Francorp Continues to Grow

Francorp's Chairman, Don Boroian held a meeting three weeks ago with the entire staff of 60 people at Francorp. The meeting was focused on the economy and the direction of our business, country and global economy. Mr. Boroian is extremely well read, he goes through 6 papers every day and reads numerous publications focusing on the economy and economic news.

He voiced some of the concerns that every American is going through right now. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel here? What is tomorrow going to look like? When could I possibly retire with all these swings in the market? Don Boroian has not acheived all of the successes and accolades he has compiled in his 55 years of business by being one of the "flock". Mr. Boroian expressed an extreme displeasure with the media and their focus on the negative aspects of our economy. Mr. Boroian spoke of the negative effects. "When an average consumer hears a news report that talks of doom and gloom, they don't go on that vacation or buy that car they were thinking about getting." It is a vicious cycle, the consumer's behavior is driven by the information they have, right now it is all negative information about the economy.
We see many companies downsizing and shrinking their businesses as a result. We then have less employment and therefore less spending. Mr. Boroian pointed out that of course there are some deep underlying economic issues at hand here, but the fact is that we create our own destiny. If we succomb to the media and the swirl of negative publicity, then we ourselves will fall into that trap.

Don Boroian is a bold person. He throughout his life has made decisions and moves with his business and clients that others would not have the gumption to do. As a result, he is Chairman of the world's largest franchise consulting firm, Francorp. Prior to Francorp Mr. Boroian created an industry in the music business by franchising a chain of music operations. He also did the same in the restaurant industry. It is this temperment for tumultuous times where most business owners are "pulling in their horns" that Don Boroian makes aggressive moves.
It was announced at the Francorp meeting that we would be bringing on some new staff. Could this really be true? That when all the news and publicity is saying that every company in America is faltering and Francorp is hiring new people?
Mr. Boroian mentioned, that now, more than ever, Francorp clients need the resources and attention of Francorp staff. Look at the world's most successful investors, they make their moves when the market is down...not when it's up! Having been in business for almost 33 years, Francorp has seen several recessions and market downturns, this is nothing new to Don Boroian.
Francorp has recently hired Gail Doonan on full time as Regional Director Administrator. Ms. Doonan brings over 30 years of business experience to Francorp and Francorp clients. She has owned her own businesses and successfully managed client projects for some time. Ms. Doonan will be working closely with the Francorp Regional Directors, who are a nationwide network of franchise brokers and franchise sales people.
Francorp also recently brought on Tiffany Franco as a full time person. Ms. Franco works closely with Mr. Christopher J. Conner, Vice President of Francorp Consulting. Ms. Franco brings over 10 years of business experience to the consulting firm.
Francorp will also be adding some additional staff to support and manage client development. Mr. Boroian closed the meeting with Francorp Staff with a final thought. "As long as we can continue to develop successful clients who sell franchises, Francorp will continue to sit at the top of it's industry. Everything we do is to be of the highest quality workmanship and nothing leaves this building without every bit of our effort and attention. At Francorp, the client is king."

http://www.francorp.com/

http://www.francorpconnect.com/

Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro to Expand Through Franchising

http://www.mediasyndicate.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10775

For more than 3 years, Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro has introduced and educated pet owners on the healthy alternative to the vast number of poor quality pet foods sold across America. “Our goal is to educate these pet companions on the healthy and nutritious foods that are available nationwide,” states co-owner Sally Romero.

Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro accomplishes this task by stocking as many healthy foods as they can fit into their store. They refuse to supply or sell what they believe are inferior foods just to get the customer (companion) in the door. The pet’s companion is simply the food provider, not the customer. The customer is their pet, a consumer that cannot communicate or complain. The inferior pet food industry takes full advantage of this fact. And what are these inferior products that they speak of? Corn, by-products of any kind, cancer causing chemical preservatives, colorings and even euthanized pets, to name just a few.

As difficult as it is to believe, millions of these deceased dogs and cats are processed each year at rendering plants across America. Some of these multinational corporations make use of these disgusting and poor quality protein sources (meat and meat by-products) from rendered or, more simply stated, cooked and converted animals including dogs and cats. These products, along with a variety of fractioned and empty grain products, represent the protein percentages listed on the food.

Sally and her husband Brad opened Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro due to an overwhelming desire and sense of necessity to educate the companions of America’s dogs and cats about the sinful ingredients that these multinational corporations use in their low-grade pet foods and the poor practices that they utilize while manufacturing them. These corporations then spend tens of millions of advertising dollars to promote these low-quality foods. Brad simply states, “The most expensive thing in the bag is the bag itself - trash in a fancy garbage bag.”

“We simply will not lower our standards and sell inferior products. We will not stock these substandard foods or any products we feel are not in the best interest of the pet,” remarks Sally. “We only supply what we truly believe in. Our business is based not only on providing nutritional food, but also providing information, education and the consultation to inform the companion of the nutritional needs of their pet. We spend as much time as the companion/customer needs and provide them with the information they need to make the right decision for their dog or cat." A vast majority return flabbergasted by their pet’s enthusiastic response to the new food and the positive change they observe in their pet after just a few weeks.

The need to inform America to what is truly occurring in the pet food industry has driven Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro to franchise. To help in this process, they have approached Francorp, the world’s leader in franchise consulting, to assist them in the development of their franchise program. “We hope to expand nationwide to help service all of America’s dogs and cats and educate their companions to confidently extend their pet's life through proper and healthy nutrition,” explains Sally.

For more information about Ben’s Bark Ave. Bistro, call (888) 760-DOGS (3647) or visit www.bensbistro.com

SOURCE: http://www.mediasyndicate.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10775

Abbey Carpet opens franchise location in Gig Harbor

http://www.gateline.com/107/story/2624.html

Owner buys former Dryer’s Interiors on Kimball Drive
Lee Giles III
of the Gateway
Published: 12:38PM October 22nd, 2008


Homeowners looking to improve their home decor may have noticed a change of ownership — from Dreyer’s Interiors to Abbey Carpet — on Kimball Drive in Gig Harbor.
Len Mallory and his wife, Kim, recently bought the nearly 40-year-old business from founder Gary Dreyer’s son, Brian Dreyer.
Len Mallory is no stranger to the carpet business. The Port Orchard resident has been helping customers for the past 20 years, first as a wholesale representative, then as the owner of the Bremerton Abbey Carpet store. That business was purchased seven years ago.
Mallory enjoys being part of the Abbey Carpet family, which has 950 franchise stores across the country.
“We benefit from being in the group,” he said. “We have a great warranty program.”
Mallory said he had sold products to the Dreyer family for years. When the family offered the business for sale, he saw a great opportunity.
“We’re in the fashion business,” Mallory said. “We want the customer to have the proper products. We ask how they live in their house, and we help them make the right choice.”
Mallory added that Abbey Carpet has a wide selection of laminate flooring, carpet, hardwood flooring, tile and stone products. With a 60-day guarantee, he believes his customers will feel comfortable with the choices they make.
Mallory said his stores are careful when it comes to selecting sub-contractors who install their products. Having used quality craftsmen for years, he said he has a solid roster of people who install homeowners’ purchases.
Mallory employs five at the Gig Harbor store, which is located at 6880 Kimball Drive. Kim Mallory does the bookkeeping for the business.
Mallory shares a 50-50 ownership of the two stores with his wife, who retired from the King County Sheriff’s Department after working as a detective.
The 4,000-square-foot Gig Harbor store is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The business offers free estimates and a shop-at-home service with a van that can bring the store to a customer’s door.
Abbey Carpet is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a $50 installation charge on all residential carpet, no matter the size of the order.
Mallory said the store is changing its interior and name while still providing a high level of customer service.
“I see this as a marvelous opportunity,” he said.
Lee Giles III is the photographer for The Peninsula Gateway. He can be reached at 253-853-9242 or by e-mail at lee.giles@gateline.com.

Hot Franchise Concepts

Every Month Francorp goes through the market and looks at some of the exciting concepts that are soon to come to the franchise market. Many of these companies are still not being offerred, but will be soon. They are the kind of game-changing businesses with flair, financials and all of the intangibles that make a new franchise offerring take off. We are going through some interesting times with our economy right now, it takes an extra special business concept to be able to fight through these types of economic times. Here are the ones that could do it.










SYNLawn Synthetic Grass

SYNLawn is leading the synthetic grass industry in the areas of landscape, golf and playground applications. As the only vertically integrated manufacturer, SYNLawn designs, produces and distributes the most advanced synthetic grass products on the market. Because of this, we offer you the most variety of artificial grass products available at the highest quality and at a competitive price. SynLawn makes a large percentage of all of the country's synthetic turf. They have an enormous amount of market share as it stands. This Franchise offerring will be loaded with brand recognition, manufacturing expertise and economies of scale. Franchisees will be lucky to get involved with this already established manufacturer.



http://www.synlawn.com/





Lifeway Foods - StarFruit



Starfruit offers frozen kefir, a yogurt-like dairy product, along with smoothie-style drinks. Lifeway has hopes that Starfruit will help market kefir among a broader consumer group and “provide a potentially very lucrative new revenue stream,” Ms. Smolyansky said in a statement.

Lifeway is the world's largest producer of Kefir, a very healthy yogurt that includes active cultures and other healthy ingredients, the company has designed and launched a tantalizing yogurt shop franchise that is sure to turn heads in the marketplace.

Soul De Cuba Cafe

www.souldecuba.com

This company is poised to take the market within the next month. Soul De Cuba has a unique flair for passionate atmosphere, great food and an amazing story make this Afro-Cuban concept a wonderful business model.

Franchise Companies Passing Along Costs

FRANCHISING
OCTOBER 21, 2008
Owners Say Franchisers Are Passing on More Costs By RICHARD GIBSON
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455304637652833.html?mod=djkeyword
Some franchisees say they are being forced to pay for a variety of expenses for the first time -- making difficult economic times even tougher. Associated Press McDonald's franchisees contend they have to take on some expenses once covered by their franchisers For instance, operators of McDonald's Corp. restaurants, under pressure from the fast-food giant to install equipment and counter space for an array of new beverages, complain that they have to pay for nearly half the upgrade's architectural and engineering fees -- items the company used to cover. Franchisees put those added fees at several thousand dollars, and some say the entire project has yet to be cost-justified. McDonald's acknowledges that in the past it has paid for architectural and engineering work done when an individual franchisee made construction improvements to a restaurant. But because the beverage project is systemwide and so substantial, those costs are now part of the expenses that McDonald's will cover at only 40%. Franchisees of Hollywood Tans LLC, an upscale tanning salon chain, say the company is billing them for maintenance on some equipment they had purchased under warranties that covered servicing charges. "They're reclassifying what had been normal wear and tear [and] we now have to pick up" the cost on items such as fans and booth door locks, says Jeff Wogan, who operates a salon in Ranson, W.Va., and is a member of the franchisee owners' association. He adds that it can take days for someone to show up to fix items, partly because the company's maintenance crew has been downsized. A spokeswoman for the Sewell, N.J., tanning chain acknowledges maintenance-staff reductions "to improve the service level and our cost efficiency," but contends that despite the chain's purchase by private investment firm ACI Capital in June 2007, the service-warranty policy hasn't been altered. She says the warranty doesn't cover normal wear and tear. Soaring fuel prices are pinching UPS Store franchisees. Last month, parent United Parcel Service Inc. changed its policy on refunding shipping costs to customers under its money-back guarantee for packages not delivered on time. Now, UPS won't refund fuel surcharges added to those bills. For an overnight envelope, those surcharges could easily be several dollars. Franchisees say customers expect to be reimbursed the full amount, and may become upset and take their business elsewhere if they don't get it. As a result, many franchisees are digging into their own pockets to make up the difference. Confirming the refund reduction, UPS spokeswoman Karen Cole says the shipper's fuel costs are up 61% so far this year. "It's a huge expense," she says, "and we all have to adjust, unfortunately." Training is another contentious area for some franchised systems. "More franchisers are saying, 'We'll do it, but only for a fee' or 'We're going to drop that activity,' " says Andrew Selden, a franchising attorney at law firm Briggs & Morgan in Minneapolis. "It adds an unexpected cost to the franchisees' business." Franchisees in such situations may not realize services they had assumed were contractually promised really were provided at the franchiser's option, he says. KFC franchisees contend that company training support has been cut and that they're now being charged for training manuals, which they say used to be provided at no cost. A spokeswoman for Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC says the company and third-party vendors provide free and fee-based training to franchisees, which she says is outlined in the firm's franchise disclosure document. Write to Richard Gibson at dick.gibson@dowjones.com

Backing a Big Burger

Friday, June 17, 2005
Backing a big burger
Former NFL player claims his stake in Whataburger franchise
Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Larry Halstead Web Editor/Staff Writer
TAMPA -- That sizzling sound is a burger war heating up in Tampa Bay.
Whataburger, a 55-year-old hamburger chain based in Corpus Christi, Texas, is heavily ramping up its local presence, with a large commitment to beef up the chain from a former NFL star offensive lineman.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars player Tony Boselli is now the company's lead franchisee in Tampa, as well as in Jacksonville and Orlando.
Boselli's group, JWB Ventures Inc., prepaid for 48 sites and opened in Tampa Monday on West Hillsborough Avenue. That makes 12 stores in 10 months for the Jacksonville-based investment group.
Boselli, whose playing size was 6 feet 7 inches and 322 pounds, got hooked on the burgers when he played for the Houston Texans during his final season in the NFL in 2002.
"I tried the product, liked it and wanted to get involved after football," he said.
There are 55 units planned for the Tampa Bay area, but the number that JWB Ventures will open is not yet determined.
Each unit costs between $1.7 million and $2 million to open, including franchise rights, land, building and startup expenses. Boselli has a significant equity stake in the restaurants, but declined to get specific.
Boselli has a history in hamburgers. As a Jaguars player in the 1990s his name was associated with the Jacksonville McDonald's Association Co-op of 93 restaurants.
A McDonald's culinary concoction, the Boselli Burger, was featured in television ads in 1998 that showed Boselli enjoying his burger at a local restaurant. At the time, the Jacksonville Business Journal reported that one of Boselli's first jobs was working on the crew in several of his parents' McDonald's restaurants in Colorado.
And in a 1997 McDonald's campaign estimated to cost $1.5 million, Boselli promoted four McDonald's products for 99 cents each.
A crowded kitchen
With McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Checkers firmly established in the area, introducing a new brand is no easy task.
"The giants carve out a national following with their advertising," said Tom Minor, principal at Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based franchise consultant. "But there's still room for regional players who have a distinct following of people who like independents."
Whataburger has had a southern presence from Arizona to Florida along Interstate 10 and from Georgia back to Arizona along Interstate 20.
Although 25 percent of restaurants fail after three years, in the limited service restaurant segment, hamburgers are the most popular item. And consumers are fueling a huge growth in the field, Minor said.
According to a study by Technomic, McDonald's, which grossed $24.4 billion in 2004, grew by 10.3 percent since 2003.
In contrast Whataburger reported $800 million in sales and grew 13 percent during the same period. Its number of units only grew by 5.1 percent, so the added sales are coming from existing stores expanding their client base, not from opening new units, Minor said.
"The stores are in hand-to-hand combat for customers," said Donald Boroian, CEO of Francorp Inc., an Olympia Fields, Ill.-based franchise consultant. To get more customers, it takes a price break, a coupon, better service, a broader menu or anything that will give an edge to the restaurant.
"Whataburger is a proven brand and has shown it can compete with the best," Boroian said. "They wouldn't go into an area unless they had identified a good market and planned to open multiple units."
"We're going to do these one store at a time," Boselli said.
lhalstead@bizjournals.com 813.342.2467

Don Boroian - Over 40 Years in Franchise Management

Francorp will conduct seminars and speak at many of the restaurant and chamber of commerce groups around the country. Francorp's Chairman, Don Boroian recently spoke to the restaurant group in New York, here is the press release they gave on him for the speaking role.

Don Boroian

With more than 40 years of experience in corporate management, franchising, direct sales, and business administration, Donald D. Boroian is among the nation’s most sought after consultants in the field of business expansion.
He and his companies have provided consulting services for more than 10,000 businesses, including some of the nation’s best known franchisors: ARCO’s am/pm Mini Markets, Hershey Foods, Popeye’s Fried Chicken, Discovery Zone, Texaco, and Valvoline.
A former executive vice-president of one of the largest publicly owned Amex fast-food chains, with 300 restaurants, Mr. Boroian turned to franchise consulting in 1976. Today, Francorp, Inc., with offices in Chicago, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Dubai, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, and Chile, is the largest company in its field. Francorp specializes in franchising and other expansion programs, including licensing, dealerships, distributorships, and direct sales programs.
Mr. Boroian is widely known throughout the world of franchising. He has served as a member of the Industry Advisory Committee of the Franchise Regulation Committee, the Midwest Securities Commissioners’ Association, and the North American Securities Administrator’s Association. He served as an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association, was a member of the Forum Committee on Franchising of the American Bar Association, and has been an expert witness in franchise litigation. He has served as co-chairman of the Fair Franchising Standards Committee of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers. He gives frequent seminars on franchising and expansion strategies to colleges, universities, and trade groups. He is often interviewed by journalists and makes numerous appearances on radio and television.
Mr. Boroian was a member of the Board of Trustees of Rush University’s Medical Center and Vice Chairman of the Rush Alzheimer’s Center. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Riverside Hospital. He is a graduate of DePaul University, where he received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Alumni Association of DePaul University, where he also serves on the Advisory Board. He continued his post-graduate studies at DePaul and the University of Chicago Executive MBA Program.
Mr. Boroian’s book, The Franchise Advantage, is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative and skillfully written books on franchise development. He is also co-author of the popular Simon & Schuster book, How to Buy and Manage a Franchise.
Donald D. BoroianChairman,
Chief Executive Officer,
Francorp
20200 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
708-481-2900
800-372-6244
dboroian@francorp.com
www.francorp.com

Francorp The Leader in Franchising

Francorp is in a very niche business. The company has been the leader in this niche now for almost 33 years. There is an old saying about business, "find something that you are good at and focus on that specific thing." Francorp has done just that. There are many consultants and business consultants in the market who provide a wide array of consulting and support services. Many of them are very talented. What seperates Francorp is one the overwhelming amount of resources and talent focused specifically on franchise development. The other is that Francorp onely works within the franchise development niche. With this specific focus the team and professionals have an enormous knowledge base from which to draw when developing new programs. The company has more franchise experience with different and unique concepts than anyone could imagine. The end result is a global leader in franchising and franchise expansion. There is no where in the world that a business owner could look to for the kind of experience and support in developing a franchise brand.

www.francorp.com


www.francorpconnect.com

Francorp, Francorp, Francorp

There are three important things to remember when choosing a company to work with as a franchise consulting group.

One: Make sure that the company has it's resources in house. The internet and evasive marketing can cloud the fact that many franchise consultants do not have an in-house consulting team. Why is this important? Because you don't want to play general contractor on your franchise development project. The business owner and entrepreneur should not have to be tracking people down throughout the development of their program. Francorp has an all in-house team that does not outsource any part of the franchise development. Francorp is the only franchise consulting firm that has an in-house legal staff. This is important because the franchise attorneys should be involved in all aspects of the franchise development process, the business planning, the operations development, the marketing materials, the website design and throughout the planning of the project.

Two: Depth and Resources. What happens if you hire an individual consultant or "Group" of consultants when the consultant working on your project decides to retire, take a vacation or has other work to attend to? The fact is that you need a team of experienced people who have depth and the resources to provide a complete consulting service. Francorp has been in operation for 33 years and worked with thousands of franchisors, the company is not going anywhere and will be here tomorrow. This is important because a new franchise company needs the guidance for years after they are introduced to the market.

Three: Experience and Diversity of Work. When developing a new franchise organization every company is unique and different, it is important that there is no magic pill for creating a successful franchise company. Each business and company has it's own philosophies, culture and business model. The franchise consulting company should have a broad range of clients and work that they have done in order to draw from that experience and impliment the appropriate strategies and structure for their franchise organization. Why is this important? There are many franchise consultants out there who associate themselves with franchise systems they worked on while with other companies, they played a part in the development but did not run the projects or oversee the implimentation of the programs. Even other consultants claim work on franchise projects that in reality they played little or no part in the development of the critical aspects of the franchise program. Francorp brings more experience and a more extensive client list than any other franchise consulting organization. The depth and extent to which Francorp has worked with franchise systems of all kinds is unmatched by anyone in the market.

Go to the Francorp site for more information on the firm, Francorp clients, Francorp processes, Francorp testimonials and Francorp's executive team.

www.francorp.com

Francorp also lists many of its clients for marketing and franchise sales purposes on its web portal. Here Francorp clients can generate leads and create a market presence.

www.francorpconnect.com

Francorp also has a strong international presence in 13 countries representing over 40 different countries around the world. Francorp is the only franchise consulting firm that has franchised it's own operations internationally.

www.francorpinternational.com

Francorp also provides financing for many of its clients franchisees. This is critical in most markets and from a marketing and franchise sales perspective it is very important that Francorp clients can offer this to their franchisees.

www.francorpcapital.com

Immigrants as Franchisees

A key target for a franchise owner is an immigrant. As this article from the Wall Street Journal points out, immigrants tend to be ideally suited for to be a franchise owner. For more information on how to franchise a business or franchise development, go to www.francorp.com.

OCTOBER 13, 2008


FranchisingChain ReactionFor many immigrants, owning a franchise is the path to the American dream

By RICHARD GIBSONhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB122347728915015415.html?mod=djkeywordLike many immigrants, Lyudmila Khononov turned to a franchise to fulfill her American dream.When she was 10 years old, Mrs. Khononov's family left Odessa, Ukraine, for the U.S. in search of a better life. "There was a lot of discrimination against Jews," she recalls of their exodus 30 years ago.As they began anew in this country, "we had nothing except a dream," Mrs. Khononov says. "But our parents told us we could be anything we wanted to be."After marrying, Mrs. Khononov and her husband, Gregory, ran a diner in Queens, N.Y., for six years. But when it came time to think about expansion in 2001, they borrowed money from a bank and friends and turned to a franchise instead.Mrs. Khononov says she spotted "tremendous growth potential" for the Subway fast-food concept in neighboring Brooklyn, where there were only a handful of the outlets, primarily in gas stations.She says they considered it a fairly easy concept to operate since "you don't have to prepare all the food from scratch" and the franchiser's big marketing campaign would give their business instant recognition. Her husband, also an immigrant, adds that it would have been much harder for them to expand the diner on their own.The decision has paid off. The Khononovs now operate four Subway stores in Brooklyn. And this past summer, Subway, a unit of Doctor's Associates Inc., named Mrs. Khononov its top multistore franchisee in North America, among 12,200 competitors.Built-In HelpMany immigrants look to establish themselves by running their own business. And the chance to start afresh after enduring hardships and adversity in another country often stokes their resolve to succeed. But starting -- and successfully running -- a small business is hard enough without the language and cultural barriers that immigrants can encounter.So, many immigrants turn to a franchise concept. With its proven track record, name recognition and built-in marketing, a franchise can take out a lot of the uncertainty of running a business. And immigrant entrepreneurs often are able to tap their own immigrant community for customers, as well as use the franchise name to broaden that base.A 2006 study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, which advocates entrepreneurship, found that immigrants are 30% more likely to become entrepreneurs than are native-born Americans.One reason so many immigrants gravitate toward running their own business may well be because of their experiences with risk, often starting from scratch, says Vivek Wadhwa, an executive in residence at Duke University in Durham, N.C., who has written several papers on immigrants for the foundation and who, after emigrating from India, founded two software companies in the U.S."They've learned what it's like to lose everything," Mr. Wadhwa says. "Once you've done that, you're less afraid of doing it again."Hospitality BusinessThe number of foreign-born franchisees operating in the U.S. businesses isn't known. The International Franchise Association, the sector's leading organization, and major franchisers say they don't keep count.What is known is that some franchised concepts are particularly attractive to immigrants. For example, nearly half of the hotel and motel units in the country -- most of which are franchised -- are run by first- or second-generation East Indians and Pakistanis, according to Fred Schwartz, president of the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association.Anil Chagan is one of them. Raised in South Africa by Indian parents, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1978 at age 24, in part because of the apartheid then embroiling South Africa, where he ran a men's clothing store.Mr. Chagan initially worked at a brother-in-law's motel in East Oakland, Calif. But after two years, he sought to acquire his own. "I couldn't see myself working for somebody else," he says.He purchased a motel in Visalia, Calif., that wasn't affiliated with any of the big national brands. After five years, he converted it to an EconoLodge, a unit of Choice Hotels International Inc., at the chain's invitation. Today, Mr. Chagan's company, Infinite Hospitality, operates two hotel-motels in central California and is building three more. All are franchised, but with various franchisers.Being a franchisee "has been a very significant part of my success," Mr. Chagan says, adding that the affiliation with a national brand helps in obtaining loans and various construction permits.Getting the Message OutOne of the biggest challenges immigrant business owners face -- especially those unfamiliar with local customs -- is understanding what the market wants and then effectively getting their message out."With a franchise," though, says Duke University's Mr. Wadhwa, "that's already done for you."It was RE/MAX International Inc.'s built-in Internet marketing that convinced Shawn Nam, a South Korea native, to sign on with the big real-estate franchiser. When looking up properties on a specific area on the franchiser's Web site, the local franchisee's address pops up. Mr. Nam figured that constructing his own site -- and the marketing to go with it -- would cost him thousands of dollars.Now 39 years old, Mr. Nam immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was in high school. "We were looking for a better life," which, he says, included freedom of speech. He worked for his father's janitorial company before enrolling in Rutgers University in New Jersey, dropping out after three years to help support his family. He then set out for a career in real estate.Helping HandThe Situation: Many immigrants look to franchises when opening a business.The Appeal: With its proven track record, name recognition and built-in marketing, a franchise can take out a lot of the uncertainty of running a business.No Guarantees: Cultural and language barriers can still be a challenge.He got a job as an agent at the Prudential Fox & Roach real-estate agency in Voorhees, N.J., and quickly became one the office's leading producers, focusing on the area's large South Korean community, says Paula Goldberg, the agency's vice president. After three years with the Prudential affiliate, Mr. Nam left to start his own agency under the RE/MAX banner, with the Korean community his primary customer target.Mr. Nam had a rough start, though. He believes that several of his agents quit because "they didn't want to work for a Korean. They didn't tell me," he says. "But I can feel it." Today, he counts Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos and East Indians among his agency's employees. Its president is a Palestinian.Making the CutShahin Urias was spurred by the opportunity to do something few women in her native Iran enjoy -- own her own business.Mrs. Urias, who survived bombings and, for a time, lived with her young children in a mud basement-shelter in Tehran during the Iraqi-Iran war in the 1980s, came to the U.S. as a refugee 16 years ago.Her early years here were hardscrabble. She worked in a Luby's cafeteria in Austin, Texas, where, after six months, a cafeteria manager encouraged her to pursue her desire to own a hair salon. At first, Mrs. Urias's poor English kept her out of beauty school, but with her children's help her linguistic skills improved. After 11 months of study, she earned a degree in cosmetology.She started working at a Sports Clips Inc. hair-care franchise in Austin as a part-time stylist. After moving her way up to manager, Mrs. Urias, by then remarried, moved to Tucson, Ariz., and purchased her own Sports Clips franchise -- the first one in that area. While she could have opened an independent shop, Mrs. Urias says she saw advantages in going with a proven concept with a solid market niche and "policies and procedures in place. All the hard work is done."Also, Sports Clips, she says, is a known national brand. So, people who either move to Tucson or are passing through are familiar and comfortable with the brand.Mrs. Urias acknowledges finding bookkeeping and some other aspects of running a business unfamiliar, but says help from Sports Clips is only a phone call away. "Without their support, I would be lost."Although she has had her shop only a few months, Mrs. Urias, 45 years old, has plans to open two more. "I think I'm doing great," she says. "My numbers may not be up there yet, but I'm definitely on the right path."—Mr. Gibson is a writer in Des Moines, Iowa.Write to Richard Gibson at reports@wsj.com

Francorp Client - American Prosperity Group

American Prosperity Group, the First Retirement and Estate Planning Franchisor, Exceeds First-Year Franchise Goal
Last update: 11:19 p.m. EDT Oct. 9, 2008

WAYNE, N.J., Oct 09, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- American Prosperity Group (APG), headquartered in Wayne, NJ, is the first and only retirement and estate planning organization to be franchised. Nine APG franchises are now operating in cities in the eastern United States, two more than the company's 18-month objective. More are planned.
APG is the creation of Mark E. Charnet, a Certified Annuity Specialist. For over 26 years, he has been helping people solve their individual problems of successful retirement and estate planning. APG does this by implementing those parts of a total retirement and estate planning system needed to meet each client's needs.
The APG system has been so successful for over a decade that Mr. Charnet has turned his precepts and product offerings into the first-ever retirement and estate planning franchise. The current franchises are operated by:
-- Bill Romeo, Matthews, NC
-- Dawn Sarnoski, Closter, NJ
-- Shane Couturie, Bryn Mawr, PA
-- Peter Murphy, Santa Fe, NM*
-- Mark Timmick, Ellicott City, MD
-- Mike Linker, Totowa, NJ*
-- Kevin Lynch, Belle Mead, NJ
-- Ari Cohen, Bergenfield, NJ*
-- Holly Sikora, Sicklerville, NJ*
"Now, we are offering additional franchises," Mr. Charnet said. "The franchisees we seek are ideally situated in metro or suburban areas with average or higher senior populations. APG is a relatively low-overhead franchise, with an investment under $100,000. Our present franchisees are well on the way to paying off their franchise investment--and some have already done so within their first few months of operation.
"What we look for in a franchisee is entrepreneurial spirit. Financial know-how is not as important as the ability to be a good presenter, speaking to small and medium-sized groups. Empathy--the talent for caring about peoples' needs--is a must, as is a good sense of organization. This is an excellent opportunity for those with sales experience, but that experience need not include finance."
For franchisees, Mr. Charnet has fine-tuned APG's systems, products and operating procedures developed over his years of experience. Now, others can present his proven system to good effect. "It's all worked-out, step-by-step," he said. "Also, every franchisee receives complete coaching, supervision and assistance from me and my staff. The APG precepts are teachable, portable and repeatable--the keys to any successful franchise."
As for success, Mr. Charnet is a sterling example. During and after college, he built one very successful career in insurance sales, only to lose everything due to the insurance company's dramatic management change. Beginning again with virtually nothing, he developed the proven retirement & estate planning methods taught exclusively by APG. In aiding others in building and retaining income, he has built lasting success for himself.
Those interested in an APG franchise should contact APG at 1-973-831-4424. On the Web: www.apgfranchise.com
*(offices scheduled to open within 90 days)
SOURCE: American Prosperity Group Serpente & Co. Inc.
Joe Serpente, 856-275-6931

Burger King Plans Whopper Bars

Burger King Plans Whopper Bars
By JANET ADAMY

Burger King Holdings Inc. will open its first Whopper Bar in Orlando, Fla., in February as it lays plans to put the bars across the globe.
Burger King
A rendering of Burger King's plans for the Whopper Bar.
The fast-food chain plans to open six to 20 Whopper Bars in the next 12 to 18 months, said Russ Klein, Burger King's president of global marketing, strategy and innovation. In addition to the U.S., the company is looking at locations in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Orlando bar will be part of the Universal Orlando Resort.
Since first disclosing plans for the bars in March, Burger King has been adjusting the concept. The restaurants will be a smaller, more modern version of Burger King's regular outlets built around the Miami-based chain's signature sandwich.
The menu will have only one-third, or possibly fewer, items than a typical Burger King, including about six to eight varieties of the Whopper. Those could include the Texas Double Whopper, a Whopper with chorizo, or other versions that have been limited-time offerings in Burger King restaurants. The bars also will feature more grab-and-go items to cater to a higher level of walk-up traffic, possibly including salads.
Still in the plans is the possibility of putting beer on the bar's menu in the U.S. and abroad. "We're not interested in being in the business of hard liquor, but beer is certainly an option," Mr. Klein said.
Already the company has altered its decor plans, replacing a proposed brick wall with a more industrial-looking corrugated metal backdrop. Mr. Klein said employees will wear "uniforms that might better be described as clothing" that would be appropriate to wear out after they're off the clock.
Burger King is in negotiations for 20 to 25 Whopper Bar sites around the world. Mr. Klein said the company is looking to put the bars in places like airports, beaches, cruise ships, sporting venues and other locations where there may be less space available for a restaurant. He said that prices may be higher than at a typical Burger King, in part because restaurants in these locations often command higher prices.
Write to Janet Adamy

Papa Johns Creative Approach to Out-of-Stocks

Papa John's Creative Approach To Out-of-Stocks
Written by Evan Schuman October 9, 2008

It's 9 PM on a Saturday night and Bill hits the E-Commerce site of his local pizza parlor to order a pie with a pineapple and anchovy topping. The site knows his favorite orders and his payment data and his order is quickly processed, but it flashes a message that they just ran out of pineapple and would he care for an alternative topping.With the new Web site that $1 billion Pappa John's launched this week, restaurant workers update the site to a topping out-of-stock by calling a headquarters call center, which sends a message to have the site updated for that specific restaurant. But the chain is preparing for a much faster system, where store employees could tell its POS system about running out of pineapple as easily as ringing up a cheesesteak to go.In the world of retail, restaurants—and especially pizza chains—have unusual challenges. Take out-of-stocks, for instance. That traditionally refers to a completed item, such as running out of red bicycles when the last of 70 in stock are sold. POS can talk with inventory and know how many are in stock and can assume an out-of-stock when the last one is sold.But in a pizza chain, pepperoni and sausage and other toppings are not wrung up individually, other than as a topping. Theoretically, the POS could assume strict measurement adherence, knowing that the storeroom has 100 pounds of pineapple and that that is enough for maybe 1,000 pineapple pizzas. Things are rarely that precise, with some workers throwing on more or less and then there are the pepperoni slices that fall on the floor.The only accurate way to work out such a system would be to allow workers to key in such shortages when they happen.Tish Muldoon, the chain's PR director, stressed that her chain rarely runs out of such topping, but that the technology could prove useful.Pizza chains are also different from other E-tail sites that allow deliveries in the time urgency. What other retailer would concede that a 90-minute delivery of a fully customized product from mouse click to doorbell ring was far too lengthy?With that time urgency, the ability to have an absolutely current menu display is challenging.Bob Ford is the director of online marketing for the chain of 3,270 restaurants in 50 U.S. states and 28 countries, which dubs itself the world's third largest pizza company, presumably behind Pizza Hut and Domino's.Ford, who oversaw a major relaunch of the chain's E-Commerce site this week, said that his team "has provisions in place" for connecting the E-Commerce site directly with the homegrown POS units in each store, but it won't be until a future rev of the site.The key changes for this version was moving menus to appear before any logins were requested. "I don't want to tell you who I am. I just want the menu," Ford said.But for Papa John's, that's not so easy. The chain makes extensive use of regional preferences, offering, for example, black olives in much of the country but green olives in Texas, Muldoon said. Almost 10 percent of the regional menus are localized, making it ill-advised to show a California consumer a menu with items that can only be purchased in Florida.Papa John's created a generic menu, but then asks for address and Zip Code to display the full menu for the nearest restaurant. The very next release of the site—slated for "before the end of the year"—will include an improved restaurant locator, Ford said.The site also updated its mobile and desktop interfaces, reflecting the capabilities and screen sizes of the more popular mobile/desktop options out there today. "Many sites were designed for 800 x 600 screen monitors," Ford said, "but 95 percent plus now have 1024 x 768" or better.One observation that Ford mentioned was consumer perception of speed with order online versus ordering on the phone. "The perception is that online is faster, but the reality is that it's self-paced so it feels better to you" compared with a phone order.Maybe, but it's quite likely that the E-Commerce transactions are indeed a lot faster. First, there's the self-selecting factor, meaning that the consumer who choose to order online and likely very comfortable with computers and would therefore likely be very fast at order entering. Also, after the first order, if the consumer orders a favorite package and if they allow their payment card information to be retained, that online order truly should be a lot faster.That's even more likely during busy pizza hours when the store is more likely to have to put phone customers on hold. On the flip side, a phone order rarely crashes and requires a reboot, nor do multiple orders display an eternal hourglass, but even with Windows, being placed on hold is probably more likely.

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Editor Evan Schuman at eschuman@storefrontbacktalk.com
Comment on this story

Francorp Client - Friendly's

Harvard dips into Friendly's
by Dan Muse
Sunday September 21, 2008, 6:45 AM
By JIM KINNEY

Business writer


Curtis Blake, 84, and his brother S. Prestley Blake, 86, who together founded Friendly Ice Cream Corp. with $547 in 1934, are shown outside the Friendly company conference center in West Springfield, Mass., in 2001.
BOSTON - Professors at the famed Harvard Business School will use the saga of Friendly Ice Cream Corp. as a case study in corporate governance.
The story starts with Friendly's co-founder S. Prestley Blake's nearly eight-year successful legal fight to wrest control of the company he calls "my baby" away from former Friendly's CEO Donald N. Smith.
The 29-page case study also covers San Antonio-based investor Sardar Biglari's purchase of Friendly's stock and demands for two seats on the board and the company's sale in August 2007 to Sun Capital Partners, a privately held Florida firm.
"All that in a setting of a company that is nice to talk about because it's ice cream," said Fabrizio Ferri, Harvard Business School assistant professor of accounting and management. "It lends itself to a very interesting discussion."
The school, which marks its centennial this year, pioneered its "case method" of study in the 1920s, bringing what it describes as "slices of business reality into the classroom in order to breathe life and instill greater meaning into the lessons of management education." More than 80 percent of the school's classes are built on this method of study, according to the school.
Ferri, along with Harvard Business School Professor V. G. Narayanan and researcher James Weber, spent four months meeting with Blake and Biglari and researching the case using publicly available documents before publishing the case in April. Teachers started using it in second-year master's of business administration degree courses this month . Harvard is selling copies for $6.95 each.
Ferri said he'll also use the case in classes he teaches to members of corporate boards of directors.
"They may be more sympathetic to the way the board dealt with the situation," he said.
S. Prestley Blake, now 93, said he's happy the case is getting more attention. He believes more people in the business world need to know the dangers of "poison pills," provisions in corporate structure that make it difficult to buy enough shares to take over a company. Blake said the pills are not there to protect shareholders or longtime employees, only executives.
"I succeeded in getting rid of Smith," Blake said. "It took me seven and a half years. It's a darn good thing I stuck with it as long as I did. No one else would have done it."
Smith and the people who ran Friendly's at the time said Blake's lawsuit was expensive to defend and diverted management's attention from running the company, according to the Harvard study.
Blake and his brother Curtis L. Blake, founded Friendly in Springfield in 1935. They sold the company to Hershey Foods in 1979 for $164 million. Hershey sold it to Smith's company in 1988 for $375 million and in 1997 Smith took the company public.
"(Prestley) Blake is kind of a symbol of American capitalism in the '30s, '40s," Ferri said. "Coming out of the Depression they were very risk-averse. They didn't believe in a lot of debt."
He contrasts that mind-set with Smith.
"Then you have a CEO who is a symbol of the CEOs of the '80s and '90s," Ferri said. "The way you build wealth is by leveraging into debt. Then," - in Biglari - " you have this avant garde of the hedge-fund activist," Ferri said.
But Prestley Blake didn't like the debt Friendly's had and Smith's strategy of closing and selling restaurants in order to pay down that debt. Blake also didn't like the relationship between Friendly's and Perkins, another restaurant company Smith controlled, and Smith's use of a corporate jet.
The stock dipped as low as $2 a share before Biglari started buying it with an eye toward rejuvenating the firm under new management.
"Essentially the goal is to clean up the balance seat," he said.
The fight continued until August 2007 when Sun Capital Partners, a privately held firm that doesn't have publicly traded stock, bought the company for $337.2 million.
Sun paid $15.50 a share, 30 percent more than what Friendly's stock was trading for at the time, ensuring a profit for all the stockholders including Prestley Blake and Smith.
"In the end, everyone was happy," Ferri said. Converting public companies into privately held firms that have less pressure to show short-term results is a trend in corporate America, Ferri said.
"I can ask students 'Why take a company private?,'" he said.
George R. Weldon is vice president of marketing at Friendly now. He came on board just as the sale was completed last year.
"We've seen the case study," Weldon said. "We really didn't see it as any new news. We're glad it's behind us, and we're terribly excited about the new ownership."
Curtis Blake read the Harvard case study after Prestley sent him a copy through Prestley's son. The two men, partners in business for more than 50 years, are no longer friendly with each other.
"I wasn't sure what the moral of the story is," Curtis Blake said. "The only moral that I could draw was that it pays to be an activist investor and raise hell."
Ferri met with Biglari and with Prestley Blake, but didn't interview Curtis Blake. Curtis Blake, 91, is mentioned briefly in the report during an outline of the company's history.
Curtis Blake said his brother had a personal vendetta against Smith while Curtis Blake credits Smith with rescuing the company from poor management at Hershey and giving it 19 more years of life.
"I thought Biglari was the guy who got the business sold," Curtis Blake said.
It was only when it looked like Prestley Blake and Biglari were going to work together and take control of the company that Smith found a buyer in Sun Capital. It turned out to be an excellent buyer at the 30 percent premium, Curtis Blake said.
"Its wonderful," Blake said "That's why I was so happy to hear it."
Curtis Blake said his brother is playing up his role, though. Prestley Blake did a wonderful job managing Friendly's in the early years, Curtis Blake said. "I've always given him credit for that," he said. "I never could have done it alone. Then as the company grew, he just couldn't think big enough."
Business writer Jim Kinney can be reached at jkinney@repub.com

Green Guilt

Indulge Me: Market in “Green Guilt” Booming, If Nothing Else Is
Posted by Keith Johnson
Wall Street is tanking, home prices are flying south, and jobless claims are on the rise. Are there bulls anywhere? Sure there are—in the market for “green guilt.”
Early guilt markets (Wikipedia)
The Washington Post reports today on one of the few markets enjoying happy times, the market for voluntary “carbon offsets” that let people pay someone else to curb their emissions of greenhouse gases. The offset market, says the WaPo, is not only getting bigger, prices are going up:
In other words, when nearly everything seems to be selling for less, thousands of individuals and businesses are paying more for nothing, or at least nothing tangible.
Part of the reason, the WaPo says, is that the kind of people who have money to spend on “luxuries” like expatiating green guilt haven’t yet been slammed by the financial crisis. That’s true of high-profile green activists, too—actress Jamie Lee Curtis snagged one of the first five hydrogen-powered cars in Los Angeles, even though she admitted higher gasoline prices hadn’t dented her tax bracket or influenced her decision.
Odder is the continued enthusiasm for offsets when government watchdogs have been warning all year that it is sometimes a sketchy market. The Federal Trade Commission held hearings earlier this year to examine questionable advertising claims about carbon offsets. Last week, the General Accounting Office released a report criticizing “the limited assurance of credibility” in the voluntary market for offsets. The GAO report also questions how many projects would have been carried out anyway, regardless of the extra financing brought in by the offset market.
And that issue hounds more than just people trying to justify a guilt-free weekend in Vegas. At a time when the scope and seriousness of China’s push into clean energy is becoming apparent, for example, how much longer can reluctant European economies pretend they are underwriting China’s energy transformation and cleaning up the global environment?

Holding Onto Customers in a Tough Economy

Keeping Customers in a Crummy Economy
With recession expectations growing, some companies are taking extraordinary steps to hold on to customers
by David Bogoslaw
Even before the U.S. economic outlook darkened as the gravity of the financial crisis came into focus, companies started to get more aggressive in their attempts to hold onto old customers and attract new ones. Telephone companies' offers for two months of free service and reduced rates, discounted gym membership renewals, and generous gift cards from high-end department stores all underscore a pervasive fear on Main Street: With the uncertainty around the credit seize-up, consumers may be digging in for a long hibernation.
In upstate New York and other rural communities it serves, Frontier Communications (FTR) is even sending sales representatives door-to-door to persuade customers to lock in another year's worth of service at a discount rate. Those visits are effective where customers are often two-income families with busy lives, and many of those drop-ins are scheduled in advance, says Brigid Smith, a company spokeswoman. "We're sensitive to what this financial crisis means to them and we have to communicate with them," she says.
It's not only because of the gloomier economic picture that Frontier and other telephone companies are trying harder to hold onto customers. Ongoing attrition of users to more advanced technologies, like wireless, and poaching by cable companies have also called for more aggressive retention efforts. Verizon Communications (VZ) estimates an average loss of 8% to 9% of its customer landlines a year over the past few years, most of them going exclusively wireless or switching to service from a voice over IP (VOIP) or cable company, says spokesman Bill Kule. The barrage of competition from cable operators was a key impetus for Verizon's fiber-optic service, called FiOS, which bundles voice, high-speed Internet, and television service together into a triple-play package, which had been connected in more than 7 million households by the end of June.
Verizon has long been pitching promotional offers at "customers on the precipice of leaving," says Kule, but those became more urgent after the company saw bigger than expected departures of both broadband and voice customers during the second quarter. Since July, it's been offering all three services for the price of two to keep customers thinking about switching and to win back residential and small business customers who have already left, says Kule. Verizon is also urging customers to sign up for at least a one-year plan, hoping it will help them stick, he adds.
Sinking Economy…Cable Company Boost?
The tougher economy may have put cable service providers more squarely in the catbird seat, relieving some pressure to offer perks to customers. Their rationale: Subscribers to premium cable channels and pay-per-view events have arguably already chosen to cut their entertainment expenses and trade down—by staying home, says Christopher King, a telco analyst at Stifel Nicolaus (SF).
Long before the financial crisis tripped off new alarms last month, DirecTV (DTV) had initiated a program to retain customers, who sign up for either 18 months of standard service or two years for advanced service with features such as high-definition. "We're always looking at customers who are about to roll off their commitment, and there are groups we do go after with commitment-renewal efforts," using free digital video recorders or HD boxes as incentives, says Paul Guyardo, DirecTV's chief sales and marketing officer.
More often than not these efforts are directed at customers who live in areas where cable competition is more cutthroat. The company also discourages switching by charging early termination fees—generally $150 to $250—that are pro-rated according to how much time remains on a contract.
With a longer and deeper recession looming larger on the horizon, telephone and cable providers will be more inclined to use prices to differentiate themselves from their rivals, predicts King at Stifel Nicolaus.
Tough Task for Car Dealers
For big-ticket items like cars, keeping customers coming requires a more Herculean effort. With larger banks increasingly unwilling to approve car loans even to applicants whose credit scores used to be regarded as stellar, it's up to the manufacturers to risk filling the gap by financing less creditworthy customers, or "buying deep," as auto industry analyst Brett Hoselton at Keybanc Capital Markets (KEY) calls it. Carmakers can also offer a bigger discount so that the remaining cost meets the threshold of 90% of the manufacturer's suggested retail price that financing organizations generally require, he adds.
Car dealerships are starting to create their own incentives by narrowing their profit margins, in some cases giving up the profit they used to make on the financing terms, which can reduce the customer's monthly payments. Dealers are happy just to make a sale, says Jack Sayer, managing partner at Sayer Partners, a consultant to car dealerships and a former car dealer himself.
The best dealers he works with are aggressively contacting current customers three months before their leases or financing contracts are due to expire and preparing them for the tougher challenges of getting financing. For them, retaining customers requires as much outreach to potential financing sources as to the customers themselves. Dealers are now courting the smaller local banks that are still eager for business—banks that dealers wouldn't have felt as confident using in the past, says Sayer. They're also contacting local credit unions, which are typically less aggressive about drumming up new business than banks. "[It gives dealers] another source for financing and it also works in reverse," he says. "These credit unions are sending you customers and they usually have pre-approval of $25,000. This generally doesn't happen with bank customers."
Subscribing to services such as DealerTrak, an Internet-based credit application system, is another way for dealers to expand their lists of potential financing sources. It allows them to submit a customer's application to 1,000 banks all at once instead of faxing it to them individually, says Sayer. He also encourages clients who may have been resistant to using the Internet to make their Web sites more user-friendly, including posting information about customers' financing options.
Seeking Access to Affluent Customers
Health clubs like Life Time Fitness (LTM) seem to be among the most pro-active companies when it comes to customer retention. Life Time eschews long-term contracts and discount offers in favor of more lavish customer service, facilities, equipment, and features like children's centers—replete with computers, basketball courts, and climbing equipment—where parents can securely park kids under 12 while they work out.

"There's more stickiness in the membership base already because of the family component in the membership," says Laura Richardson, an analyst at BB&T Capital Markets (BBT). "The best way to retain a customer is to get them more fully involved in the club, using it as frequently and broadly as possible." (BB&T Capital Markets expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from Life Time in the next three months.)
Life Time is beefing up its customer connectivity program by bolstering its online advantage club, through which members get discount offers on everything from groceries to cellular service to vacation resorts from a network of nearly 100 partners who want access to Life Time's affluent customer base, says Scott Lutz, Life Time's chief marketing officer.
"In a tough economy, people start justifying every spend they make," says Lutz. "We make it easier for you to justify [that expense] because you can only get this discount if you're a member of Life Time. We allow it to fit your budget."
Veering Off the Yellow Brick Road
Department stores are also getting more desperate to keep customers engaged. In addition to buying customer lists from credit-card companies, some upscale retailers are offering gift cards for $150 or more after a $1,000 purchase, and turning their stores into entertainment venues to boost store traffic, says Patricia Pao, chief executive of Pao Principle, a retail consulting firm in New York.
For a Wizard of Oz theme party during New York's annual Fashion Week in September, Saks (SKS) brought in top shoe designers to create their renderings of the MGM film version's iconic ruby slippers, an event that probably cost Saks an additional couple of hundred thousand dollars, Pao estimates. She doubts such attention-grabbing tactics are working since sales at stores open at least one year continue to be extremely weak. With comparable sales already faltering for a year before the Lehman Brothers collapse and other recent events, "it's going to be very hard for [retailers] to retain their customers, or just to get them in the door," she says.
Aggressive markdowns on prices are also occurring much earlier than in the past, she notes, with fall merchandise already being advertised at 60% off at the start of October. "[Stores] are going to start doing markdowns [on Christmas items] by the middle of November" rather than waiting until the traditional day after Thanksgiving.
Says Pao: "I guarantee you're not going to see Black Friday anymore."
Bogoslaw is a reporter for BusinessWeek's Investing channel.

In Home Care Demand Growing

Piece of Mind The demand for in-home care is growing, and clients and their families say it is a great way for senior citizens to stay in their homes.
By JORDAN RAUBOLT of the Tribune’s staff
Published Saturday, October 4, 2008

The demand for in-home care is growing, and clients and their families say it is a great way for senior citizens to stay in their homes and keep their independence.
Creola Jones loves her home.
The 93-year-old retired schoolteacher has lived with her daughter, Jackie Jones, in the split-level off of North Garth Avenue for more than 27 years. Because Creola Jones’ mobility is limited by severe arthritis and several knee surgeries, she spends most of her days enjoying the scene in her backyard from her perch in the living room, which overlooks woods and a small stream that host birds and other wildlife.
Jones said the routine has helped her make it to her 93rd year.
Don Shrubshell photos
Leanna Clayton, a caregiver for Home Instead Senior Care, gives client Creola Jones a hug at the end of the day. Below, Clayton, right, waters flowers for Jones. “I call them my daughter’s peace of mind,” Jones said of her caregivers.
"It’s very peaceful here," she said. "I don’t know whether I could have made it without the birds."
Jones also has had some help from Home Instead Senior Care of Columbia. Jackie Jones hired Home Instead in 2006 to provide her mother with companionship and assistance during the times Jackie Jones’ job as vice chancellor of administrative services at the University of Missouri keeps her away from home.
Home Instead of Columbia, a franchised outlet of Omaha, Neb.-based Home Instead Inc., is one of several local businesses that provide nonmedical in-home-care services, such as companionship visits, grocery shopping, meal preparation, light housekeeping and appointment and errand transportation.
"There are times because of my work where I have to go out of town, and Home Instead will send someone to spend the night with her," Jackie Jones said. "You can count on them. I just know that I don’t have to worry."
Creola Jones said there are a handful of caregivers who come to her home five days a week. They help her up and down the stairs, assist with light house-cleaning and drive her to the doctor’s office and the grocery store - and provide good company.
"I love them all," she said. "I look upon them as friends, and they are my friends. I could call on any of them for help."
●
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one in five U.S. residents will be 65 or older by 2030. And that same age group is projected to reach 88.5 million in 2050, more than doubling from 38.7 million this year.
Don Shrubshell photo
Clayton puts away groceries for Jones. Clayton also cooks some meals for Jones.
Home Instead co-owner Debbie Critchfield said she has seen tremendous growth in the industry since 1998, when she and her husband, Greg, opened their business.
She said Home Instead franchises have expanded from around 130 U.S. locations in 1998 to an international franchise network of more than 800 today. And their business has grown from 18 to 75 employees and now serves anywhere from 60 to 80 elderly clients at any given time.
"It is something that I think is a huge new trend," Critchfield said. "This is a fairly new concept to be able to provide nonmedical, companion home care. ... A lot of people, they don’t need a nurse. It’s the stuff that all of us do every day, but when you’re in your 80s, 90s and 100s, it becomes more of a challenge."
“Handymen are a dime a dozen, but there’s no one who specializes toward the seniors. I’m someone that they’re familiar with and comfortable with.”
— Rod Perry,owner of Senior Hand
Mike Armstrong, fiscal administrative manager for the state Division of Senior and Disability Services, said in-home care is catching on because it’s less expensive than nursing home care. He said it costs about $32,000 to $35,000 per year for a person to receive nursing home care, whereas in-home care typically costs about $6,000 to $7,000 per year.
"It is fiscally more beneficial to keep somebody at home because it’s cheaper, and most individuals would prefer to stay at home if they have the option," Armstrong said.
Phil Melugin, co-owner of the Springfield-based in-home medical-care company Integrity Home Care, said the state has saved $1 billion over the past 12 years by funding in-home care. He said recent studies suggest that home medical care also results in a shorter recovery time for patients after surgery, injury or illness.
"They have their plants, their pets, and they’re able to nest in a setting that many of them have been in for 40 to 50 years," Melugin said. "That is an emotional connection that cannot be achieved in a nursing home facility."
For those who need constant monitoring for their medical needs, in-home care can provide much-needed relief for family members.
Deshai Richardson, 17, said caring for her great-great-aunt - 81-year-old Louise Ellis - over the past few years has taken a toll on her family. Ellis is bedridden and suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.
"This is like a full-time job," Richardson said. "It’s worth it, though, because she’s done a lot for everybody, so we’re returning the favor."
Richardson said that in 2006 Ellis began receiving in-home nursing and housekeeping services from Integrity. Caregivers assist with bathing, bed changing, laundry, preparing meals and monitoring Ellis’ medications.
"If it wasn’t for the extra help, it would be harder to have our own personal time outside of helping her," Richardson said. "It’s hard, but Integrity makes it easier. We’ll do anything before we’d let her go to a nursing home."
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According to the Senior Network of Columbia, there are more than 13 businesses in Boone County that provide in-home health, private duty nursing, light-duty and respite care. The network consists of local organizations, businesses and individuals interested in promoting senior services. It maintains a directory of local businesses and resources at its Web site, seniornetwork.missouri.org.
One of the newest entrants into the in-home-care market is Living Well Home Services.
Cindy Hansen and Terri Maples opened the business in May. The business, which has 15 caregivers, offers nonmedical care and catered meals for seniors and people with disabilities for $17 to $22 an hour.
Hansen said she developed an affinity for the elderly during the six years she spent working for the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department’s 50 Plus Program, and she saw a business opportunity in providing seniors with assistance.
"The companionship is so important because a lot of these people are living away from their families, and they need stimulation just like anyone else," she said.
When Laura England, 59, moved to suburban Denver this spring, she hired a medical in-home-care company to care for her 87-year-old mother. But she soon realized that her mother needed personal interaction more than a nurse, so she hired Living Well.
"It’s nice to have someone stop in for a couple of hours and visit," England said. "They spend time with her and take the time to help her do the things she enjoys."
Local businessman and auctioneer Rod Perry has filled a related niche.
He recently started a home-based business called Senior Hand to offer handyman services such as rearranging furniture, interior and exterior painting, replacing light bulbs, yard work and other light repairs. The business charges $30 per hour.
Perry said the idea for the business came from hearing his retired mother and her friends discuss the difficulties they had in finding a trustworthy and reliable workman to do various jobs around the house.
"Handymen are a dime a dozen, but there’s no one who specializes toward the seniors," he said, noting that he’s getting a lot of word-of-mouth business as customers refer him to friends. "I’m someone that they’re familiar with and comfortable with."
Creola Jones has her own handyman - or handywoman.
Leanna Clayton, 66, one of Jones’ regular caregivers, has developed a reputation for her handiness. A retired American Airlines accounting officer, Clayton has worked part time for Home Instead for the past two years.
Clayton said all of the caregivers develop close relationships with their clients and each provider develops a reputation for his or her style and set of skills.
"We get categorized," Clayton said, noting that Jones often says, "If we’ve got something mechanical, we’ll wait for Leanna."
Jones said she appreciates the companionship and help of the caregivers, for herself and her daughter.
"I call them my daughter’s peace of mind because that’s really what they are," Jones said.

Small Businesses Stymied as Credit Gets Scarce

Small businesses stymied as credit gets scarce

By JENALIA MORENO and BRAD HEM
Houston Chronicle
Oct. 3, 2008, 11:27PM

Gary Fountain For the Chronicle
Doc Cohen, a Tomball franchisee, wants $1.5 million to add three stores.
Doc Cohen has borrowed money from the same lender for about nine years.
Yet, despite his track record and good credit, the Tomball-based franchisee is finding it harder to get a loan.
He wants to add three stores to his collection of 29 Pretzel Time, Great American Cookies and Coffee Beanery outlets found in Houston-area malls, and needs $1.5 million.
But the lender won't give him credit unless he keeps $1 million as his minimum balance.
"Well, if I had the minimum balance, I wouldn't need the loan," said Cohen, whose company generates $10 million a year in revenue. "We don't have that much on hand."
Entrepreneurs such as Cohen are having a tough time getting lines of credit, expansion loans and money for startups as the financial crisis on Wall Street spreads to Main Street.
"Two years ago, if you wanted to open a business, there would be two or three banks jockeying for a position to get your business," Manuel González, district director for the Small Business Administration in Houston, said. "Now, its like you've got the plague or something. Nobody wants to touch a new venture."
Fewer licenses issuedA slowdown does seem to be taking hold.
Through August the Harris County Clerk's Office issued 34,364 business licenses. That compares to 66,664 issued in all of 2007 and 76,391 in 2004.
Existing businesses say they are feeling the effects of the nation's credit crunch as well. Nearly 70 percent of Houston's small businesses reported that to the Greater Houston Partnership this week, the business group said.
"Right now, we're seeing a lot of tightening, and we're seeing some of these smaller firms really struggling with financing," said Gilbert Herrera, founder of Houston-based Herrera Partners, an investment bank and financial consulting firm.
At the Houston SBA — which provides government guarantees to help banks mitigate risks — just 1,700 loans valued at $435 million were produced this fiscal year, down from 2,700 loans valued at $535 million in 2007.
"That's the lifeline for all small businesses," said González.
More expensive termsLocal bankers agree that in these tough times fewer are making loans.
"We became a lot more cautious with walk-in customers," said George Lee, president and chief executive officer of Houston-based MetroBank. "If they have a history and they want to expand their business, then we will consider that."
Loans just may be a little tougher to get.
"It may be under different terms and a little bit more expensive," said John Hernandez, senior vice president of Houston-based Amegy Bank of Texas.
Cohen said he understands the position the banks are in. He'll try to shuffle some other accounts around to come up with the money.
"The decision will be to do what they ask or find another lender, and in this market, finding another lender is going to be difficult," said Cohen, who expected to create 45 jobs with his planned stores.
Beyond those like Cohen who are seeking expansion or startup loans, there are those who just need a temporary infusion of cash to help meet payroll.
Ben Mendez, owner of PMG Project Management Group, whose company helps city, county and federal officials make disaster assessments, said he's suddenly had to hire more people to do the job.
"The bankers are basically telling us that everything is on hold," said Mendez, who adds that he'll turn to his friends and family for money to pay his temporary workers.

Whataburger Names new Technology Chief

Breaking News

Whataburger names Bird technology chief
www.whataburger.com

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Oct. 3, 2008) Whataburger Inc. said it has appointed as chief information officer Karen Bird, a foodservice technology veteran who most recently served as vice president of restaurant information solutions at Brinker International Inc.
Bird succeeds CIO Scott Parr, who is becoming a principal in the Business Technology Partners LLP consultancy in Dallas, Whataburger said.

“Karen has a strong background in aligning technology systems and making smart business decisions across multiple brands and concepts. She’ll be a valuable resource and driving factor in applying new systems in our restaurants to help us deliver the friendly service and made-to-order food we’re known for,” said Preston Atkinson, president and chief operating officer of Whataburger, which operates or franchises more than 700 namesake restaurants.
During her two years at Brinker, Bird had responsibility for aligning technology strategy, business processes and priorities across 1,600 restaurants in 24 countries, Whataburger said. Prior to joining Brinker, she worked as director of retail technology services for Dunkin’ Brands Inc., franchisor of the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins chains. Before that, she was vice president of business systems at Advantica Restaurant Group, which at the time was parent to seven restaurant chains, including the Denny's family-dining concept.

Bird started in foodservice as a restaurant-level employee for Burger King and worked her way up to a post as systems manager before joining Advantica.

MoveMe.com

No one likes to move. It is one of the most dreaded tasks of all time. It is typically difficult to organize movers, arrange for a new place to rent, heavy lifting and long tiring days. But where there is a need there are services to help the weary.

http://www.moveme.com/ is a site designed to help those with the difficult task of moving anything. Whether it be homes, offices or any kind of moving this site has the answers you need. The site is very functional, easy to navigate and is literally a wealth of information for everything from free mortgage quotes for your new home to junk removal quotes.

The site answers all the questions a mover might have....like "how do I change my address" or change locks or handle parking registrations of any kind. Anything and everything that could be associated with a move is handled at Move Me.com. This truly is a great resource for anyone making the move. The Site also won the Yahoo Innovation Award as well as the Yahoo People's Choice Award.

One of the most useful tools I found on the site is the move planner. This is a tool built to make your move simpler and plan. One thing I have been told by my wife many times is that I lack the ability to plan anything. The Move Planner could very well save me from myself. It reminds you of every possible task involved in the move. The calendar is easy to use and the subsections to the right of the daily calendar provide key topics that any mover should focus on during their job.

Here are some key links I would direct you to in order to see the sites functionality and capabilities. It's funny, every time I have moved, I just did it....and screwed up a bunch of things and made the job much more difficult than it should have been. A site like this could save a lot of time and effort.

On the site you can access free mortgage quotes

It is easy to use Move Me.com, in most cases you feel pressured and like you are being put through a sales process, when all you really wanted was to get some mortgage quotes

Move Me also provides easy access to removal quotes

I would use this site, I recommend it to others who are making moves and who might be overwhelmed with all of the responsibilities and tasks that come with moving and the buying or selling of a home. Move me.com has all the tools and all the insight to provide true value to someone taking on the job of moving.

Francorp 12 Criteria of Franchiseability for a Business

Don Boroian founded Francorp on the premise of working only with companies in a position to take the next step of expansion and growth through franchising. Francorp closely evaluates every business it meets with to determine whether or not that particular business has the viability needed to be a successful franchise organization. Francorp has put together the 12 steps of franchise criteria that the company uses as a benchmark for determining whether franchising could be a successful growth vehicle.

Francorp 12 Criteria of Franchisability for a Business

While it is impossible to determine the franchisability of a business concept without a significant amount of analysis, Francorp has identified a series of 12 criteria that assess the readiness of a company for franchising and the likelihood that it will achieve success as a franchisor.

1. Credibility – To sell franchises, a company must first be credible in the eyes of its prospective franchisees. Credibility can be reflected in a number of ways: organization size, number of units, years in operation, look of the prototype unit, publicity, consumer awareness of the brand, and strength of management, to name some of the most prominent factors.

2. Differentiation – In addition to credibility, a franchise organization must be adequately differentiated from its franchised competitors. This can come in the form of a differentiated product or service, a reduced investment cost, a unique marketing strategy, or different target markets.

3. Transferability of knowledge – The next criteria of franchisability is the ability to teach a system to others. To franchise, a business must generally be able to thoroughly educate a prospective franchisee in a relatively short period of time. Generally speaking, if a business is so complex that it cannot be taught to a franchisee in three months, a company will have difficulty franchising. Some more complex franchisors offset this handicap by targeting only franchise prospects that are already "educated" in their field (e.g., a medical franchise targeting only doctors).

4. Adaptability – Next, measure how well a concept can be adapted from one market to the next. Some concepts do not adapt well over large geographic areas because of regional variations in consumer tastes or preferences. Others (e.g., dental practices) are constrained by law. Still other concepts work only because they are in a very unique location. And some work because of the unique abilities or talents of the individual behind the concept. Finally, some concepts are only successful based on years of perseverance and relationship building.

5. Refined and successful prototype operations – A refined prototype is necessary to demonstrate that the system is proven, and is generally instrumental in the training of franchisees. The prototype also acts as a testing ground for new products, new services, marketing techniques, merchandising, and operational efficiencies.

6. Documented systems – All successful businesses have systems. But in order to be franchisable, these systems must be documented in a manner that communicates them effectively to franchisees. Generally speaking, a franchisor will need to document its policies, procedures, systems, forms, and business practices in a comprehensive and user-friendly operations manual and/or computer-based training module.

7. Affordability – Affordability merely reflects a prospective franchisee’s ability to pay for the franchise in question. This criterion is as much a reflection of the prospective franchisee as it is of the actual cost of opening a franchise.

8. Return on Investment – A franchised business must, of course, be profitable. But more than that, a franchised business must allow enough profit after a royalty for the franchisees to earn an adequate return on their investment of time and money. Profitability is always relative. It must be measured against investment to provide a meaningful number. In this way, the franchise investment can be measured against other investments of comparable risk that compete for the franchisee’s dollar. Typically, Francorp would like for the franchisee to achieve a ROI of at least 20 percent by the second to third year of operations.

9. Market trends and conditions – While not an indicator of franchisability as much as a general indicator of the success of any business, these trends are key to long-term planning. Is the market growing or consolidating? How will that affect your business in the future? What impact will the Internet have? Will the franchisee’s products and services remain relevant in the years ahead? What are other franchised and non-franchised competitors doing? And how will the competitive environment affect your franchisee’s likelihood of long-term success.

10. Capital – While franchising is a low-cost means of expanding a business, it is not a "no cost" means of expansion. A franchisor needs the capital and resources to implement a franchise program. The resources required to initially implement a franchise program will vary depending on the scope of the expansion plan. If a company is looking to sell one or two franchised units, the necessary legal documentation may be completed at costs as low as $15,000. For franchisors targeting aggressive expansion, however, start-up costs can run $100,000 or more. And once the costs of printing, audits, marketing, and personnel are added to the mix, a franchisor may require a budget of $250,000 or more to reach its expansion goals.

11. Commitment to relationships – Successful franchisors focus on building long-term relationships with their franchisees that are mutually rewarding. Unfortunately, not all franchise organizations understand the link that exists between relationships and profits. Strong franchisee relationships enable the franchisor to sell franchises more effectively, introduce needed changes into the system more easily, and motivate franchisees and their managers to provide a consistent level of products and services to their customers.

12. Strength of management – Finally, the single most important aspect contributing to the success of any franchise program is the strength of its management. Franchise Connect has found that the single most common contributor to the failure of start-up franchisors is understaffing or a lack of experience at the management level. Many times, new franchisors will try to take everything on themselves. In addition to absorbing several new jobs for which the franchisor has little to no time, the franchisor needs to exhibit expertise in fields in which he or she may have little or no experience: franchise marketing, lead handling, franchise sales, ad fund management, training, and multi-unit operations management.

For more information please visit the Francorp corporate site, http://www.francorp.com/

Soul De Cuba to Expand Through Franchising

PRESS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cuba de Soul
(808) 521-0888


Soul de Cuba Cafe to Expand Through Franchising

(Honolulu, HI) – Soul de Cuba Cafe has announced they will be launching an aggressive expansion program through franchising.

Soul de Cuba Cafe brings traditional, authentic Cuban cuisine by embracing Afro Cuban culture and history. “The Soul de Cuba dining experience goes far beyond enjoying a plate of rice, beans and plantains,” explains founder Jesus Puerto. For most, it’s a first time emersion into a dwelling infused with Afro Cuban ambiance. In every Soul de Cuba Cafe, patrons dine to the sounds of Afro Cuban music and Jazz and each restaurant displays Afro Cuban art and memorabilia.Soul de Cuba Cafe has approached Francorp, the world’s leader in franchise consulting, to assist them in the development of their franchise program. “We never planned on franchising, but we investigated,” says Jesus. “After gathering the facts and dispelling the myths we felt it was unquestionably the right thing to do. After all, being one of the first Cuban restaurant franchise programs in the world is a rare lifetime opportunity.”

For more information about Soul de Cuba Cafe, call (808) 521-0888 or visit

www.franchise.souldecuba.com

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Franchisors Making some Adjustments

Franchisors Offer Reduced Fees, Deals, and Financing Help to Court Franchise Owners
October 02, 2008
Franchise companies are offering potential franchisees a variety of incentives to buy a franchise. Pointing to the current economic climate, franchisors are offering two for one specials, lower franchise fees, and help with franchise financing to help lure new investors. Some franchise companies are also offering their current successful owners bonuses for recommending potential franchise buyers. Franchisors are also becoming more creative in helping potential business owners buy a franchise because the competition among franchise concepts has grown in recent years. The International Franchise Association estimates that there is over 3000 franchise concepts currently available for sale. So if you are looking to invest in a business, be sure to do your research and be aware of the creative incentives being offered by the franchise companies.