Winner Winner: How to Choose an Emerging Franchise Brand That’s on Its Way To World-Class

So, you’ve decided to enter the restaurant business. As an aspiring franchisee, you will have an important decision to make—will you choose to work with an established brand that will most likely cost more money upfront, or will you wait for the right time to buy into an emerging brand with greater access to prime markets—and potentially greater risk?

Just as any business experiences an infancy period, we believe emerging franchise brands shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, every successful restaurant franchise started with—you guessed it—one restaurant.

In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of choosing an emerging brand as a franchisee and offer actionable steps you can take TODAY to support you on your journey to building a profitable business and generational wealth.

Understanding the Franchisee Role

As a new franchisee, understanding your role and responsibilities, as well as the role of other leadership, will help you make impactful strategic decisions in your brand development. The franchise you chose to partner with distributes products or services to the franchisor, the entity that owns the trademarks, and you (the franchisee).

By choosing to conduct business under a franchisor’s name, you will have access to resources that will set you up for success—an established business model, training, and ongoing support. Having this support system in place will give you the right framework to decide which emerging franchise brand to work with.

4 Steps To Find the Right Emerging Franchise Brand

Emerging brands can be a risky proposition because operations, training, purchasing contracts, and vendor selections are more fluid. Finding the right emerging franchise brand is critical to your long-term success, and requires franchisees to ask the right questions. The following steps can help you confidently navigate which brands are worth your time (and money), and which ones may not be the best fit for your business.

Step 1. Weigh the pros and cons.

As a franchisee, a critical step in determining which investment is right for you involves weighing the pros and cons. As an entrepreneur, your main focus should be on finding the right opportunities that will yield a greater return on your investment (ROI). Keep these considerations in mind during your research.

Pros

Emerging brands offer exciting new opportunities with first-to-market concepts.
Newer brands often present lower initial opening costs.
You can have greater access to prime markets.
With less time on the market, emerging brands offer a longer runway to make money.
Often a greater opportunity to form relationships with brand leadership and influence future brand decisions.
You have the flexibility to grow and evolve with the brand.

Cons

Less name recognition with a newer brand compared to larger, well-established brands.
There is limited data on the [emerging] brand’s track record of success, which means more risk.
Basic systems and procedures are still under development.
Potentially smaller support teams.

Step 2. Know the benefits of a multi-unit platform.

Craveworthy Brands Chief Growth & Development Officer, Jeremy Theisen, explains, “When you choose to open a restaurant, you can either independently open a brand new restaurant (and leave it all to chance), or you can opt to work with a company that has already established itself as a franchisor with successful operating procedures in place.”

Craveworthy Brands owns, operates, and franchises seven distinct brands across 24 states. We take pride in being an established franchisor that offers franchising opportunities for our legacy brands, Genghis Grill Stir-Fried Bowls, BDs Mongolian Grill, Flat Top Grill, as well as our emerging brands, Wing It On!, The Budlong Hot Chicken, Krafted Burger Bar + Tap, and Lucky Cat Poke Company.

Operating under a multi-unit platform, a franchise model that gives the right to operate multiple units within a territory, offers franchisees more access to resources, tools, and support systems—as well as more buying power. Rather than having to build new relationships with vendors and manage higher price points for services, working with a multi-unit franchisor provides an established system that opens up your profit margin and sets you up for success with top-tier vendors from the get-go.

“Our goal at Craveworthy Brands is to give our franchisees the opportunity to achieve the American dream and become their own entrepreneur. We’ve already created the playbook for them.” — Gregg Majewski, Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Step 3. Evaluate your personal goals.

Speaking of goals and values, a large part of deciding whether to pursue an emerging brand depends on your current lifestyle. How well do your interests align with the potential opportunities and risks? For example:

Are you looking for active or passive income?
What are your financial goals?

Do you have a preferred territory you want to work in?

What level of support do you need from your franchisor?

Do you plan to franchise only one unit or multiple units?

Step 4. Obtain financing.

There are multiple options for funding your franchise. Evaluate your current financial situation and assess your borrowing capabilities. Researching financing options ahead of time will give you the opportunity to ask relevant questions specific to your financial needs and interests. Some common financing options include:

Direct financing from your franchisor
Commercial bank loans
Small business loans
Alternative Financing
Leveraging personal assets
Personal savings
Crowdfunding

While your goals may evolve as your business grows, having clarity on these questions helps you start off on the right path.

Your Franchise Journey Starts Today!

As the franchise industry continues to evolve, more opportunities with emerging franchise brands continue to grow. The most important steps you can take toward making the right choice come down to:

Understanding your specific business goals…
Understanding your personal goals…
Understanding your industry…
And remembering that success is built on teamwork and trust—you don’t have to do this alone

Contact one of our franchising experts to find out how you can become a franchisee success story today—and see what’s cooking at Craveworthy Brands.

Sources

Restaurant Franchising