Franchises

Cyclonepride

Thought Police
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Apr 11, 2006
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A pineapple under the sea
www.oldschoolradical.com
I would be so scared to get into a franchise. I knew someone who got into a flooring franchise and the whole process probably ended up costing her $100k out of pocket to get out of. Another thing to think about is what's popular today may not be just a few years down the road. Just look back 10 years and some of the top franchises were Quiznos, Curves, Krispy Kreme, etc.

Good points. On the one hand, you get instant name recognition and access to proven products and processes, but on the other you lose a good portion of individual control, and often have significant requirements that cost a lot of money to fulfill.
 

Farnsworth

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Apr 11, 2006
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Des Moines, IA
Going to the Web and just having people throw stuff out tells me you don't have a clue what you want to do. That's a terrible environment to start a business in. You need something you're either good at or passionate about or its going to fail. Even if you are good or passionate the odds say it's still going to fail. Starting with nothing? Financial suicide.

I agree with some of this, but I don't think he's talking about a passion project/main career, sounds almost like an investment opportunity.

It's not like each McDonalds franchisee is passionate about Big Macs. If they were passionate about burgers, they'd open their own joint where they had more control.
 

cycloneworld

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Mar 20, 2006
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Personally, I'd stay out of the food franchise biz...they are 1) expensive, 2) require a high liquid cash amount or net worth, and 3) competition is fierce/market is saturated, 4) experience is important, 5) margins are low.

I'd go with a more low key business like carpet cleaning or similar. Much higher margins, less competition, and less investments required. You could even bypass a franchise and start your own without it.
 

Cyhops

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Nov 4, 2009
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Oak Island NC
Going to the Web and just having people throw stuff out tells me you don't have a clue what you want to do. That's a terrible environment to start a business in. You need something you're either good at or passionate about or its going to fail. Even if you are good or passionate the odds say it's still going to fail. Starting with nothing? Financial suicide.

I am doing my own research and will make my own call but I know the knowledge level of all ISU fans on CF outpaces all experts in every field so I wanted to tap that. "I wanted to tap that," hah! But I appreciate the concern.
 
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ArgentCy

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Jan 13, 2010
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It was interesting, to me at least, that a lot of the highly rated opportunities now are education related and a lot of the poor ones were Realtor agencies.

Take this for what it's worth, as they publish these about every 6 months. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...er-speaks-out-its-classic-late-cycle-red-flag

"During the last 3-4 years, I’ve seen more people who seek to finance new restaurants than any time in the past 20 years. This industry seems frothy. With rising rental costs for space and higher minimum wages for staff, I’m seeing pressure on the cost structure of existing operators squeeze them, while people are rushing to build out a new restaurant."


The restaurant business has long been known for being one heck of a tough market
 

Cyclones_R_GR8

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I know someone that has a Red Rhino epoxy flooring franchise. I think they are fairly new. The franchise fee is $50,000 and I believe there is also an initial investment of about $70k-100k
He seems to be busy most of the time.
 

urb1

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2010
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Urbandale
I was in Chicago about 10 years ago where there was a regional franchisee meeting for Budget Blinds being hosted in the same hotel. Everyone I met in the lobby, hall, bar had about the same conversation with me. "You with Budget Blinds?" "No" "You should be!"

Later that night, I went up to the bar and sat next to a couple of franchisees. I talked to them for a couple hours and the following week called the Budget Blinds headquarters. Unfortunately, someone already had the same territory I wanted. But it really sounded like an interesting investment with happy franchisees.
 

SCNCY

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Speaking of franchisees, what ever happened to the guy here that was thinking about opening a Papa Murphy's in Eastern Iowa?
 

cycloneworld

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Speaking of franchisees, what ever happened to the guy here that was thinking about opening a Papa Murphy's in Eastern Iowa?

A bigger question - what happened to Papa Murphy's?? They are now as expensive as a cooked, made to order pizza.
 

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