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Ahab McBathsalts
OTD Windmill Administrator




Registered: 11/25/02
Posts: 35,107
Loc: Wind Turbine, AB
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Does anyone own a franchise? Have you looked into it?
#27814644 - 06/11/22 01:28 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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I have a pretty decent corporate gig in a rural town that is going to see a lot of industrial investment over the next 18 months. Has anyone gotten franchise documents or applied for one?
I probably don't have the time to run a second business and might be short of the capital requirements for the moment. But maybe it would something to work towards over the next couple years.
I was thinking a Tim Hortons for you Canadians out there, but the town needs a laundry mat too and I could do that without a franchise and lower capital requirements.
-------------------- "Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody's going to die."
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stubb
Dahg Rastubfari


Registered: 03/23/19
Posts: 1,310
Loc: Memory
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Re: Does anyone own a franchise? Have you looked into it? [Re: Ahab McBathsalts]
#27814669 - 06/11/22 01:53 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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No, but I've been involved in many franchise terminations and seizures.
Quote:
Ahab McBathsalts said: I probably don't have the time to run a second business and might be short of the capital requirements for the moment.
I see you have a functioning brain. That's a leg up on vast majority of franchisees I've met.
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🆃🄴🅰🄼 🅲🄻🅸🄽🅶🅆🆁🄰🅿 You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can't. It is pitch black. > TURN ON LIGHT
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Ahab McBathsalts
OTD Windmill Administrator




Registered: 11/25/02
Posts: 35,107
Loc: Wind Turbine, AB
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Re: Does anyone own a franchise? Have you looked into it? [Re: stubb]
#27814772 - 06/11/22 03:26 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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A franchise is buying a job. There is good potential, but it's not a hands off thing unless you have all the money and know someone you can trust to execute the business operations. Most of the lower end franchise are saying about 100k to invest and 500k networth. I'd be 2 or 3 years away from that.
The biggest thing is how small the town is that I want to expand into.
What do you usually see in management when the businesses fail?
-------------------- "Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody's going to die."
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stubb
Dahg Rastubfari


Registered: 03/23/19
Posts: 1,310
Loc: Memory
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Re: Does anyone own a franchise? Have you looked into it? [Re: Ahab McBathsalts]
#27815082 - 06/11/22 07:11 PM (1 year, 7 months ago) |
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I'm not a businessman, and obviously every franchise is different, but this is my anecdotal experience.
Most of the failed franchisees I met were really just straight up dumb. Business is complicated, but franchised restaurants aren't extraordinarily complicated businesses. 
The development office does all the heavy lifting. They scout locations, gather market data, find loans, find local contractors, etc, etc. They train the franchisee on all this, they put them in stores to gather at least some practical experience, they give them loads of literature, and they're always available for consultation. The dev office doesn't want you to fail, but you can only lead a horse to water. And stupidity aside, some folks simply aren't cut out for the service industry.
But at the same time the dev office doesn't really care if you fail, and can be pretty predatory. The restaurant biz is very risky and some rate of failure is expected, they might know you're dumb or unsuited and approve you anyway just to quickly expand their territory.
Then there's politics and popularity. If franchisees/consultants/corporate jockeys/etc with more influence than you don't like you, it's not hard to set you up for failure to push you out.
Corporate might roll out a remodel, then decide a couple years later that they don't like it and roll out another. Or they might roll out an egregiously expensive remodel. Or both. Many franchises don't have any encroachment rules, your customers might disappear when a location with a better parking lot opens up a quarter mile away.
I'm city folk so I only knew city stores, but the brand has many locations in podunk towns with zero tourism that have been chugging along for decades serving locals and reeling people in from the highway.
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🆃🄴🅰🄼 🅲🄻🅸🄽🅶🅆🆁🄰🅿 You wake up. The room is spinning very gently round your head. Or at least it would be if you could see it which you can't. It is pitch black. > TURN ON LIGHT
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