenciales, in Turks and Caicos islands, a British overseas territory.

The Andaz brand debuted three years ago and has 11 properties open or under development in six countries.

Juniper Hotels is a hotel investment company co-owned by Two Seas Holdings Ltd and Saraf Holdings.

JHPL owns Grand Hyatt Mumbai and Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad, scheduled to open in 2013.

Hyatt Hotels' subsidiaries manage, franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites brand names.

As of March 2010, the company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 434 properties.

Source:Press Trust of India / Boston June 08, 2010, 12:24 IST

Tags:Hyatt, Andaz, Juniper Hotels, Hotel Franchise,park hyatt, grand hyatt, hyatt regency, hyatt place, hyatt summerfield suites, franchise hotels,hotel franchise brands, international hotel franchise

Maid2Clean seeking master franchise for India for its cleaning service franchise.

Seeking Minute2Maid Master Licences For Australia,India,North America,Portugal and Hong Kong.


Master Franchising

Maid2Clean’s history of consistent growth and expansion across the UK and soon to be internationally in your country is the result of sound management principles and a comprehensive business system that is difficult to compete against.

In today’s economy and in the future, customers want economical solutions to their housework chores without sacrificing quality – Maid2Clean does this!
Maid2Clean offers a compelling management business model with one of the lowest initial investment requirements in the industry. A Master license Franchisee needs to harness the power of the brand and grow a substantial franchise operation.

What is a Master Franchise?

A Master franchise is where a franchise businesses that has a proven system in one country (E.G. Maid2Clean in the UK) offers a licence to its brand in another country.
A Master Franchisor steps into the role of Franchisor in that country and effectively a Master Franchisor would run 2 entirely different businesses.
a) A Maid2Clean management franchise in the domestic cleaning sector
And
b) A franchise business involved with promoting, demonstrating and selling licenced territories to franchisees.

Maid2Clean Master Franchise Licenses

Have you reached the pinnacle of your career and wondered where you go from here? Maid2Clean can offer a global brand with you adding the local knowledge and relevance.

The Maid2Clean brand is recognised for service quality and our unique method of delivering domestic cleaning services to private residences. Maid2Clean is a strong UK brand, known for expertise in offering residential customers exceptional service. Today thousands of Maid2clean registered cleaners clean tens of thousands of households.

Considering an application for a Maid2Clean master franchise license you will have conducted your own due diligence and discovered that Maid2Clean is a successful UK brand with 100+ franchised operations in the UK, Ireland and Canada and is seeking to expand into international markets.

This is a truly unique management agency concept in the domestic cleaning services sector. The Maid2Clean business itself is a white collar franchise that manages the relationship between home owners that need regular weekly cleans or one off blitz cleans and their cleaners. The Maid2clean business is already a proven concept since 1993, with high profit margins and increasing customer demand. Houses gather dust no matter how the economy performs and demand for the service and franchise licenses remains strong, even in recessional times. The domestic services cleaning sector has grown exponentially over the last 20 years as more and more couples to out to work to service the life styles they desire.

Owing to many requests for our service overseas, Maid2Clean now seeks interest from master licencee applicants. To meet this continued demand we want to find the right franchise partner be it on a Master licence basis. There is no cleaning involved by Master License holders or the franchisees they recruit.

For simplicity purposes applications are welcomed by potential Master Licensees and Franchisees in English speaking countries.

We are particularly interested in speaking to people in Australia (launches Q3 2010), North America, India, Hong Kong and Portugal at this time. We will consider applicants from non-english speaking countries however translation costs would need to be borne in mind.
Who are we looking for?

Maid2Clean is actively seeking master franchisees that have the drive to succeed and proven ability, systems and financial capacity to introduce, support and grow a master franchise business in their own country.

Maid2clean continuously strives to develop new and innovative value added services to both Franchisees and clients alike. As a Maid2Clean Master Franchisor your input to this process would be essential.

Master Franchisor Profile for Country and regional master franchise candidates

We are not currently looking for single unit franchisees:

To Maid2Clean, the ability to use business experience is outweighs specific industry knowledge. That said Master Franchisor Applicants must possess the following attributes:

Essential Qualities and Skills

• Successful business background
• Strong business acumen and ethics
• Good communicator in verbal and written form
• Articulate and hard working
• The capability and resources to recruit and support local franchisees
• Previous experience in developing and managing businesses.
• The ability and resources to build the Maid2Clean Brand
• Ability to run a pilot system for the network
• Ability to work alone and lead a team
• Sales experience
• Enthusiasm for and ability to fully participate in the continuous improvement of Maid2Clean’s operational systems
• Good interpersonal, influencing and social skills
• Entrepreneurial spirit
• Accustomed to business environments and dealing with professionals and business people alike

Ideal qualities and skills

• Previous experience in franchising
• Strong sales experience
• Pioneering, entrepreneurial and enjoy being the first to market
• Industry knowledge

What is included in the Master Licence Package?

Maid2Clean offers the exclusive development rights to operate the Maid2Clean Franchise system in your Master Franchisee’s country.

The Master Licensee will gain access to the proven Maid2Clean franchise program, which they will adapt to their country. The master franchise owner will recruit and award franchises within the geographic areas designated in their master franchise license, to individuals looking to run their own local Maid2Clean cleaning agency.

Whilst the Maid2Clean product is a unique service and therefore no major investment is needed in premises, cleaning products or liveried vehicles, the franchisee’s agency business can be run from a small office or home. The Franchise business can be run from home also.

Our Master Franchisees are International Master Franchise Owners. They will receive the following with their Maid2clean Master License:

• Launch Program in country
• The rights to sell Maid2Clean Franchise Licenses throughout Master Territory.
• The rights to use the Maid2Clean trademarks, service marks and other commercial symbols.
• The know-how to develop franchisees businesses countrywide
• Interfacing with Maid2Clean in the UK for ongoing support , training and business development
• Developing a National Account Program for franchisees
• The know-how of how to create brand awareness in country
• The knowledge of how to create strong margins with repeat customers
• The support and back up of an experienced senior management team
• Our highly distinguished brand name (we do what is says on ther tin!)
• A brand recognized for quality and a commitment to service.
• A protected, exclusive and generous Master territory license
• Maid2Clean proprietary systems and methods
• Online knowledge base
• A proven business model since 1993

Investment

The investment will be based on the size of the territory taken I.E. the number of potential Franchise licenses within the geographical Master Franchise area allocated. Fees will take the form of initial up-front payment and thereafter an ongoing royalty to be agreed between Maid2Clean and the Master Franchisor.

The master Franchisor will need to bear the costs of localising the franchise package including the Operations Manual. The royalty is a fixed monthly fee. We would split the initial franchise fees on each franchisee recruited 50/50, and royalties on each franchisee would be split 75/25 in the Master franchisees favour.

The master franchisee would then be allowed to open or resell as many franchises as desired within the master franchise area.

Training & Support

• Comprehensive training in the UK & in country.
• Business management knowledge for successful Maid2Clean franchise operations, including day-to-day operations, franchise system support, and franchise growth
• Sales and marketing training and support
• existing infrastructure to support your role as a Master Franchisee of our brand in your country
profiling knowledge to help obtain strong franchise candidates
• Initial and on-going assistance in managing a thriving franchise system
• Knowledge and ethos behind the Maid2Clean trademarked ‘Sweep2Left’ system-wide best-practices
• Management support through our Master Support Team
• Operations support through on-site visit, telephone and online computer assistance
• IT Systems assistance
• Administrative functions
• Billing system
• Regular franchise business Consultation
• Business reviews and analysis
• Marketing input
• Franchise product development
• PR help
• Initial training in the UK with visit to franchisee locations
• Operations manual for localisation

Tags: Master Franchise,Master License, Cleaning Service Franchise,Master Licence,franchise operations, master franchise license,master franchise business,master franchisor,franchise system.
• Technical support hot line
• The support you need with expertise, best practices and knowledge of the franchise. You simply localise the package.
• Help with opening your Master Franchise
• Advice in adapting the Maid2Clean System to your local culture and economy

Advantages of a Maid2Clean Master License

The Maid2Clean Master Franchise opportunity provides you with many advantages such as:

• Exclusive rights in your area as a franchisor, not just a Franchisee
• Satisfaction in knowing you are helping others grow their businesses as their residential cleaners provide a much needed service
• Low total investment compared to other Master License concepts
• Flexible working hours

Small inventory

• Minimal staffing requirements
• Make money upfront – from every franchise awarded in your area
• Residual income
• Booming industry that’s still in its infancy and poised for growth
• Unique proprietary systems that allow YOU (and each franchisee under you) to build a business that can eventually run without you
• Training and support
• Prestigious white collar franchise business
• Become a part of a business culture with values that is rare to find in this day and age
• Recession-resistant industry
• Marketing collateral to localisation

International Indian Food Franchise Brand Royal India Express Expands Across The US

Papa Bello buys Royal India Express

BALTIMORE, Md. – Papa Bello Enterprises Inc. has acquired the Royal India Express Indian restaurant concept with plans to launch franchising.

Established in 2005, Royal India Express operates one flagship location in the Horton Plaza Shopping Mall in the Gas Lamp Quarter of downtown San Diego, Calif. With approximately 130 retail stores and over 10,000,000 annual customer visits, this location provides excellent visibility and customer traffic, according to Papa Bello. The company said it is researching additional sites in Southern California for future expansion.

The Royal India Express is another culinary creation by the well-known restaurateurs Kambo Brothers, Sam and Jag. They also operate Papa Bello's Kebab Cafe Concept and are known throughout San Diego for providing quality, innovative food at a reasonable price, the company said.

“Royal India Express is another example of the quality work done by the Kambo Brothers. Their San Diego location is doing great business now and with our help, we intend to franchise this concept under the Papa Bello Enterprises umbrella and make it available to other great entrepreneurs,” said James Price, chief executive officer of Papa Bello Enterprises. “Royal India Express has built a loyal and consistent following in the area and we believe that we can replicate that enthusiasm throughout the country as an exciting new business opportunity.

“Looking forward, I feel Papa Bello Enterprises is well grounded and is in excellent position to expand with the 4 operating concepts. Industry experts have stated that over the next 10 years, Indian and Mediterranean fast casual dining will be two of the fastest growing food styles in the country and Papa Bello Enterprises is well positioned to take advantage of these trends,” Price added.

Founded in 2005, Papa Bello Enterprises is a Baltimore, Md.-based corporation that owns, operates, and franchises food service restaurants in the United States and abroad. Papa Bello sells franchises for fast-casual restaurants with limited service offering pizza, pasta, subs, salads, beverages and other menu items on a dine-in, take-out, take-and-bake or delivery basis. Papa Bello Pizza & Subs restaurants are located primarily in Wal-Mart stores, but also in shopping centers, in-line commercial spaces, and freestanding locations. Papa Bello Enterprises is a publicly traded company.

Tags:Royal India Express, Papa Bello, Kebab Cafe, Kambo Brothers,food service restaurant franchise, sell franchises, fast casual restaurant franchise, Indian Food Franchise

Source:Indus News Wire,May 2010,

Fast Food Chains Heading Overseas For International Expansion.

Popeyes and Moe’s Southwest Grill are scouting locations in the Middle East. Wing Zone is taking its delivery service to Tokyo. Wendy’s/Arby’s Group plans to open as many as 45 new stores in foreign countries this year.

With the recession crimping U.S. sales in the usually resilient fast food business -- and lending for new franchises tight -- Atlanta-based chains and brands are looking overseas for growth.

“There are a lot of markets that these companies want to tap,” said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Sara Senatore.

The trail has been well-blazed. In 1987, Yum! Brands, owner of KFC, became the first fast-food chain to enter China. McDonald’s followed in 1990. Today, their financial results bear the fruits of that diversification. China represents about one-third of Yum’s sales and operating profit; McDonald’s gets about 60 percent of sales outside the U.S.

The latest international push is partly an outgrowth of tough competition in the United States, compounded by a tough economy and tight credit.

“In this economic environment, it is tough sledding,” said Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeyes. “These are anxious times to be a franchisee.”

New restaurant openings in the U.S. have slowed down dramatically, and analysts warn demand will remain lax for some time. The recession brought home the reality of the U.S. as a mature fast-food market.

“The U.S. is the most saturated (fast-food) market in the world,” said Roland Smith, CEO of Wendy’s/Arby’s. “It’s harder to expand here, depending on your brand.”

International expansion helps balance a company’s risk and protects its profits, he said.

Here’s how four Atlanta-based companies are going after international growth:

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group
Smith, a West Point graduate, has lived and worked in Germany, Canada and Islamabad, Pakistan. Moving up the ladder at Pepsi and KFC International, he looked to international experience to differentiate himself. Now, he hopes international growth will set his company apart.

Smith has set ambitious growth plans for the new international subsidiary of Wendy’s/Arby’s, which is currently dwarfed by the domestic side. The company wants to eventually have 8,000 restaurants in international markets.

The company won’t put a timetable on that goal, but Smith said international sales should be a “significant, meaningful piece” of the business within five years. “International is like compound interest,” he said. “It starts to pay back pretty nicely in a short amount of time.”

Smith insists that Wendy’s/Arby’s still has good opportunities to expand in the U.S. “But if you look at long-term growth potential,” he said, “not to focus significantly on the international opportunity would be a big miss.”

The company says a franchise partner in the Middle East is aggressively opening stores. Dubai’s first dual-branded Wendy’s/Arby’s restaurant will open in May. Wendy’s/Arby’s has a presence in Indonesia, the Philippines and New Zealand, as well as Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Honduras, Mexico and the Bahamas.

The company wants a franchise group to open 35 Wendy’s restaurants in the Middle East and Singapore over the next 10 years. It is interviewing potential franchise companies to re-open Japan. (The company ended its deal with a franchise partner in Japan four months ago, alleging non-performance of contract obligations.) Japan is important because its people are well-acquainted with Western fast food.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s/Arby’s is considering opening company-owned restaurants as well as franchise locations in China.

“Asia is certainly a big opportunity for us,” said Smith. “You’d have to have your head in a hole in the ground not to recognize the opportunity in China. A lot of our competitors are doing very well there.”

AFC Enterprises Inc.
The franchiser and operator of Popeyes restaurants opened 95 restaurants last year; 56 were outside the U.S.

Turkey is Popeyes’ fastest-growing country. It expanded to that nation in 2008 and now has 52 restaurants there. Since 2008, the chain has also pushed into Singapore, Malaysia and Egypt. Popeyes is chasing the growing global middle class, which typically lacks the restaurant variety of the U.S., said CEO Cheryl Bachelder.

“We like to go to countries that love flavor,” said Bachelder. “We actually look at the cayenne pepper index -- the propensity of a country to eat cayenne pepper.”
Popeyes is the world’s second largest quick-service chicken concept, behind KFC. At the end of 2009, it had 1,943 restaurants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and 27 foreign countries. Bachelder said the brand, wrapped in American Cajun identity, doesn’t encounter much resistance in the Middle East, where it has a foothold in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

“They are very receptive,” she said. “We are a flavorful brand, but we are not a red, white and blue brand. We don’t get the flack that other (American) brands do, because we are seen as a multicultural brand.”

But Popeyes isn’t ignoring its roots back in America, said Bachelder.

“Many chains are actually built out in the U.S.,” she said. “We are not. We have some more runway both in the U.S. and internationally.”

Wing Zone

Matt Friedman, co-founder of Atlanta-based Wing Zone, hopes to bring one mouth-burning piece of Americana -- the hot chicken wing -- to Japan.

“People think we’re nuts,” said Friedman, CEO of the 100-unit chain. “There really hasn’t been a regional or international buffalo wings franchise to expand internationally.”

Friedman said Wing Zone, which has catered to college students since being established at the University of Florida in 1991, has avoided far-flung expansion. It is in Panama and Mexico, but until recently the goal was to stay close to the U.S. The company reconsidered when domestic growth slowed last year and San Francisco‚ìbased Pacific Rim Partners asked about bringing Wing Zone to Tokyo.

“The density of people there is truly like nothing else in the world,” said Friedman. The company plans 50 locations in Tokyo.

“International is probably a longer-term play,” said Friedman. “We’re gonna work out some kinks.”

Moe’s Southwest Grill

What goes well with a burrito? If you’re Paul Damico, president of Moe’s, you hope the answer is a cinnamon bun. Executives at Moe’s, which like Cinnabon is owned by Atlanta-based private equity firm Roark Capital Group, are looking at countries that already have Cinnabon franchises.

The goal: to see if those current franchisees would be interested in adding Moe’s stores. Potential markets include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, India, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Cinnabon has recently launched into India, Romania, Russia, Greece, Cyprus, England and Austria. It now is in 35 countries.

“They have the supply chain, they have the finance lined up,” Damico said of Cinnabon. The next step: getting existing Cinnabon franchisees comfortable with the Moe’s brand.

International expansion “takes a lot of time and a lot of work,” said Damico. “Is the supply chain available? What our R&D group is really focused on right now is, what can we do to customize (the menu) so the local community will embrace it? Beef is not going to be on the menu in India. Pork is not going to be on the menu in Istanbul.” (A franchisee is building a Moe’s store in the food court atop Istanbul’s tallest building.)

Moe’s also plans to open 50 U.S. restaurants this year and perhaps 100 in 2011. “The U.S. is still our core market,” said Damico.

How we got the story
Amid slow times in the U.S. restaurant industry, a number of local fast-food franchise chains have plans for expansion in international markets. Reporter Jeremiah McWilliams started tracking the trend, doing interviews and listening to conference calls with executives, equity analysts and consultants, and also reviewing company documents and transcripts of earnings conference calls.

Source: Atlanta Business News 3:37 p.m. Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tags:Fast Food Chains, Popeyes, Moe's Southwest grill, wing zone, wendy's, arby's,yum brands, mcdonalds,international expansion,franchise partner,franchise group,cinnabon,fast-food franchise,consultants,

Expanding Overseas & Managing Franchisor Franchisee Relationships

Nicola Mills, chief executive of franchise brand manager Pacific Retail Management, has just returned from France, where she has been helping launch the first French store of her company's Go Sushi chain. Pacific Retail, which has turnover of more than $9 million, supports four franchise chains in total, including Kick Juice Bars, Love Coffee & Crepes and Beard Papa. 
 
Today Nicola talks to us about expanding overseas, being caught out in a takeover deal, and how franchisors can do a better job of supporting their franchisees.

Tell us about expanding into France. Are the French big fans of sushi?
Well, two French guys Arnaud and Remi approached us. Sushi is a few years behind in Australia. Australians are adopting sushi; it's almost becoming a part of our everyday food. But the French, it's fairly new.
So they saw an opportunity and came and saw us and said 'can we get involved and can we start it over here'? So we actually own 15% of the company as well as being a master franchisee which is good. They've done a deal with Kinepolis Cinemas over there, which are throughout Europe so it's France and Belgium and so on, so they've got the rights to having sites in all the cinemas throughout Europe and exclusively France.
The first one's been open five weeks and it's doing really well. We sell smaller samples because a lot of people are coming up and saying 'I haven't tried it before and can I try little bits and pieces'. Then they'll come back and say 'that's my favourite and now can I buy the full roll'. And so it's been good, it's been really good. The next step is to open up some more and start rolling them out through Europe.

So how did two guys from France come across this brand?
That's a good question. Our website – how everybody finds everything these days. They liked the look of Go Sushi, they travelled over to Australia, they looked at a number of different outlets, made a few phone calls and we were able to do the deal with them. I mean it took probably about 18 months to do the final deal with them and we could work together. They came to Australia a couple of times and I met them in Hong Kong and it all worked out in the end.

And is this your first sort of foray overseas?
No, we actually have a master franchise agreement with Kick into India, which is obviously a very different market. We did a master franchisee agreement with an Indian partner about three years ago. He's bought five sites in India, but the GFC hit and he stopped building anything. So the site's are actually sitting there at the moment and he's kind of starting to recover, so the sites will now start getting fitted out and start opening.
We don't actually focus on the international business. While it's very nice for the ego to say that we're in France or we've got an international agreement into India, I'm very much into looking after our own backyard first, let's become a success in Australia and then see what we can do internationally. Because you can spend a lot of money on international and you don't have a lot of control and you're so far away.

So can you just give us an idea of the size of Pacific Retail Management now, particularly in Australia?
Well we're actually quite small - we've got 30 outlets. We own three brands and we manage another brand for someone else which is Beard Papa Sweets, but we own Love Coffee & Crepes, Kick Juice and Go Sushi.

We've just taken Go Sushi through a rebranding process, so we've spent quite a lot of money just doing a whole lot of consumer research, doing interviews with our franchisees, doing interviews with our suppliers, with my team, with head office. Go Sushi was a company I bought back in 2008 and it doesn't really have a story or a heartbeat. It has good products and it's fast and quick, but we're not really making enough of an impact.

So the new brand that we've created is very exciting. We launch that to the franchisees next week and I think that will make quite a big impact in the market and it's based on what consumers are telling us they want from sushi and what they want to see and where we think there's a bit of a hole in the market.

Go Sushi will be our champion brand essentially. We've only got three stores of Love Coffee & Crepes and there is an interesting story there. When we bought Go Sushi back in 2008, we thought we bought Go Sushi and a brand called The Crepe Cafe and that was a master franchise. Again we didn't buy the trademark for The Crepe Cafe, it was a master franchise agreement but as it turned out the master franchise agreement had been terminated about three months before we bought the company, but they didn't mention that. So they showed us all the paperwork, did all the due diligence and had all the signed agreements and all the proper documents and so on and so forth and we bought the company, we thought, and two weeks later we got a letter saying who are you and why are you using our logo?

So Love Coffee & Crepes was created as a bandaid at that time and we kind of worked through all the legal implications of that. But we're actually now getting a lot of enquiries for Love Coffee & Crepes and a lot of people are interested in it. So we need to start doing a bit of work on that and developing that as a full blown brand. The guy that we bought it off I found out later he'd been in jail for two years for fraud.
 
Did the episode teach you a bit about due diligence?
Well you can imagine every lawyer I speak to and accountant, I get that tsk, tsk, tsk, you clearly didn't do your due diligence properly. You can imagine what I get. We're about to make another acquisition and that hopefully will go through in the next four weeks. And I've checked that the owner has been in jail for fraud and are we checking all the documents!

But there's just a point that if people lie, they lie. Sometimes you can do lots of due diligence but people lie or they do fraudulent things. So I think it's more about the contracts that you enter into. The next acquisition has a lot more targets built into it and little bit less money up front. A lot more money is based on what you're telling me the stores are doing is actually what happens. If they do, we'll give you more money and if they don't, we won't. So it's just building it into the contract I suppose.

You mentioned the GFC before and how it hit India. What was the effect in Australia on your business? The franchise sector seems to have come through it pretty well.
Sushi was great. Because we were a lower priced product, our sales went up. So the GFC hit and more people were buying sushi, it was good value, it's healthy, you still buy your lunch. So people stopped buying at the higher end, so it actually had a very positive effect on us. So no complaints from me about the GFC.


And are you noticing a further pick up as the rest of the economy hits a recovery?
Because Go Sushi is still in growth we're seeing our numbers improving year on year, our turnover is improving year on year. But having said that, some of our competitors are starting to do a really, really good job and I don't think we're doing as good a job as them. So that's why we've just gone back to the consumers, talking to them, what do you need, what does the customers want?

Like I said we've just done a whole lot of work on that so that we don't get left behind because you can get complacent and because our sales have been going up year on year it all looks very nice on the board reports. But if we don't keep up with what's going on, we'll suddenly ask why have we been beaten?

You're a different sort of outfit I guess in that you're managing a few franchises. You're dealing with a number of franchisees with a number of different relationships and backgrounds. What are some of the keys to managing a franchisee/franchisor relationship well? We've just seen a study suggesting 30% of franchisees don't trust their franchisor. I would have thought the level of trust would have been quite high given how closely both parties rely on each other.

There's a book by Greg Nathan, called Profitable Partnerships. It's an excellent book and I think he addresses the franchisor/franchisee relationship very, very well. And he talks about stages that the franchisee/franchisor relationship goes though. It goes from the really excited to be involved with you to it's all about me, what are you doing to help me and then suddenly why do I need you and now I've learnt all this, why am I paying these royalties? It just goes through all these stages that a franchisee goes through, a bit like growing up as a child; I need you as a baby and then as adolescent I get a bit more independent and then as a teenager, well dad you're stupid, I know more than you and why should I listen to you? And then you hopefully get into that adult relationship where you can relate to each other again.

Franchisors and franchisees are a bit like that and I think probably you find that 30% of those franchisees, they'd been at different stages of the relationship. I think it does come down to all franchisors probably not doing enough at the franchisee selection stage. The people that you bring on board have to actually fit with your culture and your organisation. Do they want to be part of a team or they want to run their own business? Or will they not want to listen, will they want to take your brand, logo and systems and then get on with it and never have to deal with you again?

I think if you were to dig a bit deeper into that survey, you'd find those 30% are probably at those later stages, they're probably at that teenage stage of the franchise relationship. And maybe the right franchisee selection wasn't done at the beginning, enough about well this is who we are and these are the systems we have and these are our expectations and I don't think enough of that is done.

By the same token though, as a franchisor, do you need to try and recognise where your franchisees are in that life cycle, whether they are kids or teenagers?
Yes we do. When they first start their business, they're spending so much money, most of them are just petrified. So they stick with you very closely at that stage because they want to make sure they get everything right.

Then I've got a franchisee and she's got two stores and she's been in the group five or six years. She's very opinionated but she's very constructive, she has a very adult relationship with us. I talk to her quite a bit because she'll tell it to me straight, other franchisees will speak to her and she'll talk to me.
And then I have those that are in the "teenage space" and it's just communication, communication, communication.

So I think you can't treat every franchisee the same. They're all at different stages and their businesses are at different stages.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you sort of get involved in the world franchising? Are you a former franchisee?

No, I was actually the Marketing Director at 2Day FM for many, many years and Assistant General Manager. In fact I was with Austereo for 14 years and in Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. But I did my MBA through that time and at some point I just thought I just want to run my own business. So I did my real MBA by starting my own business with not knowing a lot and I learnt most of what I know now through actually going and running a business and going through all the pitfalls and dangers of actually running it.

So that was a juice bar?
That was Kick Juice. So started that and then essentially closed it down. I mean we still have a Kick Juice but we don't actually sell it as a standalone concept any further. The rent and turnover just doesn't justify it. But we do sell it as a back-to-back with a Go Sushi. So for example in Broome we've got one site and he pays one lease but we put Kick on one side and Go Sushi on the other. Kick basically pays the rent and Go Sushi is all the cream on the top. But that's where I learnt a lot of my lessons about business, negotiation, contracts and all that stuff you're probably not exposed to when you come out of a corporate job in marketing or whatever you might be in.

Looking forward, I guess the implementation of the Go Sushi rebranding would be an immediate challenge, what about some others? We do keep hearing recruitment of franchisees is an issue for a lot of franchisors, is that the same for you?

Definitely. I think there are a lot of franchisors that are in that 20 to 30 store number and they stop. You'll see a lot of franchisors, they'll get really fast growth, they'll get to 18 stores or 20 stores and be doing really well and then they get to that kind of 20 to 30 stores and it just seems that everybody stops. But I think what's happening there is a lot of franchisors are going out and they're not reinvesting money into the business. So they're not reinvesting into the profitability of the franchisee. If you're a new franchisee and you want to join a group, you talk to the other franchisees and if they're doing okay but they're not doing great or they're not making a lot of money, the prospective franchisee is not going to buy.

I think recruitment of franchisees comes back to the business refocusing on their existing franchisees and making sure that they are doing really well and that they're really profitable. It makes it so much easier to recruit new franchisees because you've got a good story, you've got a good system and people are profitable. But a lot of franchisors are focusing on spending more money on advertising and all of these different things to try and bring more people on. But then they're missing the point which is people will naturally come to the group when you're getting the current franchisees to do really well. So again the whole rebranding, what we're doing is going back to consumers and talking to our franchisees is about making our current franchisees profitable and the rest will flow on from there.

So do you have a target where you'd like to get to from 30 to X number of stores quickly or are you prepared to sort of wait?

I do have a target for pure economics, having 50 stores or more means that the franchisor can turn a profit; having 25 stores or less means you're not. If you're a good franchisor. And good franchisor means that you are actually supporting the franchisees and doing the right thing. You can make money out of having 25 stores or less but that means you're taking all the money out of the business and not reinvesting in it. So franchisors need to have 40 or 50 to actually start being profitable themselves.

Beyond that kind of 50 store number I suppose for me it's actually not about store targets, I don't actually want a lot of stores, I would just like all my stores to be profitable. So if that means we have 60 stores then that's what we have; it's better than having 200 stores and 100 of them are dying or not doing well

Is the percentage of the franchisees that are profitable; is it far off where you want it to be?

The franchisees we've got at the moment, some of them are doing very, very well and some of them are doing okay, but most of them are doing fine. But I'd like to see them all doing really, really well. It works for everybody and that's what our team is focused on.

Source:James Thomson Wednesday, 28 April 2010 09:45

Jan-Pro Marks 20 Years Of Franchise Expansion Crossing The 10,000 Franchisee Mark

Jan-Pro Celebrates 20 Years of Franchise Expansion – Breaks the 10,000 Franchisee Mark

Jan-Pro International, Inc., a global leader in commercial cleaning breaks the 10,000 franchisee mark with domestic as well as international growth in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Puerto Rico and Dubai.

The achievement of surpassing the 10,000 franchisee mark continues to make Jan-Pro a favorite choice among those looking for a solid franchise business.

Cincinnati, OH (PRWEB) April 26, 2010 -- Jan-Pro International, Inc. (Jan-Pro), a global leader in commercial cleaning, one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, announced today the company’s achievement of crossing the 10,000 franchisee mark, with the opening of new offices in North America and Dubai United Arab Emirates.

Rich Kissane, President & CEO, Jan-Pro

With over 90 regional offices, a presence in all 50 states and 4 countries, the achievement of surpassing the 10,000 franchisee mark continues to make Jan-Pro a favorite choice among those looking for a solid franchise business. Industry experts seem to agree. Entrepreneur Magazine has chosen Jan-Pro as "the #1 fastest growing franchise" in 2008, 2009 and 2010, an honor never before achieved in the history of the award. Jan-Pro achievements are also highlighted by the CBS news video "top rated franchise," and many other global citations.
Most recently, Jan-Pro opened a new regional office, Jan-Pro of Western PA/NE Ohio. "We were looking into several businesses and we chose Jan-Pro," said Michael Humm, President. "One thing that swayed us to invest in Jan-Pro was the integrity and openness of the Jan-Pro people we talked with and met. Everything we were told stands true today."
The Jan-Pro of the Western Carolinas office exemplifies the attractiveness of Jan-Pro as a business opportunity. "I was a sales rep for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world," says Ivan Copney, Jan-Pro Western Carolinas Unit Franchisee. "I participated in testing and discovered I had a strong desire to start a business of my own. I looked at several, my decision to join Jan-Pro was made when I met with Master Franchise owners, Vickie and David Burns and saw the passion they have for the business."
The opening of the Jan-Pro Western PA/N.E. Ohio Jan-Pro office and the Western Carolinas office are just part of Jan-Pro’s expansion. The company has also been adding franchisees worldwide, and for example, has recently announced the signing of a new Jan-Pro franchisee serving the Dubai United Arab Emirates, to open July 2010.
A $113 billion industry, commercial cleaning is viewed by many financial analysts as recession resistant and highly stable. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest growing occupation for the next decade is that of a professional cleaning specialist.
"We've come a long way in our 20 years, from our beginnings of one office in Providence, Rhode Island back in 1991, to our accomplishments today," said Rich Kissane, President & CEO, Jan-Pro. "As demand for a solid business in the cleaning industry continues to grow, our strategy has been clear – to provide solid solutions and a proven system, making Jan-Pro a top choice for any entrepreneur wanting a great business."

About Jan-Pro International, Inc.:
Jan-Pro was founded in 1991 by Jacques Lapointe in Providence, Rhode Island, with a desire to offer the highest quality cleaning techniques and systems available. Currently, the Jan-Pro team is comprised of business leaders with experience around the world, as well as seasoned cleaning industry executives. Today, company structure is comprised of Master Franchisees and Unit franchisees. Jan-Pro regularly receives inquiries from around the world.

Tags:Jan-Pro,commercial cleaning franchise, Rich Kissane, fastest growing franchise, top rated franchise,business opportunity,master franchisees, unit franchisees,solid franchise business

Edible Arrangements Franchise Option For Florists To Expand Their Gift Giving Business.

Edible Arrangements Franchise a Savvy Option for Florists Looking to Expand Their Gift-Giving Business

WALLINGFORD, CT--(Marketwire - April 26, 2010) - Edible Arrangements, the pioneer and leader in hand-sculpted, fresh-fruit arrangements, is inviting florists to expand their business by adding an Edible Arrangements franchise to their business portfolio. Tariq Farid, founder and CEO, started in the floral business when he was 17 years old and in 1999, created Edible Arrangements. Since its inception the company has experienced exponential growth and now has over 940 locations worldwide.

"From my personal experience, these two businesses have strong delivery components and many other operational similarities making the addition of an Edible Arrangements franchise a natural fit for current florists," said Tariq Farid, Founder and CEO, Edible Arrangements, Inc. "Our business models are very compatible as florists have a great understanding of the gift-giving industry, are accustomed to working with perishable products and recognize the schedule required to ensure success."

Farid is recently the recipient of two Entrepreneur of the Year awards from the International Franchise Association and Ernst & Young in Metro New York. He learned early that corporate support can make the difference between a struggling or thriving franchise. It is for this reason that Edible Arrangements offers its franchisees comprehensive corporate and onsite level training, unparalleled technology, national brand recognition, extensive support and now, financing.

Individuals seeking to own and operate an individual Edible Arrangements franchise should posses a minimum liquidity of $60,000 and the ability to invest approximately $146,882 - $292,000. Multi-unit store development plans, international master franchisee licenses and financing options are also available for qualified applicants.

"Our products which are not carried by mass market retailers offer outstanding value to consumers: visual beauty, great taste and nutritional value, which would greatly compliment a florists existing enterprise portfolio," said Farid.

Edible Arrangements experienced strong growth in 2009 with the opening of 74 new stores and franchise agreements for more than 85 locations in the U.S. and internationally. As part of the company's 2010 aggressive growth strategy, Edible Arrangements is seeking to add several new development agreements in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and other areas of the United States, while expanding its presence to India, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, and Egypt.

Since its inception, Edible Arrangements has earned countless accolades from the industry, including its ranking as first in its category by Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual "Franchise 500" Ranking for the past five consecutive years. In addition, the company has also ranked for six consecutive years in Inc. Magazine's top 5,000 fastest growing privately-held companies.

About Edible Arrangements
Edible Arrangements International, Inc. is the leading purveyor of delicious, high quality, artistically designed, fresh fruit arrangements that are practical and healthy gifts. Founded in 1999 in East Haven, CT. by Tariq Farid, Edible Arrangements has been ranked first in its category by Entrepreneur Magazine's Annual "Franchise 500" Ranking for the past five consecutive years. With over 900 locations operating or opening soon worldwide, Edible Arrangements is rapidly expanding across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Italy, Turkey and Hong Kong.
All franchise offerings are made only by Franchise Disclosure Document.

Tags:Edible Arrangements, florists franchise, tariq farid, gift franchise, franchise offerings, top franchise, best franchise, franchise opportunity, gifts and greetings franchise.