Some franchisers experiment giving franchisees discretion over elements of their business. Great Harvest made the idea central to its model.
Matt Salis arrives at his Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise in Denver at 4:30 a.m. to start baking, but some Great Harvest franchisees fire up their ovens at 10 p.m. to prepare for the morning rush. The time isn’t specified in his franchise agreement. In fact, Salis‘ franchise agreement doesn’t specify much. The 206 bakeries in the Dillon (Mont.)-based system must pay royalties and use wheat supplied by the company. But all the minutiae that most food-service franchisers rigidly control—decor, hours, pricing, menus—are left up to Great Harvest franchisees.
This flexibility contradicts the core idea of franchising: to build a brand by copying a carefully controlled system. CEO Mike Ferretti says Great Harvest, founded in 1976 by a couple in Great Falls, Mont., straddles the line between franchising and entrepreneurship and appeals to people who don’t feel comfortable starting a business from scratch but find a conventional franchise system too restrictive. While some brands have experimented with giving franchisees more discretion over elements of their business, Great Harvest has made the idea central to its model.
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