Independent versus Franchise I
Thinking of starting a restaurant? Have you considered all your options?
If you are planning to start a restaurant, you may want to consider franchise options. Every individual is different therefore a franchise may not be right for you. Both types of businesses offer you different advantages and disadvantages. Regardless if you are choosing to become an independent restaurateur or buying into a franchise, both require hard work, time and money.
Why Should I Choose a Franchise?
If you are an individual who may have the passion for the restaurant business but may not necessarily have certain skill sets to pursue a business on your own, a franchise may work for you. A franchise offers a system that provides new franchisees with all the means to successfully launch a restaurant. The franchise system goes further and also provides access to company resources for the business to continue to run successfully and to allow it to grow.
What can I Expect?
Good franchise systems provide more than the use of branding, trademarks, recipes and operation manuals. They offer a defined support system. Franchise support can differ from one company to another, but the most common areas of support includes:
Real Estate
- Market analysis
- Site selection
- Lease negotiation
Development
- Design service
- Consultant assistance
- Specifications on fixtures, furniture and equipment
- General contractor support
Training
- Comprehensive training program
- Classroom instruction
- Management training
Operations
- Opening support
- Favorable supplier contracts and supplier coordination
- Ongoing support to increasing sales
- Ongoing support from members of the Operation and Training team
- Operation manual, policies and procedures
Marketing
- Marketing plan assistance
- Access to company marketing and advertising programs
Other support services may include Human Resources and Financing. In this case, a company will provide franchisees with assistance in staff recruitment and business loans.
Typically for any franchise agreement that has been signed, the franchisee is obligated to have their restaurant ready for operation within a specified time (i.e. in 6 months of signing). Therefore, the support provided is essential to meet the franchise terms.
We’ll continue with the costs and other factors involved with franchises in our next post.
Thanks for visiting The Restaurant Blogger. If you're new here, you can read my introduction here . If you enjoy my articles and would like to keep up with the daily updates you can subscribe to the RSS feed via reader.
If you enjoyed this article, get free restaurant tips via RSS Reader or delivered to your inbox!
