Has anyone here opened a franchise?

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Im thinking of opening a small chain restaurant, the location is great, our business plan is great. I was wondering if any of you guys have any experience with franchises or owns one. Im currently in the middle of finalizing our business plan to present for an investor.
 
Man I had found the absolute best location for a Krispy Kreme franchise. Thought I was gonna save up a cool 100 - 200K and be in business within a few years.

Franchise fee is a cool ticket plus some, found out they see more franchise applications in a year than top Universities. :smh:

What franchise are you trying to open up? Most franchises don't leave a lot of leeway for you to implement your own business plan.
 
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Of like to know if places like McDonald s actually go out of business or are they guaranteed money??
 
lovethejorands14 or something owned a mcdonalds...used to stunt on here a few years back with his pops money...other then that i don't think anyone on here has a franchise...

family member of mine owns a few popeyes, dunkin donuts, and i think the last thing he opened up was a checkers in new york city....

dude has money, but is the cheap as hell...

so take the glory in stride
 
Some dude my parents are friends with (kind of know) owns most of the Dunkin Donuts franchises in the area. 

Dude makes bank. He has a mansion, range rover, and a porsche. Dude barely knows English. 

Hes was originally from India and just came over a few years ago I believe. He had to have money though when he came to the states. 

I always wanted to open up my own In N out on the East Coast being from the west coast. 
frown.gif
 Still haven't had it in years. 
 
You have to be cheap when opening a franchise. You're on the hook for everything in the store including paychecks and supplies. Why you think Subway is so stingy with the napkins?
 
I've always been very intrigued by the idea of owning a franchise. I'm excellent at management and finance, but don't want the hassle of promoting an idea. Sadly, don't have the funds right now but hoping to get started in the franchise game at 40.

What franchise (or if prefer not to say) what are some of the stuff you are doing to turn in the app? What sort of requirements are there for the one you are doing OP?

I'm interested in starting up an Anytime Fitness, or something similarly simple.
 
If I had the money I would. The plaza across the street from me is ripe w/ opportunity for a franchise. There is not McDonalds within a 5mi radius, closest DD is about 2mi, no diner, nothin forreal expect a grocery store, sorry K Mart, and a Wendy's, (Don't count Arbys :lol:)
 
don't even bother with the gym brother....you can't make money off of fat people unless its food...stick to the burgers and pizza...and although you can cake with a few franchises...its not easy...the main reason it isn't is because 1) you need at least 200-300k...and that's for the lower end franchises like subway and 2) you need to show a min. 1 million dollar equity for most franchises along with the best possible credit score/rating...

best thing but the hardest thing to do is come up with a small mom and pop food store idea and run with it....i know guys selling pizza and making 100-150k a year...no franchise fees, no fixed pricing, no territorial restrictions, no restrictions on how you advertise...
 
don't even bother with the gym brother....you can't make money off of fat people unless its food...stick to the burgers and pizza...and although you can cake with a few franchises...its not easy...the main reason it isn't is because 1) you need at least 200-300k...and that's for the lower end franchises like subway and 2) you need to show a min. 1 million dollar equity for most franchises along with the best possible credit score/rating...

best thing but the hardest thing to do is come up with a small mom and pop food store idea and run with it....i know guys selling pizza and making 100-150k a year...no franchise fees, no fixed pricing, no territorial restrictions, no restrictions on how you advertise...

Thanks. I agree that the money to made from a gym isn't nearly as high as a restaurant. The difference is that a gym is something I'd be interested in spending time at, having passion for, and growing to more than one unit.

Yeah, getting a franchise loan is definitely tough. I'm poor, by loan standards. I love the idea of the mom and pop store, but in this day it's 100x harder to get a loan for that sort of operation than a franchise loan through a bank.
 
You have to be cheap when opening a franchise. You're on the hook for everything in the store including paychecks and supplies. Why you think Subway is so stingy with the napkins?
Depends on how much $$ you bringing in, though. The McD near my HS let you fill your own drinks/get own napkins and im pretty sure most ppl went back for a refill
 
Overrated and unattainable in most cases. It might be better for you to start your own mom and pop and build a good reputation and following locally. Then expand to a few nearby locations if need be.
 
Dollar Generals are the cheapest to franchise. I saw somewhere it wa slike 20 racks to start. If you are going that route, how hard would it be to just come up with your own place? Look at a smoothie place like Smoothie King or juice like Jamba Juice. It's very minimal overhead and employees required, basically fresh milk and yogurt, produce, a few blenders, and canisters or sugar, peanut butter, chocolate, and whatever mixins. I assume they operate on pretty good margins given their prices and ditto again with a juice type of place, fruit and a juicer and a few employees.
 
With the amount of athletes that go broke due to bad investments in the restaurant industry, I'm surprised more don't go the franchise route. As a matter of fact, Jamal Mashburn made a grip of $ doing this outside of playing basketball.
 
Open up a Popeyes in the hood, you're golden.

You just need 1 million dollars to start. That's the problem.
 
With the amount of athletes that go broke due to bad investments in the restaurant industry, I'm surprised more don't go the franchise route. As a matter of fact, Jamal Mashburn made a grip of $ doing this outside of playing basketball.

I think he also opened up a couple of car dealerships. Dude def had the right people talking to him. Too bad most NBA players can't have the right people around them. Mashburn should have a workshop on something like this though. Or at least have one within the Heat organization or whichever team he played for.

starbucks... open one... trust me, it will flourish, specially somewhat close to a campus

Starbucks is a publicly traded company, but you cannot just decided you want to franchise one. I think that decision comes from corporate. I also believe that shareholders cannot own more than 49% of the Starbucks.
 
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best thing but the hardest thing to do is come up with a small mom and pop food store idea and run with it....i know guys selling pizza and making 100-150k a year...no franchise fees, no fixed pricing, no territorial restrictions, no restrictions on how you advertise...

This.
 
don't even bother with the gym brother....you can't make money off of fat people unless its food...stick to the burgers and pizza...and although you can cake with a few franchises...its not easy...the main reason it isn't is because 1) you need at least 200-300k...and that's for the lower end franchises like subway and 2) you need to show a min. 1 million dollar equity for most franchises along with the best possible credit score/rating...

best thing but the hardest thing to do is come up with a small mom and pop food store idea and run with it....i know guys selling pizza and making 100-150k a year...no franchise fees, no fixed pricing, no territorial restrictions, no restrictions on how you advertise...

What's the fail rate of those mom/pop stores though? It's EXTREMELY risky, IMO.
 
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