It also offered a blueprint for how to run the business. For example, every Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise follows the same recipes, has chic yellow walls with blue and cream accents, and colorful merchandise for sale.
“It’s a huge step to go out on your own,” Gilbert says, “and even though a franchise will not promise you that you will be successful, they have a lot of the foundations and building blocks to help you become successful.
TCBY franchise owner Sam Batt, on the other hand, initiated the TCBY self-serve trend and now owns 16 locations in the Charlotte market.
He opened the company’s first shop with a self-serve style in April 2010 to such great success (within three weeks, his location was one of the top-five most profitable franchises in the country), that the company embraced the trend and credits Batt with the move that reinvigorated the company and led to exponential growth.
Now, nearly every TCBY that opens has a self-serve model, and many franchisees with the classic served-behind-the-counter setup have changed their model to accommodate the trend.
But Batt’s experience with TCBY is truly the exception to the rule, says Mitchell with The Entrepreneur’s Source.
Don’t buy into a franchise thinking you’ll reinvent it, Mitchell says. Because in all likelihood, “they’re going to say, ‘Thank you very much, but spare us your brilliance.’ “
Does your passion align with the company’s mission?
Former Panther defensive end Everette Brown, 27, who opened Charlotte’s first Tropical Smoothie Cafe, says he’s been an enthusiast of the brand since 2005, when he was a freshman at Florida State University.
He came upon the fast-casual restaurant, with 365 locations nationwide, which serves smoothies as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner. According to the company, the menu is designed to “inspire healthy lifestyles.”
Brown, who also started the Everette Brown Bag Foundation to fight childhood obesity, says that business strategy aligned with his guiding principles.
Another reason to care about the mission, other than the financial investment? No matter what kind of business you run, it’s going to require a significant investment of time as well, all panelists agreed.
Ben Knight, who owns three FASTSIGNS franchises—which make everything from “for sale” signs on manicured front lawns, to way-finding signs for universities and corporations, to “coming soon” wall wraps for retailers at shopping mall—says he worked nonstop when he first took over the existing FASTSIGNS South Tryon location.
Now that he’s got a better handle on operations and a trusted team he can delegate to, his schedule has eased up a bit, to “half days.”
“Doesn’t matter which 12 hours you work,” he quipps.
©2014 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services
