Anyone considered franchising?

sharkie

PeterZ wrote: »

The key with franchise is all about location, for example a dominios pizza franchise in a good town with no other pizza outlets will make you a tidy packet.

I have a Londis? near me. It is not a franchise, but a buying co-oprative? Apparently it work where the shop buys all the goods from one source. The end result is that you keep 10% gross.

Looked at one chicken franchise, that cost about £200000 to set up. Not sure on subway?

Not too sure whom would make more net profit kfc or sfc (sharkie's fried chicken) considering that franchises often state that the vast majority of products are bought through them (more expensive) than other means. Would branding and a known name outwin sfc and by what margin?

purplerose

You can create your own web design company pretty easily without paying into a franchise. For easy website templates look into using something like Joomla - I'm using it to make a website right now and it only took 10 mins of messing about with it before I knew how to do most things with it. For marketing websites there's plenty of free information available on the internet regarding search engine optimisation and there's loads of books written on the subject. If you've got the free time then there's no harm in researching and learning this stuff yourself.

Herbie_Hancock_I_wish

Franchise? Do your home work. Even names like, well a rather large chain of buy and sell shops, also do cash in cheques are expensive and some times go under. They sure are not cheap. I know people who have lost a lot of money getting involved.

I had 2 franchises. Both ceased trading. On one I broke even the other one was run by a right crook who was promising an area and was selling the same franchise in the same place. Limited shell company and decided to go bust. Made a great loss on that one.

Go very careful.

thehoff_2

Franchise wrote: »

Ive just been made redundant and fed up already looking for another job as no one wants me at my age

Therefore I started looking at franchising and what scares me half to death is using all of my redundancy money on a franchise. All the good ones seem to costs £20,000 plus.

However i've just come across the Activ Web Design Franchise and it seems spot on

Has anyone considered franchising after they have been made redundant?

I hope yo uhave not wasted your money on Activ Web Design as I know several people who have lost their money on this due to the overselling and promises from the directors

bakerman23

I suggest you look at Websaver leicester. I understand that some of the Activ franchisees are forming a group to take action against them.

WhiteHorse

Franchising can be quite good, but as you say, the good ones cost at least £20,000. £50-150,000 is not uncommon for something that should be a winner.

They can go bad very easily too, particularly at the cheaper end. Some firms make their money reselling failed franchises to dreamers and people who haven't done their research.

You should think very long and hard at ploughing in your lump sum into something like that. Frankly, if you have a mortgage, you would be better putting it toward that.

s_b

old thread i know and i think Franchise was spamming
but
I see franchising as a lazy mans way to a business, because lets be honest if you have the balls to work for yourself ,why tie yourself to a dictatorial supplier who has all the bells.
Even a pizza place doesn't need to have the magical name over the door, because if your pizzas are good and your shop is clean and the staff enjoy working there and as said you are in a position where competition is thin you have the prospect of a successful business.
The idea of running a franchise from home in your jim jams and a coffee in your hand just spells disaster in my opinion

Just my ten pennorth:)

pitkin2020

Franchise wrote: »

The thing is I cant get a job!

I'm lucky because my mortgage is paid off and i'm looking for something to fill the time. I want something to do with low risk, however most of the franchises Ive looked at cost thousands. I want one that is only a few grand.

Two words that do not go together i'm afraid. A franchise for a couple of K is worth nothing. The only good franchises are the ones backed with a big brand name and even then its still high risk. They are selling you a product, albeit a business but its still a product. They won't be so keen to give you all the gory details. Franchisers tend to over sell areas so your not only competing with competition from other independent companies but also other franchisees.

Look at the fees for the franchise and on going costs, they always look tempting but get down to the nitty gritty and see if you could do it yourself for cheaper.

If you are trained in web design you could set yourself up for far less and have a bigger profit margin. If your not web design trained then you aren't offering the customer anything they can't do themselves with a bit of self teaching, its all smoke and mirrors.

What are your past experiences, training etc??

property.advert

I did some work for a friend who wanted to develop his general store into a 7/11 franchise and the increased numbers stacked up even on lower net margins. The brand drove business his way and focussed his approach to the layout and presentation of his store as that was something he was not good at.

As said, a franchise costing peanuts is worth just that.

From time to time I juggle the numbers for a certain fast food franchise. Every which way it seems to make money but still I am hesitant to commit. I may even miss out on the opportunity due to my hesitation but all the time I refine the marketing approach and improve the cashflow projection, looking for hiccups and weak points in the business plan.

I also like print franchises as there are loads of tangential revenue streams.

One thing I'll give you for free is a multi million pound income. Work out how to get McDonalds and Burger King on delivery.

bobbyj_2

my partner has been successful with a franchise. PM me if you want though may be slow replying as I'm gigging around UK with my band at the moment.