Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog.
Note: Contents data are machine generated based on pre-publication provided by the publisher. Contents may have variations from the printed book or be incomplete or contain other coding.
Acknowledgments Introduction Table of Contents iii CHAPTER 1 So You Want to Own Your Own Business? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Business Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 CHAPTER 2 Organizing for Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Business Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Concerns Underlying Business Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 CHAPTER 3 Understanding the Franchise Concept . . . . 11 Independent Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Business of Franchising . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Franchisee View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The All-American Hard Sell . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CHAPTER 4 Buying Multiple Franchise Rights . . . . . . . . . 17 Types of Multi-Unit Franchise Programs . . 17 Protecting Your Development Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CHAPTER 5 Franchise Sales Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 How the Law Defines a Franchise . . . . . . . 22 The Consequences of Being a Franchise . . 22 CHAPTER 6 Make Sure You Are Well-Suited to Be a Franchisee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Is a Franchise for Everyone? . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Questions to Consider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 CHAPTER 7 Attending a Franchise Trade Show . . . . . . . 29 Prepare for the Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 How to Develop an Effective Method of Attending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Right Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Trade Show Red Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Follow-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 CHAPTER 8 Research on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 What to Look For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Handling the High Hype-to-Fact Ratio . . . . . 36 The Importance of Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 CHAPTER 9 Organizing the Information You Gather . . . . . . 39 Setting Up a Filing System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 CHAPTER 10 Understanding the UFOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 What is a UFOC? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 The Sections of the UFOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 CHAPTER 11 Five Great Questions Not Answered in the UFOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 The UFOC Does Not Deliver Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 CHAPTER 12 The Key Sections of the Franchise Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Understanding the Basic Dynamic of the Franchise Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Key Provisions Considered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Corporate Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Dispute Resolution Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 CHAPTER 13 Franchisor Financial Information in the UFOC (and How Do I Read This Gobbledegook?) . . . . . 59 Franchisor Financial Disclosures . . . . . . . . . . 59 Audits According to GAAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Accountant's Analysis Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Evaluating the Franchisor'sFinancial Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 CHAPTER 14 The Top 10 Warning Signs in Franchise Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Don't Get Snagged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Key Warning Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 CHAPTER 15 Closing on Your Franchise Purchase . . . . . . . . . 67 A Checklist for Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 CHAPTER 16 When Things Don't Work Out: Resolving Franchisor/Franchisee Legal Disputes . . . . . . . . 71 Lines of Defense: Contract Terms and Protective Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Dispute Resolution Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 CHAPTER 17 Renewing Your Franchise Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Contract Terms and Renewal Rights . . . . . . . 75 Renewal Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 CHAPTER 18 International Franchising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 The Globalization of Franchising . . . . . . . . . . 79 Keys to Foreign-Based Franchises . . . . . . . . . . 80 CHAPTER 19 Negotiating Franchise Agreements . . . . . . . . . . 83 Negotiating a Franchise Agreement . . . . . . . . 83 Why Is the Franchise Agreement So One-Sided? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Understanding the Seller's Position . . . . . . . . 84 Take It or Leave It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Negotiating Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Franchisors' Inflexible Positions . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Franchisors' Flexible Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 CHAPTER 20 Working with Lawyers and Accountants . . . . . 89 Using Legal Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Do You Need a Specialist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Using Accounting Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 What to Ask Your Legal and Accounting Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 CHAPTER 21 Questions for Franchisees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The Key to Your Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Franchise Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 CHAPTER 22 Skill Sets of the Successful Franchisee . . . . . . . 95 The Art of the Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Counter Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Your Profits Are in the Details . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Become a Bean Counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Be a Skilled Negotiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 People Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Build an Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Be an A+ Franchisee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Collecting Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 CHAPTER 23 Make It Happen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 TABLE OF CONTENTS v SECTION TWO Ultimate Franchise Directory Understanding the Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Automotive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Appearance Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Rentals & Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Repair Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Other Automotive Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Business Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Business Brokerages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Staffing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Other Business-Service Franchises . . . . . . . . 176 Children's Businesses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Child Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 ID Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Learning Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Other Children's Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Financial Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Business Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Check Cashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Tax Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Other Financial-Service Franchises . . . . . . . . 216 Food/Full Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Barbecue Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Family-Style Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Italian Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Steakhouses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Other Full-Service Restaurant Franchises . . . 238 Food/Quick Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Asian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Bakery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Chicken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Fish & Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 Hamburgers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Hot Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Ice Cream, Shaved Ice, Frozen Custard . . . . . 277 Italian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Juice Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Mexican . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Pizza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 Pretzels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 Sandwiches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 Other Quick-Service Franchises . . . . . . . . . . 347 Food/Retail Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Candy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Other Retail Food Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 Health Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Nutritional Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Optical Stores. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 Other Health Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 Home Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Building/Remodeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Closet Remodeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 Decorating Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Decorating Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 Handyman Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Surface Refinishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 Other Home-Improvement Franchises . . . . . 407 Hotels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Other Hotel Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Carpet Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 Home Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 Lawn Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Pest Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 Plumbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Restoration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461 Vinyl Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465 Window Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470 Other Maintenance Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . 475 Personal Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 Cosmetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 Hair Salons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 Tanning Salons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 Other Personal-Care Franchises . . . . . . . . . . 497 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 Other Pet Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 Recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Athletic Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509 Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 Sports Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 Other Recreation Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 Retail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 Apparel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 Convenience Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535 Newsstands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Pharmacies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Wireless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 Other Retail Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550 Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 Dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 Dry Cleaning & Laundry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554 Embroidery & Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Home Inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559 Moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 Postal Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 Other Service Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596 Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 Printer Supplies & Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Other Tech Franchises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608 TOP 10 LISTS Top 10 Franchises for 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 Top 10 Homebased Franchises for 2004 . . . . . 610 Top 10 New Franchises for 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . 611 Top 10 Low-Cost Franchises for 2004 . . . . . . . 612 APPENDIX A State Franchise Relationship Laws . . . . . . . . . 613 APPENDIX B State Franchise Authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 APPENDIX C Other Information Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617 APPENDIX D State Franchise Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 Listings Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 HERE ARE MANY BOOKS THAT TELL YOU about franchising, but this is the only one to incorporate Entrepreneur magazine's acclaimed Franchise 500r, making Entrepreneur Magazine's Ultimate Book of Franchises the most comprehensive book about buying a franchise available any where. It takes a talented, dedicated group of people to create a work of this magnitude, so we are grateful to all who have contributed. Thanks to Chuck Fuller, Entrepreneur.com's vice president of business development, for his support; to Entrepreneur magazine's creative director Mark Kozak for his expert guidance, and to Marla Markman, Entrepreneur's managing editor, for her insight and advice. We appreciate the efforts of Entrepreneur's listing assistant Tracy Stapp and the talent of independent book designer Karen Billipp, who created a book that's so chock-full of information yet so easy to use. There are three Entrepreneur magazine staffers who went well above and beyond their job duties to make this book possible. So for all their help and hard work, a special thank you to senior designer Matt Samarin and projects editor Maggie Iskander. There aren't enough words to properly thank articles editor Janean Chun, who helped conceive this book's format and edited it with her usual flair. Every aspiring or current business owner needs a good accountant, someone he or she can trust without hesitation. And we have one. Many thanks to CPA David R. Juedes, who, as the former CFO of a franchise company, is especially qualified to review and rate the financials of the franchises in the listing section. Many years ago, when Entrepreneur's Franchise 500r was still young, we were lucky enough to meet Andrew A. Caffey, who, at the time, was an attorney for the International Franchise Association. Today, from his law practice in Washington, DC, Andy is a frequent contributor to Entrepreneur, using his years of experience as a franchise and business opportunity attorney to demystify the franchise buying process. The first section of the Ultimate Book of Franchises is adapted from Andy's book, Franchise & Business Oppor-tunities.Without Andy's contribution, this book would not be worthy of the word "ultimate." Maria Anton-Conley Rieva Lesonsky Introduction F YOU ARE LIKE MOST AMERICANS, CHANCES are you and/or some member of your family spend time-and money-in a franchise nearly every week. Doubt it? Well, do you ever get gas? Stay in a hotel or motel? Get a cup of coffee at a place other than Starbucks? Pick up a fast meal at the drive-thru? Go to a staffing service in search of a job? Have your house (or office) cleaned? Grab a sandwich or ice cream cone on the run? Think about buying or selling a house? Well, you get my point-franchising is a central part of our everyday lives. In fact, as an industry it generates more than $200 billion in annual revenue. Since you purchased the Ultimate Book of Franchises,you must want to be part of it. Or you've at least considered buying a franchise. That's a good start, but to be a successful franchisee, you need to do more than just think about it-you need to actually get started. I can guess what you're thinking: "There are so many franchises to choose from, where do I even begin?" The obvious answer: right here. You can't start a business without doing your homework. Consider this book your cheat sheet-we've done a lot of the work for you. First, a word about franchising. A type of business opportunity, franchises are essentially business packages that enable you to, as the franchisors say, be in business for yourself, but not by yourself. All franchises are offered with the same premise: "We (the franchisor) have already developed a successful business program. For your investment, we will provide you with all the tools you need to own and operate a successful business." All business start-ups entail some risk. But franchises generally are less risky to start: After all, you are buying a proven system. That's not to say there is no risk in franchising; obviously, there is. But you can mitigate that risk by knowing what to expect from franchisors, by understanding the rules and regulations that govern franchising and by getting the inside scoop on the hundreds of franchise opportunities available. And that's where we come in. We are the folks who publish Entrepreneur magazine, and for more than 26 years we've been telling people how to start and grow their own businesses. For 25 years, we've produced Entrepreneur's Franchise 500r, the most authoritative and comprehensive ranking of franchise opportunities in the world. And we've taken the many months of research that go into the Franchise 500 and applied it to this book. Ultimate Book of Franchises is divided into two sections. In the first section, "How To Buy a Franchise," Andrew A. Caffey, a franchise attorney, internationally recognized specialist in franchise and business opportunity law and former general counsel of the International Franchise Association, provides you with an overall look at the world of franchising. Here you'll find information on everything from researching a franchise on the Internet to negotiating your franchise agreements. An in-depth statistical overview of hundreds of franchises makes up the rest of the book. Organized by Maria Anton-Conley, Maggie Iskander and Tracy Stapp, here you'll find the 411 on opportunities ranging from the tried and true, like McDonald's, Subway and Jiffy Lube, to newer franchises, like Mathnasium Learning Centers and Mama Fu's Noodle House. While it's likely there is an opportunity just right for you, not all opportunities are suited for everyone. And chances are, you're going to invest a lot of your savings into your venture, so you need to invest wisely. As Chinese philosopher Laotzu said, "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." So turn the page, and put your best foot forward.
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication:
Franchises (Retail trade).