Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

macfantn · Oct 12, 2006, 03:44 PM

just wondering if anyone opened a franchise, maybe subway, snappy auctions or anything really. I am tired of working for the man and thinking of doing my own thing.

turtle777 · Oct 12, 2006, 03:47 PM

Nope.

I got my own personal bar. Don't think that counts.

-t

macfantn · Oct 12, 2006, 03:47 PM

do you sell drinks and make money and is it your primary source of income

rickey939 · Oct 12, 2006, 03:48 PM

Open a Sonic Drive-In.

macfantn · Oct 12, 2006, 03:49 PM

there are sonics everywhere around me, i live in the south

Rumor · Oct 12, 2006, 03:49 PM

Open an In and Out Burger. Those things are cash cows.

macfantn · Oct 12, 2006, 03:51 PM

can those be put anywhere? i have only heard of them being in CA

i'm in TN

rickey939 · Oct 12, 2006, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by macfantn

there are sonics everywhere around me, i live in the south

Yummy.

Open a Potbelly's or Jimmy John's.

Rumor · Oct 12, 2006, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by macfantn

can those be put anywhere? i have only heard of them being in CA

i'm in TN

I don't see why not. I'm sure they wouldn't mind expanding thier market share. They are by far the best fast food joint.

rickey939 · Oct 12, 2006, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

They are by far the best fast food joint in California.

Fixed by rickey939.®

itai195 · Oct 12, 2006, 04:00 PM

In-n-Out doesn't franchise. They have expanded to AZ and NV apparently, probably to serve ex-pat Californians

In-n-Out really lost a bit of its aura now that you can get it anywhere. In NorCal you used to only find them out in the boondocks.

Rumor · Oct 12, 2006, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by rickey939

Fixed by rickey939.®

What place can you get a burger and fries that's better?

turtle777 · Oct 12, 2006, 04:17 PM

Originally Posted by macfantn

do you sell drinks and make money and is it your primary source of income

Nah, I meant my personal bar at home

No selling.

-t

rickey939 · Oct 12, 2006, 04:36 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

What place can you get a burger and fries that's better?

In your opinion or mine?

MOTHERWELL · Oct 12, 2006, 05:16 PM

UPS Stores are somewhat ubiquitous now but they are a great franchise to own.

Big fads in Los Angeles at the moment: Sprinkles Cupcakes, Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt. I dont know if they are franchising or not though.

Spliffdaddy · 09:19 PM

When I got married my wife had 2 Domino's Pizza stores. They made money, but they took a lot of time to manage. This was back in 1990, by the way. I didn't like the terms of the franchise agreement. We had to buy food from the Domino's comissary - which was overpriced when compared to the local supermarket. A large percentage of the gross income as well as quarterly fees had to be paid to Domino's Corporate offices. They dictated pricing, store hours, payroll, and the type of equipment we had to use. About once a year they wanted to change the type of pizza oven we needed. Which cost something like $18,000 for an "impinger"-type conveyor fed monster. They did offer to help finance the purchase of the ovens. But it still cost us a fortune. There was daily paperwork, weekly paperwork, quarterly paperwork, annual paperwork, and finally, projected sales figures for the following months and years. At the end of the day, it's difficult to say whether the expense of the franchise was worth the increased revenue of operating under a national franchise name. In 1990 dollars, buying a Domino's franchise in a decent area cost about $150,000. And that just gets you a limited service area. Then, you need a store and equipment and inventory. Then you had to keep sending them money until the end of time. Back then, in order to qualify to purchase a franchise you also had to have been employed by Domino's pizza as a store manager and completed all the franchise training courses....Which cost money. In really good areas of the country - near military bases, colleges, beaches, and vacation hotspots - Domino's would simply open "corporate" stores instead of selling them as a franchise.

Some rich lady told me something many years ago. She said "Don't operate a business. Sell the ability to other people." Indeed. That's what a franchise is.

olePigeon · Oct 12, 2006, 11:26 PM

Your first mistake was assuming Domino's is actually pizza.

Spliffdaddy · Oct 12, 2006, 11:57 PM

You couldn't pay me to eat a Domino's Pizza.

Which brings up another point....

If you have a successful product, why would you feel compelled to change it? I swear, Domino's changed their product about twice a year. The sauce, the dough, the toppings. Seemed like everytime there was a change in upper management there was a change in the product. It kept getting worse. One day it occurred to me that Domino's doesn't sell a product...they sell a service. You call 'em up and you know they'll deliver *something*, but it probably won't be anything like the *something* you had the last time you called.

On the other hand, Pizza Hut's thin crust pepperoni pizza tastes pretty much like it did back in the 1970's. They apparently are in the business of selling a product.

FYI, a Domino's pizza with "everything" sells for like $12-15. Food and labor costs to produce and deliver it costs less than $3.50 - worst case.

Weezer · Oct 12, 2006, 11:58 PM

Domino's is by far the worst pizza I have ever had. It seems to me the value of a franchise for a pizza place is very minimal. I bet you'd make a lot more as a generic pizza/pasta/sandwhich place than as a Domino's serving bad pizza and paying royalties for the name.

If I had to open a franchise, it would definitely be Wendy's

Rumor · Oct 13, 2006, 10:59 AM

How about a Papa Murphy's?

turtle777 · Oct 13, 2006, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Rumor

How about a Papa Murphy's?

Or Mama John's ?

Uhm, no, wait, nevermind.

-t

mac128k-1984 · Oct 13, 2006, 11:41 AM

I think the day where a normal slob like me can open a franchise is gone; Dunkin Donuts, burger king, McDonalds all require a 6 fixure sum to purchase a franchise.

Smaller operations such as subway are a little cheaper but not by much and subway has a reputation of cannibalizing its franchises by allowing other licensees to open up to subways in close proximity to each other. They care less about profitability but like to show the number of store openings.

Then there's the emerging market type franchises which are afforable but there's no guarantee that the business well sell.

turtle777 · Oct 13, 2006, 11:46 AM

There are franchises that will generate shitloads of money, like Welcome to Color Me Mine the paint your own pottery studio.. Problem is, they are very picky about the demographics, so you need a prime location to be allowed to open one up. Besides that, it's a cash cow.

Franchise fee is low, $ 25,000.
Monthly SG&A cost: 6% of Sales, so not too bad.

-t

itai195 · Oct 13, 2006, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Your first mistake was assuming Domino's is actually pizza.

Shockingly, Domino's is actually pretty good outside the US. Must run those franchises differently.

macroy · Oct 13, 2006, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by itai195

In-n-Out doesn't franchise. They have expanded to AZ and NV apparently, probably to serve ex-pat Californians

In-n-Out really lost a bit of its aura now that you can get it anywhere. In NorCal you used to only find them out in the boondocks.

Yup. Have golf outings in Vegas and Scottsdale every year.... And the In-n-Out visit is mandatory. Animal style baby - gotta have those grilled onions.

Melting Pot is a franchise I'd look into.... it was too pricy for me... but I like that place.

Chipotles would be my "fantasy" franchise (as they are not). Never EVER seen one not packed.

mitchell_pgh · Oct 13, 2006, 01:04 PM

If it ain't jack in the box... I don't eat it!

rickey939 · Oct 13, 2006, 01:05 PM

Ha, those are still in business?

turtle777 · Oct 13, 2006, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by mitchell_pgh

If it ain't jack in the box... I don't eat it!

Those that think outside the box have In'n'Out

-t

DigitalEl · Oct 13, 2006, 04:44 PM

Not mentioned here yet... It's hard for an individual or small-timer to open A SINGLE LOCATION of any big-name franchise. Most companies want you to show a net worth of $X-million in liquidity and be able to open "12 locations valleywide." You can't just borrow $50,000 and open a Subway. It doesn't work that way.

Peter · Oct 13, 2006, 05:40 PM

$50K for a subway branch? think you're way way way under estimating the cost. try $500K?

DigitalEl · Oct 13, 2006, 05:51 PM

What part of "It doesn't work that way" don't you understand?

Peter · Oct 13, 2006, 06:13 PM

whoa, calm down.
Just making a general observation...

macfantn · Oct 13, 2006, 06:44 PM

i looked into cici's pizza a few years back they wan't 300k up front, plus a yearly franchise fee. Outta my budget to say the least.

KeriVit · Oct 13, 2006, 08:26 PM

Does it have to be food. I read a list of the top 100 franchise money-makers a while back and it was quite diverse.

CMYKid · Oct 13, 2006, 08:42 PM

it is surprisingly, INSANELY hard to make a buck in the pizza business, even as an independent.

that being said, CiCi's is one of THE best franchises going at the moment. Opening a store runs upwards of 500K, typical breakeven happens within two years. A friend has 4 or 5 in the area here.

mitchell_pgh · Oct 13, 2006, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by CMYKid

it is surprisingly, INSANELY hard to make a buck in the pizza business, even as an independent.

that being said, CiCi's is one of THE best franchises going at the moment. Opening a store runs upwards of 500K, typical breakeven happens within two years. A friend has 4 or 5 in the area here.

It depends... IMHO, it's all about advertising. Even the 10¢ photo copies make sales.

That and keeping customers happy...

I've seen pizza places fail (I lived near one) and unless you lived there, you wouldn't have even known it existed.

Nebagakid · Oct 13, 2006, 10:40 PM

start your business, copy something you see, and then make it better, like Apple and Xerox

the_glassman · Oct 13, 2006, 10:45 PM

It's pretty hard to mess up porn. Talk about earnings potential

rickey939 · Oct 13, 2006, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by the_glassman

It's pretty hard to mess up porn.

Pretty hard, eh?