What You Must Know About Franchising

Entrepreneur:

Maybe you’ve thought it would be fun to own a business where you’re building a household-name empire, running a restaurant or dealing with the latest developments in technology. But what is it really like to buy a big-name franchise, a restaurant franchise, even a tech franchise? We asked franchise consultant Jeff Elgin to reveal exactly what you need to know about buying…

A Big-Name Franchise
Most people equate franchising with ubiquitous mega-systems: the large fast-food franchises like McDonald’s or Subway, hotel operators like Hilton, or other business-format franchises like 7-Eleven or ServiceMaster. These systems are big - really big - and they have advantages and disadvantages as franchise opportunities.

When you buy a franchise, you hope to receive at least 2 things: a valuable brand and a proven operating system. The primary advantage of big franchise companies is that both of these are basically set in place. You can research consumer awareness and attitudes about the brand simply by asking around. And you can determine the franchise’s track record pretty easily by visiting its numerous franchisees who have been operating for a long time.

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