Dirty Dough Cookies Focuses on Younger Franchisee Candidates — and You Should Too

A recent study showed that millennials are the second largest generation of franchise owners, making up 24.7% of franchisees and officially surpassing the baby boomer generation in franchise ownership (23.4%).

For existing franchisors, this is an opportunity that should be taken seriously. Not only is there a large number of younger franchisee candidates, but there are many benefits to seeking out these youthful entrepreneurs. 

Bennett Maxwell, founder and chairman of Dirty Dough Cookies, is fairly young himself, being only 31. He has found that younger franchisee candidates bring with them creativity, social media awareness and an eagerness to succeed that benefits franchisee and franchisor alike. 

1851 Franchise spoke with Maxwell about the advantages of marketing franchise opportunities to younger candidates and the best ways of doing so. 

The Benefits of Younger Franchisee Candidates

Maxwell acknowledged that it’s difficult to generalize because there are excellent franchisee candidates of all ages. He explained, however, that sometimes older candidates near retirement age are looking for an investment they can buy and take a step back from, whereas many younger candidates want to be very involved, learning the ins and outs of the business model. 

Another benefit of younger franchisee candidates comes back around to their tech-savvy skills and awareness of the impact of social media. 

“If you have a younger franchise owner, they're going to be a lot more creative on how to use social media to attract customers and I definitely see that,” Maxwell said. “If you get somebody that's 50 or 60 years old, they often ask ‘How do I do my grand opening?’ but I just got off the phone with a young franchisee in San Antonio, Texas, and he's got everything planned out for an influencer night. I think that's been a huge benefit, having that creativity, especially around influencers and social media.”

Beyond their creativity and technological know-how, millennials have been found to have a greater desire to improve their communities than previous and more recent generations. The positive impact they make may come in many forms, such as offering a bit of joy with delicious gourmet cookies, for example. Typically, they are opting for companies that they firmly believe in and share values with, meaning they’re likely to have passion behind their business ownership and take initiative toward their success. With especial priorities in environmental matters and charitable opportunities, millennials want to serve their communities and their planet. Doing so through a franchised concept is becoming an appealing option to many. 

As a franchisor, there are steps that can be taken to tailor the franchisee experience to younger generations to reap these benefits. 

Tailoring the Franchisee Experience to Younger Candidates

When Maxwell developed the franchise model for Dirty Dough Cookies, he attempted to tailor the experience to younger entrepreneurs by thinking about what sort of concept he would want to invest in. 

“I did look into Crumbl and it looked cool until I found out that you have to live in the store, with 60-hour weeks and have 50-plus employees per location,” he explained. “I didn't want to do that, so when I purchased Dirty Dough, I tried to simplify everything to a franchise model that I would want to buy. This includes fewer employees. How do you get fewer employees? Rather than make everything from scratch, you can make it in mass quantities at a centralized production facility and ship it to stores.”

Maxwell understands that work-life balance is an increasingly important factor to younger generations, so he tailored his model to that desire. He also understands that younger audiences have not had as much time to build up wealth.

“I created lower startup costs for my brand because you don't have to buy the mixers and all that. You can operate out of 600 square feet,” Maxwell said.

Another way Maxwell simplified the model to appeal to young candidates? He’s made it incredibly easy to reproduce the beloved product by shipping out the cookies in preportioned, frozen form so all the employees have to do is put it in the oven for a set amount of time. 

By offering a business model that caters to the priorities of younger candidates, with a low startup cost and easy-to-follow process, franchisors will pique the interest of young franchisees. This was the case for Maxwell, as his brand has sold 450 franchise locations in just two years. 

Virtually all of those franchise locations have been bought through organic lead generation, primarily through social media.

The All Important Social Media Presence

The importance of social media cannot be understated. Maxwell explained that his brand has basically only generated leads through social media platforms. However, he rarely targets franchisee candidates directly. 

“We never advertise directly to franchisees on the brand’s social media, so it's really just been my personal social media,” he said.” I don't talk about selling franchises on 90% of my posts, but I think it keeps audiences engaged, especially the younger crowd that are on social media. Even if I'm talking about mental health or not-for-profit or sales or business or family life balance, I’m building a personal brand and then, if they're interested in buying a franchise, you're already top of mind.”

Building an online presence allows potential customers and franchisees alike to get to know you. People are interested in investing in your product or service but, more than that, they want to invest in the story behind your brand. By telling his story and giving the product center stage on his social media, Maxwell has organically generated interest for his concept. 

Dirty Dough isn’t the only success case; although Crumbl is a competitor, Maxwell can’t help but praise the brand’s social media presence and resulting success.

“People love the product and they also want to own the business and see how they could be part of it. The brand did weekly announcements of flavors on social media, getting thousands of influencers to taste-test their weekly rotating cookies. It just got so much hype around it. They do an amazing job on social media and have the attention of younger audiences,” Maxwell said. 

This goes to show that a big, positive social media presence translates to a big following for your brand, which in turn makes it desirable for franchisees, especially those from the younger social-media-savvy generations. 

Whether you’re looking to modernize your brand through social media, find loyal franchisees who feel dedicated to your values or simply bring in some youthful energy to contribute to your concept, young franchisee candidates are the answer.

To learn more about generating franchise leads, check out these resources:

• Coffee and Analytics: How to Adjust Your Franchise Lead Generation Process for the Rest of the Year
• 1851 Growth Club
• 1851 Growth Club: Full Franchise Sales Lead-To-Close