Franchise Business Opportunities

Franchise Wire:

What happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas after Snap-on’s three-day franchisee conference held July 24-26 at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev. Nearly 2,000 Snap-on franchisees attended the event for the largest gathering of mobile tool franchisees in the industry. The conference included an 85,000 square foot Product Expo, as well as business seminars and entertainment. Snap-on franchisees will use the information and knowledge they gained at the conference to run their own businesses more efficiently and, more importantly, help their customers become more productive and profitable.

“Snap-on franchisees are the industry experts when it comes to tools and information to help technicians in their jobs,” said Tom Ward, president Snap-on Tools. “Our three-day conference is a perfect example of Snap-on’s commitment to our franchisees, making sure they stay ahead of the curve when it comes to business skills, productivity solutions and the latest advancements in technology. Read more.

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• Christina Arnsby on 12 More Stores As New Look Cuts A Dash On The Continent
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Real Business:

Entrepreneur Darren Leppard has made his franchises Select Appointments and Parkhouse Recruitment a roaring success. Here are his tips for aspiring franchisees.

In the current economic climate, anyone thinking about starting up their own business has to be more careful than ever. But investing in a franchise could be a much safer and viable alternative than starting from scratch. According to Lloyds TSB, franchising contributes £10.8bn to the UK economy and most banks are willing to put as much as 70 per cent of the startup costs in to an established franchise. Thus showing that by purchasing a franchise you are already buying into an established concept.

One local business man who owns franchises of recruitment brands Select Appointments and Parkhouse Recruitment has turned the businesses around and become a successful entrepreneur. This article continues here.

Franchising.com:

Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has today announced that it has appointed former finance and operations director, Michael Johnson, as its new managing director. Johnson replaces Robina Every who retired at the end of June.

“As part of UK Greetings, the largest public greeting card publisher in the world, Card Connection commands effectively £12 million of a £2 billion industry,” confirms Michael Johnson, managing director of Card Connection. “Over the nine years I have worked at the company, I have developed a thorough appreciation of both Card Connection’s successful franchise business model and the greeting card market itself. We are at an exciting point where the demand for our franchises remains high and the potential for franchisees to continue to grow their businesses, despite the economic downturn, is a very real proposition.

“A large proportion of our franchisees are taking advantage of the economies of scale gained through running a larger operation and as a result, many are experiencing significant increases in profitability,” continues Johnson. “My aim is to build on this success and continue to drive our franchisee’s business growth forwards with technological innovations like our electronic hand-held terminals to minimise admin, in addition to increasing our business through diversification of products suited to the convenience market.”

Alabama Business Today http://www.alabamabusinesstoday.com hosts Elbert Wingfield and Denise Browning on August 15. Elbert Wingfield, owner of Saucy Q Bar B Que, will describe the process he used to move from restaurant owner to franchisor. Denise Browning, owner of Hunter Ventures will present her vision for the future of venture capital in South Alabama and explain the likely scenario of business development for the area.

PR.com:

The program will air August 15, 2009 on WNSI AM 1000 in Robertsdale, FM105.9 in Atmore and by simulcast via the Internet at WNSI from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. The co-host for Saturday’s show will be Jeff Roberts, Marketing Team Leader for Integrity Music.

Elbert Wingfield began selling barbeque 1989 at the Mobile Flea Market. From that humble beginning he eventually moved into a restaurant. Saucy Q Bar B Que has been the recipient of numerous awards including: Mobile Bay Monthly Best Barbeque Award; Gourmet Chef Challenge People’s Choice Award; Florida’s Sauce of the Year Award and the Mobile Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award. Today, Wingfield has three locations in Mobile, Alabama and has recently started franchising the barbeque concept.

PR Newswire:

Howell, Mich.-based LaVida Massage, a high-quality massage and wellness franchise, launched its franchise operation in Michigan today. The announcement was made by LaVida Massage Founder John Hoose.

LaVida Massage presents an opportunity for senior-level corporate managers, those unemployed due to recent job loss and those looking to start their own business an opportunity to open their own LaVida Massage. Teaming with LaVida Massage is an avenue for driven individuals to advance their careers to the next level or to put years of skills and knowledge back to work after being hit hard by the economic decline. Franchise operators can take comfort in knowing that LaVida Massage holds an established place among businesses nationwide and offers a customer-recommended, service-based system with low overhead costs.

Among the many incentives to opening a LaVida Massage franchise is that franchisees work for themselves.

FranchiseWorks.com:

Spring-Green Lawn Care’s franchisees are satisfied. How satisfied? Very, as their feedback earned their franchisor the distinction of World-Class Franchise® from FranSurvey® and the Franchise Research Institute®.

James Young, Spring-Green’s president, was pleased to receive the distinction, which was determined by the responses of 84 percent of Spring-Green franchisees.

“This was a tough year for small business owners but our franchisees weathered the storm quite well. Their confidence in our organization now – we scored a 92-percent overall quality rating this year, up from 91 percent a year ago – and into the future – a 95 percent score on our commitment to a positive long-term relationship, up from 87 percent last year – is evident and shows that we’re committed to success on all levels,” Young said.

“Spring-Green has always maintained that we have a recession-resistant business model and we were truly tested this year. Our World-Class rating from FranSurvey only further emphasizes the importance of mutual trust, respect and the need for collaboration within a franchise organization to succeed in tough times. I could not be more proud of our organization and genuinely feel this momentum will help to propel us even further as we exit the recession.”

Winnipeg Free Press:

After an online outcry, Tim Hortons is distancing itself from an upcoming Rhode Island event designed to “take a stand” against same-sex marriage.

Brochures for Sunday’s Celebrate Marriage and Family Day in Warwick, R.I., list the popular chain as one of its sponsors.

On Monday, Tim Hortons posted a statement on its website saying it would no longer provide coffee for the celebration as it runs afoul of its guidelines to not support “religious groups, political affiliates or lobby groups.”

“Tim Hortons and its store owners have always welcomed all families and communities to its restaurants and will continue to do so,” the statement said. “We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this may have caused.”

The Aug. 16 event is being put on by the National Organization for Marriage, a U.S. non-profit founded in 2007 “in response to the growing need for an organized opposition to same-sex marriage.”

Read more.

Rockhampton Morning Bulletin:

Wendy Baker looked like a new woman when she sported a strapless ball gown for the first time in her life last weekend.

After losing more than 32kg, the Rockhampton 44-year-old won a new Honda Jazz after she was crowned The Natural Way Slimmer of the Year winner.

Ten members from The Natural Way were nominated Australia-wide this year and Ms Baker was one of four finalists shortlisted, including Rocky’s Wendy Carroll-Coveney.

Ms Baker proudly showed off her hot new body and shared her weight-loss journey as she lived a life of glamour at the Gold Coast.

“We (Wendy and her partner) were on the 21st floor of the Crown Plaza overlooking the ocean, it was incredible,” Ms Baker said in excitement yesterday.

Ms Baker, who used to avoid looking in the mirror when she weighed 107.1kg last April, said it was the first time she stepped into a full-length strapless ball gown.

“I felt like a queen,” she said. Continue reading this story.

Otago Daily Times:

The failure of the Otago franchise of Signature Homes appears set to leave more than 150 unsecured, mainly Otago business creditors out of pocket, with total debts to all creditors estimated at $1.3 million so far.

Eleven days ago, Mulwil Construction Ltd, the Signature Homes franchisee in Otago since 2007, was placed into voluntary liquidation by its managing director, Murray Wilson, claiming at the time an outstanding $160,000 debt of one client had tipped the balance.

Liquidator Hudson Biggs for Keogh McCormack and Trevor Laing and Associates in Dunedin, said in his first report he could not yet accurately predict the prospect of a dividend to unsecured creditors.

However, information to date indicated “it is unlikely that a dividend will be available to unsecured creditors”, Mr Biggs said.

Read on…

BusinessWeek:

The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is considering potential changes to its Commercial Arbitration Rules and has put out a notice asking for suggestions by e-mail rules@adr.org by September 1, 2009. AAA, a private enterprise, was founded in 1926 following the enactment of the Federal Arbitration Act, with the specific goal of helping to implement arbitration as an out-of-court solution to resolving disputes.

But this formal notice is curious, coming on the heels of a bill, H.R. 3010, introduced as the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, in an effort to ban pre-dispute mandatory binding arbitration, between businesses and consumers and employers and employees in their respective transactions and relationship issues.

Recently, there has been a concerted lobbying effort by these groups to expose what they consider to be the unfairness of the current law. This decision to arbitrate future disputes is contained in an “arbitration clause” in their agreements, requiring that if a dispute arises the parties cannot go to court; they must arbitrate their complaint. Read full article.