[Closed] Any franchisees on here?

Know nothing whatsoever about Franchises, but heard that Specsavers have never closed a store, so must be a fairly reliable bet

http://www.juicecommunity.com/

[b]McDonald or Burger King or KFC[/b] at the right location ... they are always full ... people love it because they boost extra energy at rock bottom price.

Any of the above will do because there are just too many people that are addicted to them ... hhmmm ... fattttt ...

My best mate had a cafe franchise and lost ~£50-60K.I talked to him about not starting it, until the point where it would have been the end of our friendship if I'd continued 🙁

I'd say that I'd only go into a franchise if the brand/product was very strong otherwise it makes no sense. Poor franchise companies skim off your profit and manage the business to their benefit not yours.

have lots of cash available , even if you make a loss you still need to pay.

Every so often the Broadsheets do an article on these, for every successful one there seem to be loads of lame ducks which just con people out of £10ks in start up fees and land them with an unsustainable business.

Any sort of franchise that is less than 30 year old is not worth the time because their reputation is practically very weak, so if you get them then you are paying the franchiser to promote their brand for them while they secure their instant profit from you.

This is my fear, it seems like a there are a lot of negative experiences out there with success stories only existing in the franchise promotional material.

The only person I know who got involved in one lost a fortune, including his house and credit rating.

I looked at it in detail a while back. The over riding conclusion was that if you were good enough to make a success of a franchise then you were good enough to make a success of a business without being a franchise.
What you need to look at is what its going to cost you in relation to what you are going to get back. What sort of training, marketing and product support you are going to get and what are the guarantees that you are going to get value for your money. Never forget you are the customer and you are paying (often handsomely) for what you are going to get, so be picky and make sure before signing anything you run it past a specialist franchise lawyer.
Don't reject the concept out of hand, but do your homework and dot the i's and cross the t's.

I looked at it in detail a while back. The over riding conclusion was that if you were good enough to make a success of a franchise then you were good enough to make a success of a business without being a franchise.

I don't pretend to be an expert but every time I have come across franchises (individual level franchises, I mean, not massive country-wide master franchises), there always seem to be a lot of dogs.

Apparently a large chunk of franchisees are people who have received a redundancy or disability payout and want to buy some stability. But from my (completely unqualified) perspective, it seems crazy to commit yourself to buying all/most stock/inputs and buy Territories from someone who knows your business far better than you do - they're going to know exactly how much you can afford to pay while not quite going out of business. "Apparently" lots of franchisees don't even make the equivalent of minimum wage (because they're self-employed).

Say the annual fee is 20 grand - how much advertising, Google Ad Words, direct marketing, R&D etc could you do for that much? Lots! OK, you get a "package" for running a business, but for the annual fee you could easily pay a local solicitor, accountant, designer and marketing person to tell you just as much, and personalised to your product/market/town. And besides that there is a wealth of perfectly-qualified, highly-experienced business advice for any industry here on STW. 😉 I say this as someone who set up a small business (in partnership with OH) over the past couple of years in a market in which there are a number of franchise operations, so I am not [i]entirely [/i]bullshitting. 😉

Obviously - the above is just impressionistic nonsense so do your own research, YMMV etc etc...

PS - if you're still interested in franchising, don't forget you can (sometimes) buy out existing franchisees, and there are lawyers and accountants that specialise in franchises who can advise on a proper price to pay...

I want to start a Taco Bell in the UK. Everyone's heard of it, and there are none here. Would be a smash hit I reckon, and it'd provide a much much better alternative to the burger crud you can only get easily when travelling or late at night.

The main advantage to a franchise (and it's not to be sneezed at imo) is the brand. Don't under-estimate the value of brand recognition in some markets. About half the western world seems to be comfortable going to McDs wherver they are, that's hardly going to be true of bigdugsbaws's Burgers is it?

don simon - Member
I looked at it in detail a while back. The over riding conclusion was that if you were good enough to make a success of a franchise then you were good enough to make a success of a business without being a franchise.

I'd completely agree with this and can't see where the con is or how people lose so much money.

It's not a con as such but the rule should be if you wouldn't do it yourself don't do a franchise!

But for every McDs, there are endless Wheelie bin sanitisation companies or Lawn Doctors who have paid a fortune for a franchise no one really wants....

[i]I want to start a Taco Bell in the UK.[/i]

Whats stopping you ?.

The advantage for franchising is where you get an actively promoted brand and/or the logistics and support is of real value.

Take McDonalds - as a franchisee you benefit every time there's a McD's ad on the telly (lots) or even on the back of a bus ticket, sports sponsorships etc.

Also, there's a huge infrastructure getting your buns and patties delivered to you at the right time and hopefully at a better price than you would would pay if you went with the requirements of one restaurant to negotiate a deal with the local wholesale butcher, baker etc.

This is why opening one taco bell in the UK isn't going to work as a franchise - I don't think Taco Bell corporate is going to invest in a UK supply chain just for one outlet.

btw, as i understand it some people have done alright out of the wheelie bin cleaning market.

btw(2) there's quite a few franchised Burger Kings gone out of business in the last few years around Leeds. Not aware of any failed McDs though

The main advantage to a franchise (and it's not to be sneezed at imo) is the brand. Don't under-estimate the value of brand recognition in some markets.

Taco Bell is in the uk now, there is one in Manchester I think but not sure if there franchise though, but there is a web site :O)

I want to start a Taco Bell in the UK.

Whats stopping you ?

I should rephrase. I want SOMEONE to open a Taco Bell franchise in the UK. I don't necessarily want it to be me 🙂

I really do think they are missing a trick though. McDs and BK are the worst fast food outlets in the US, as everyone there recognises, so why are they the only ones we get here? Better fast food would make a killing here I reckon.

Taco Bell is in the uk now, there is one in Manchester

Right. Any traffic problems on the M6 now before I set off?

Big risks for sure in general, but have you considered a toddlers / children's shoe shop in a middle class area?

License
to
print
money

Something like Mark and Maddies in Edinburgh.

A Maccy D's franchise is likely to set you back £250,000ish before you even look at premises, or at least that was the case when I looked at it. So the big guys know their value view is totally true.

There are no guarantees when you buy a franchise and as I said before I came to the conclusion that if you could do it as a franchisee you could do it alone.

I think a lot of people look at a franchise through fear or lack of knowledge, probably both. Its a comfort blanket. The reality however is that you still have to work bloody hard to make it work and success will not just fall into your lap.

The most common problem is not knowing what to do as a business. Good advice is not to try to reinvent the wheel. Going into a well served market is often avoided foolishly. Why? Well if there are already lots of people doing it you know there's a demand, so the issue simply becomes how to do it better than the others, whereas reinvention of the wheel not only requires you to do it well, but also to establish a market from zero, which is both risky and very hard.

Taco Bell had a couple of outlets in London in the 90s, don't think they took off - obviously soft flour based wraps and mildly spicy fillings weren't a hit.
Now Wendy's - frozen malt shakes and curly fries... They've been and gone in London as well. I used to stop off for a top up after Beastway on Wednesday nights as cycling there from chiswick after work, race then cycle home to Ealing after used to require a little pick-me-up.

Crispy Creme seems to be doing very well though - the way the smell of cooking cholesterol fills the entire high street of many provincial towns attests to that (nom!). Bit like supermarkets wafting the smell of their shitty bakeries all over the store.

Berm Bandit's comments make a lot of sense.

Installing a successful manager with a proven track record is a very good start - all the better if they're poached from another going concern (this is your livelihood so you don't have to be ethical).

We board our dog within family situations - it's much better than kennels. He gets lots of walks and comes home fat and spoilt, but in a good way. The company we go through is a franchise company. It costs about the same as a top end kennel. After a few months we decided to be dog hosts ourselves - we didn't buy into the franchise, we just get paid to look after dogs whilst their owners are on holiday.

There's a MASSIVE flaw apparent in this business plan insomuchas every time we pick our dog up after a holiday, the hosts say, "Hey, next time, don't go through Creature Comforts, come straight to us and we'll look after your dog for half the price". On the face of it, that's a very good idea, but we always go through the business owner. Why? Because he's a decent guy and we want to continue being hosts ourselves, so to rip off his contacts would be short sighted.

And that's why it's a great franchise - you have this uneasy symbiotic relationship between dog owners and hosts (most dog owners are also hosts). No-one is actually daft enough to break the rules, as it would lead to; a) no more dog boarding and b) no more dogs visiting for money.

All that said, I run my own small, but fast-growing business and wouldn't contemplate a franchise 🙂 What are you considering?

When I used to work as a delivery driver for Dominoes I seem to recall hearing that the start up cost of one of their franchises was £250k, so not an insignificant amount.

Having said that my old boss (the head honcho) used to own 3 stores in a small area and pretty much had a monopoly on pizza delivery. Guess he must have been very astute as he it was a strong student populated area within Cardiff.

I never knew if this was true or not too, but the branch manager once told me that this particular branch we worked at was the 14th busiest out of all the Dominoes worldwide.

I know a couple who bought a letting agency franchise about 3years ago and they are doing extremely well.
Just opened their second branch in another town, moving into a bigger house themselves and they are really pleased with how it's gone for them.

I want to start a Taco Bell in the UK. Everyone's heard of it, and there are none here.

A Maccy D's franchise is likely to set you back £250,000ish before you even look at premises, or at least that was the case when I looked at it.

McDs and BK are the worst fast food outlets in the US, as everyone there recognises, so why are they the only ones we get here? Better fast food would make a killing here I reckon.

Mexican food is always pretty rubbish in the UK.

Yes, that's why we need a Taco Bell. It's not that it's brilliant food, but it's a nice alternative to bloody burgers.

There are only two fast food chains in the UK?

Well there are three that are widely and easily available when travelling, aren't there? McDs, BK and KFC. I'm not counting motorway services canteens as they are even worse. What other chains are there on the edge of a town, or off a main road/motorway?

Big risks for sure in general, but have you considered a toddlers / children's shoe shop in a middle class area?

License
to
print
money

Something like Mark and Maddies in Edinburgh.

Indoor soft play with a good coffee machine, that's my mark, same target market. Don't know if there's a franchise though I reckon there's an opportunity to be at the top of your own franchise pyramid there. Children love familiarity as anyone who has to sit through 80 frickin Night Garden repeats will testify.

I expect a royalty if anyone steals this 🙂

the maccy d 's closed in rochdale town centre... but on the other hand oxfam have a shop on every high street they must be making a mint..

Indoor soft play with a good coffee machine, that's my mark, same target market. Don't know if there's a franchise though I reckon there's an opportunity to be at the top of your own franchise pyramid there. Children love familiarity as anyone who has to sit through 80 frickin Night Garden repeats will testify.

I expect a royalty if anyone steals this

I worry (well, not too much actually) about those Subway franchisees.

When I moved to Bournemouth in 2004 there was one branch on the Lansdowne at the top of the Old Christchurch Rd. Fast forward to 2012 and that branch is still there, but it's been joined by a further 8 in Bournemouth (including 2 others on the same road), 3 in Poole and 6 others in the conurbation with more planned.

I imagine this is seriously screwing the profit margins for the early franchisees.