
Franchise disclosure document update season is here again. Last year, COVID-19 impact data was still relatively fresh, and the pandemic’s trajectory was unclear. We now have two full years of data. Did franchises reinvent, demonstrate resilience and grow? Stall out or decline?

When I was a kid, coming home from school with any grade below an A was, well, bad. It was also pointless to tell my dad, “But I studied!” He would calmly reply (cue deep, Midwestern voice), “That may be true, but your grade signals you still haven’t mastered the material.”

A well-orchestrated resale program is an important component of your growth strategy. Sound counterintuitive?

Why do candidates want a franchise? What are their desired outcomes? “How” things get done will evolve over their 10-plus-year license agreement. Pressure test their assumptions and beliefs to ensure their “whys” will endure.

Achieving 100 open units is the first major proof of a potentially viable—and valuable—franchise. That’s why brands race to get there fast. Then the effort shifts to opening 250 with a backlog, branching out internationally, then 500 open with a bigger backlog, and so on.

The two main indicators of a high quality franchise brand are: (1) strong unit level economics, and (2) strong franchisor-franchisee relationships. Completing a franchisee survey signals that you actually care what franchisees have to say.

Multi-unit development agreements, aka MUDAs, are a common growth tool. But since only 15 percent of U.S. systems grow beyond 100 units (per FRANdata), it’s not as simple as signing a bunch of deals.

Want more growth? Open every unit you sell. Only one-third of new franchises sold actually open. Prior to COVID, there was a backlog of more than 14,000 sold-not-open, or SNO, units in the U.S. according to FRANdata. For many brands, improved real estate processes and get-open support are needed to turn these numbers around.

As the saying goes, “franchising is simple, as long as franchisees are making money.” However, in some systems, it may seem easier to sell franchises than to actually get them open and profitable - and then to keep them profitable.
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