Beware of the Pitfalls of Franchise Fever
Often a blind desire to franchise a business limits the entrepreneur's ability to see the obvious pitfalls.
During a recent meeting to help ownership determine the feasibility of franchising their business, it struck me once again just how powerful the urge to franchise can be. Although the concept appeared sound in terms of both systems and its financial model, the owners had yet to remove themselves from the daily grind of fundamental operations. And that is a critical issue that faces all prospective franchisors.
As a franchise consultant of many years, it has become painfully obvious that unless ownership moves (figuratively, but in many cases, literally) out of the kitchen and into the role of executive advisor, then the odds of successfully franchising a business will be diminished, if not lost. There is simply no way to service the needs of franchisees (from initial training to ongoing support) unless the franchisor has removed themselves from actually running the core business. Yet, the desire to 'get to franchising' can drive the owner forward thinking that they can handle 'all' responsibilities.
Fortunately in the case of this particular business, ownership quickly acknowledged that the time was not right. Not all entrepreneurs have the good sense to see the light and stop before they start down the wrong road.
