Franchising offers an excellent opportunity for you to be in business for yourself. When you hear the word "Franchise" you probably think of fast food restaurants such as Burger King, McDonald's or Wimpy. But the truth is Franchising is so much wider than that.
There are Franchises available in almost every business area that you can think of in all price ranges. In addition, because franchising has such a low failure rate your chances of success are extremely good.
Compared to starting your own business from scratch, franchising can provide a relatively safer route into self-employment. The franchisor has done it all many times before and can therefore help you to eliminate all the mistakes you most probably would make if you tried to do it all by yourself.
A franchise can offer a successful business concept, proven marketing and operational methods, ongoing support and an established identity.
A successful franchise relationship is like a partnership. It combines your talents with the experience and knowledge of the franchisor. With franchising, you are in business for yourself not by yourself
Franchisors not only have sound training programs, but also knowledge of financial requirements, marketing, competition & buying contracts - knowledge that might take you years to collect on your own.
For a company with a product or service to sell, franchising provides an excellent opportunity for rapid expansion without an enormous outlay of capital. It is a distribution system that allows a business to conserve capital, and at the same time achieve fast market penetration making it a very attractive proposition to most business owners. One of the greatest advantages to them is that they get 100% commitment from their franchisees who have a stake in the business rather than staff or managers who simply work for a salary and may be less motivated.
There are many individuals who like yourself, who want to be their own boss. They see no long range security in working for someone else, and feel that their potential income will always be limited as an employee Franchising offers these individuals an opportunity to break free & own their own business whilst at the same time minimizing the risk that is inherent in opening an entirely new business from scratch. Franchising allows you to follow a tried and tested business system, which will greatly improve your chances of success, as the statistics prove.
Purchasing a Franchise is an important decision, as such it is important that you take advice from a Solicitor. Whilst many people consider that any Solicitor will do, we believe that it is important that you consult a Solicitor that specialises in commercial and Franchising Law. A specialist Franchise Lawyer will have all the up to date legislation at his fingertips and his experience will guide you through the process.
A specialist Franchise lawyer will check out many aspects on your behalf from studying the Franchise agreement to checking through tenancy agreements. Whilst most Franchise Agreements are, and should be set in stone it is important that you understand fully the Agreement that you are going to sign and the obligations and restrictions that are contained therein.
Franchising first became a recognised force in the UK during the 1970's. According to a survey carried out by the National Westminster bank and the British Franchise Association, the overall turnover of the franchising industry last year estimated at £6.4 billion, with the number of business format franchising systems growing to 541, up by 30 per cent since 1994.
The 27,000 individual franchised units in the UK are growing to give total employment in the sector of more than 250,000. This makes franchising larger than the whole energy sector and almost as big as the whole of the armed forces.
Franchising has proved to be the most successful way of starting a new business
There are franchise opportunities in almost every area of business ranging from one-man operations to large multi-national enterprises employing thousands of people
It is a sad but true fact that all of the new businesses started in the UK completely from scratch, in five years time only one in five will be still trading.
Compare this with franchising which has a success rate in excess of 90%. This means there are obvious advantages to buying a franchise over starting up on your own.
Not only are you more likely to succeed, but also you have the freedoms of self-employment as well. And when you need help, guidance is always at hand not only from the franchisor but from the Franchise Business also.
What should I look for in a Franchise?
When you take up a franchise you are entering in to a long-term partnership with the franchisor . It is therefore vitally important to check the background & business performance of your prospective partner. This is part of the service that we will help you with together with your professional advisors.
At this stage, when you are just commencing your search, it is perhaps more important to establish the basics.
The keys to a successful franchise relationship are:
The above represents the initial starting point. A great deal of further research will be required before you finally satisfy yourself that you stand a good chance of being successful by purchasing a particular franchise, above all else make sure you talk to franchise who are already operating.
