Cool Franchise Concepts You’ve Never Heard Of
When people think of franchising, why do they always think of McDonald’s?
Sure, we’d love to own a McDonald’s, but a new franchise costs $1 million or more, so the only time we’ll get near one is when we're ordering a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. You need liquid assets of at least $250,000 before Mickey D’s corporate will even start the conversation with you.
Thankfully, there are plenty of under-the-radar franchise opportunities out there. This article highlights seven promising new franchise businesses. They may never rival McDonald’s, but they won’t set you back a million bucks either.
The article features off-beat franchise opportunities like Firestorm, which offers crisis management services, and Fibrenew, a vinyl and plastic restoration business with some 220 locations.
Our personal favorite is We Do Lines. No, not those kind of lines…. This franchise, with 11 locations, specializes in commercial parking lot striping. In other words, it paints those white and yellow lines in parking lots. Duh.
A We Do Lines franchise costs between $77,000 and $133,000, including a $25,000 franchise fee. The company hopes to have 100 units by 2014.
Hit the road, Jack
Many major fast-food franchises are enjoying a banner year, with their stock prices at all-time highs. But one chain that has not bounced back from the recession in Jack in the Box, which recently reported at 62% drop in quarterly profits.
Jack is trying to put the spring back in its step, but to no avail. The fast-food franchise has improved its food, remodeled its stores, and retrained employees, but customers still aren’t coming back.
“They need to find a way to differentiate themselves,” restaurant analyst Darren Tristano told The Los Angeles Times. “If you think of Jack in the Box, I'm not sure what you think of anymore.”
C’mon, you think about that awesome spokesman with the big round head. But even that’s not good enough anymore. “The ads are pretty funny,” one customer told The Times. “But they didn't bring me in.”
So what’s the answer? It might be time for Jack to hit the road. The chain is heavily concentrated in California, where unemployment and foreclosures remain high. Opening a few more stores on the East Coast could help put the permanent painted smile back on Jack’s big head.
Starbucks envy
Why does everyone want to be Starbucks? First McDonald’s introduced McCafe, and now Subway is responding with Subway Cafe. The sandwich juggernaut has opened 15 cafes so far, and plans to add about 10 more this year, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.
These locations tend to be a little bigger than the average Subway restaurant. They feature wood-paneling and lounge-style seating with comfy armchairs, all of which are suppose to encourage customers to stay longer.
We admit to being huge Subway fans, but the last thing we want to do is spend any more time in there than we have to. One, the stores smell kind of funky. (Something to do with the way they bake their bread, we’re told.) And two, it will never, ever be cool to hang out at Subway.
More articles from AllBusiness.com:
