FranX | Be Frustrated with 2021, Not 2022

The Next McDonalds (Big Idea)

Manan Shah on Growing Up in Franchising, and Finding Success as a Franchisee

Franchisee Manan Shah talks about growing up in a multi-unit, multi-brand franchise family – and building on his family’s legacy.

“I basically grew up in franchising,” says Manan Shah, recalling the years he spent working alongside his brother, Neel, in their father’s franchised businesses while growing up in New Jersey.

After immigrating to the U.S. from India in 1983, Shah’s father, Vijay, worked hard to find a way to become a businessman – a goal he made into a reality after purchasing his first franchise in the late 1980s.

“He had a dream to own his own business when he first came here. In 1989, he purchased his first Dunkin’ Donuts in North Jersey. This was before I was born, so my brother and I were basically born into the whole franchising model since we were kids,” Shah says.

Since then, Shah’s father has gone on to operate 30 successful franchise units throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut for 13 brands including Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Jersey Mike's, Bubbakoo’s, Hilton, Shell gas stations, and others.

Despite that long-term success, though, getting started in franchising wasn’t without challenges early on.

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The Great Franchisee: Wei Zhu, Paris Baguette*, South Carolina

The multi-brand restaurant owner is introducing Paris Baguette to South Carolina diners this spring.

For 20 years, Wei Zhu has made a name for himself around his beach community by bringing good food to the picturesque Hilton Head Island. He owns a cajun seafood joint, HOOK REEL, and swanky hibachi and sushi restaurant called OKKO. Recently Zhu decided to look into franchise opportunities to expand and diversify his portfolio. Last year, he signed franchise agreements with three brands: JINYA Ramen Noodle, Kung Fu Bubble Tea, and 4,000-location bakery-café concept Paris Baguette*.

Zhu’s Paris Baguette, which is slated to open this May, will be the franchise’s first location in South Carolina, which the brand’s development team says has room and demand for more than 20 locations.

Yo Broker, Sell My Franchise

Heyday is Giving Franchisees the Rare Opportunity to Usher in a New Heyday of Skincare Services

Heyday*, the personalized skincare brand focused on providing expert facials, first entered the franchising market last year with 10 corporate-owned locations and the bold goal of hitting franchise numbers consistent with those of a five-year franchisor before the end of the year. Now, at the start of 2022, the fast-growing franchise brand has opened one new location and signed franchise agreements for a whopping 100 stores with the goal to open 18 more physical locations by the end of the year.

So, how did the Heyday* team make this happen? Adam Ross, the CEO and co-founder of Heyday, has played a major role in guiding the franchise system to where it is today. Prior to Heyday, Ross worked in mergers and acquisitions for a little over 12 years, focusing on companies in the consumer product and retail sectors, including big-name beauty and wellness brands such as Revlon, Avon, Gillette, L'Oreal and Estee Lauder. When Ross decided it was time to sit on the other side of the table and be the one to help build engaging brands and businesses from the ground up, he knew Heyday was the right place to focus his efforts.

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The Bottom Thoughts

I’m frustrated, you’re frustrated, we are all frustrated.

Why?

We want more deals.

And it’s March. And we don’t have enough deals. Oh, and where are the leads.

The hardest part of franchise development and franchise growth is patience. Yet, patience is what gets you the best, most sustainable franchisees. It’s what creates GREAT brands.

But, we get it, patience is tough. Especially when there are perceived extreme pressures to sell and sell fast (blame goes to PE throwing money around like it’s a water hose on a hot summer day).

Some things to do to gain control of your predictability for Q2:

1. Look at the traffic to your development site and try to connect a number to leads. How to do this? Take last month’s leads and match up to the traffic that came from the state (on Google Analytics). Try to come up with some guess as to how much traffic, in general, you need to capture a lead.
2. Now, create a chart of your highest performing and most positive franchisees. In the second column, put the number of units you still have available for sale in that market.
3. Now, prioritize your development markets. Reposition your digital marketing ad spend to go heavily toward your priority markets.
4. Knowing the approximate traffic needed, you will start to gain an idea of how much lift you need in that market.
5. Change the messaging on your Website to focus on on culture/support and business model (or add a blog/content).
6. Look at your spend trends from 6 months ago – that should also help you gain predictability into the actions you will have coming up in the Q2.

Getting a grip on your data will help you better tell your story and know the predictability of your future franchise growth traction.

Then, after you get that grip, grab a whiskey, relax for five minutes, and then get stressed again – because you will always be as good as your last deal.