How many franchised outlets does a franchisor have? Well, you have to ask yourself what is a "Franchised Outlet" anyway. Is a franchised outlet a physical location? What if the franchise is a home based service business? There is no real location, as the person gets into their Dog Grooming Mobile, Handy Man Truck or Mobile Auto Detailing Rig and goes off to work each day to multiple locations? Then there are the co-brands or stores within a store. Such as a Wendy's Hamburger in a Truck Stop or a Subway in a Wal-Mart and how big does the location have to be before it is an outlet? Could it be a simple Kiosk? Interesting case studies indeed as the lines are blurred and the categories questioned. Oh something else I noted once on a Coffee Company website when looking to buy a "cup coffee sifter maker" as a Christmas Gift for someone going on sea duty in the Navy, is that often these companies go into grocery stores and some of the listings on the consumer side of their sales are nothing more than Kiosks or really nice displays in a grocery store. I think this confuses franchise buyers to believe that there are more units than there actually are. And it also confuses people like me, coffee drinker, looking for a store to go too. I was disturbed by this previously and thought that perhaps this might account for embellished unit numbers some Franchisor Websites, which does not match the UFOC list of outlets. It is really hard to comply with all the onerous rules and regulations in franchising, as the game changes faster than the bureaucrats can think. Consider all this in 2006; perhaps de-regulation is the real answer. Downsize, dismiss and deregulate, wouldnt that be great? |
