Has anyone here ever owned or looked into franchising a restaraunt?
I might have an opportunity to get into franchising with the Papa John's I work at, as the franchisee (based in Northern Virginia) is frustrated with his lack of effort to expand up this way.
I know I won't be able to do it without the financial support of my parents & my uncle in providing collatoral and such, but the store does $8k a week on average, and the profit margin is fairly high. So now I have to compile a "sales pitch" to my family to convince them to get involved - so far, the only questions I've thought to ask the current owner are in regards to the profit margin, and labor costs, what am I missing?
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Well..I don't know how PJ's is, but I'm told that for Domino's you cannot own a franchise until you've magaeed a store--like been manager of record--for X amount of time. Maybe 5 years? I dunno. I would think that PJ's has a comparable timeframe & prerequisite.
Knowing how much you hated management before....yeah.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
PJs franchising requirements is different. The owners don't have to manage, provided they have a store manager lined up, and there's no time-frame: you don't even have had to have worked for the company before.
OTOH, Domino's franchise system, from what I recall, is geared towards promoting to restaraunt owners operators from within.
Posted by Ultra Magnus (Member # 239) on :
There was this one fat kid named Mark Smith whose dad once owned the local McDonalds.
He thought he was so much better than us, because his dad was chummy with Grimace.
But he was fat.
From too much McDonalds food, naturally.
Joke's on him.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
This is a question I can actually answer yes to and not be lying. It was a combination restaurant/golf course/driving range thing. We failed miserably. I did eventually get my investment back, though. But did I get to keep the big neon "open" sign? No, of course not. Part of the package, they told me. But who had grown the grass? Who had swept out all the leftover plaster? Somebody who does not at this moment have a big neon "open" sign to decorate his room with, that's who.
Anyway, is running a restaurant really what you want to do with the rest of your life? Because we were all "Hey, let's turn this alfalfa field into a golf course. And a restaurant!" Yet no one had asked the critical question: "Do any of us actual want to work in the customer service business or, more importantly, have any experience therein?"
The only good thing to come out of it was I met this girl, but did anything good come out of that? No. So, my advice: Bad idea.
On the other hand, people seem to enjoy eating. So I don't know. Make sure you buy a golf cart (with mad Children-of-the-Corn-esque golf ball retrieval attachment) that won't die each and every day, forcing a young and handsome boy to push the whole thing back to home base, dodging malicious hooks and slices the entire way.
But, anyway, my experience may be unique.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I don't have experience managing myself, but I've seen what can happen. The Manhattan Bagel I worked at (see Snay's other thread), the franchise owner worked 7 days a week, usually 10- to 14-hour days. Because he was ultimately responsible for making the store work, and it fell to him to cover the gap.
Now, you may be better at hiring employees and finding a great manager for the store... but if you hit a rough spot, it's going to fall entirely on you to keep things going, or the entire store could end up circling the drain.
Not that responsibility is a bad thing, of course. I'm just saying that if you do choose this route, you may end up having to put in a lot more to the work than you may be prepared to.
Either way, good luck! Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Owning a franchise can get real upsetting, especially when you own multiple stores. The owner of my Subway also owns 3 other stores and he's constantly going from store to store to deal with problems. Also, when stores are short handed he sometimes has to work. But, if you're only managing the one store, it might not be so bad. If you're really interested, Jeff, I say go for it.
Posted by Cartmaniac (Member # 256) on :
Since the reality check hasn't been cashed yet... finish college first & leave your options open whatever you decide.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Funny thing, the same week Domino's announced they were delivering throughout our area, the Papa John's caught fire. Amazing coincidence.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Chapter 1: Adventures in the Pizza Delivery Mafia
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Do pizza places need their own "Mafia"? Don't they already have one? Like, the Mafia?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Aren't all of the main pizza chains American, rather than Italian?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Yeah, uh, which one of those oh....eight words made you think I was being serious?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Which of our words made you think we thought you were serious?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: Chapter 1: Adventures in the Pizza Delivery Mafia
![[Smile]](smile.gif)