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Franchisee recruiting fairs help attract top talent

Franchisee recruiting fairs help attract top talent

They could almost be mistaken as pitchmen in a late-night infomercial on how to become rich investing in foreclosed properties. But while they have used in-store advertising in selected markets to announce a date, place and time, these salespeople save the sales pitch for the face-to-face.

A group of mature foodservice chains and growth brands with national aspirations have teamed up in the search for franchisees through a series of jointly sponsored franchising fairs in which each brand gets to solicit potential franchisees from an audience of small businessmen, career-switchers, near-retirees, investors and even franchisees of other concepts.

Sharing the cost for hall rentals, hotel meeting rooms, advertising and other logistical expenses, Dunkin’ Donuts, Carvel, Nathan’s Famous, Salad-works and Philly Pretzel Factory are pooling their management expertise, money and time to jointly participate in a series of franchising fairs to expose their brands—and the differences between them—to potential franchise partners.

Joining them in the effort is Fantastic Sam’s Hair Salon, a 1,350-unit chain of beauty salons and barbershops out of Boston.

Since last October, the group of franchisors has held four franchising fairs, or “road shows” in their parlance. They have suspended their group recruitment meetings until fall, at which time they will continue to target such East Coast locales as northern New Jersey, New York’s Long Island, northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

“We are all looking for new franchisees, and with this kind of format, group franchising seminars, we draw far more attention and interest than if we were to do it alone,” said Lynette McKee, vice president of franchising for Dunkin’ Brands, the Canton, Mass.-based operator of Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Togo’s—about 13,000 restaurants combined. “In this kind of format, it is a great marriage for us, for all of us, as we are all turning over every rock we can to deliver our message.”

Ray Torres, vice president of franchise development for Atlantabased Focus Brands, whose portfolio includes the Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzsky’s and Seattle’s Best Coffee brands, said the group’s fairs not only allow the franchisors to save money and time on the usual travel and marketing expenses related to exhibiting at more traditional industry gatherings, but they also allow interested entrepreneurs to save time and travel dollars by attending franchising fairs in their own backyards.

Even better, Torres noted, by exposing potential franchisees to a number of brands at one time in the same place, candidates are able to more realistically align their interests with the financial realities of commitment.

“Some of us, it only takes $100,000,” he said. “Some are as high as $1 million. We come in around $300,000.

“But whatever the level, the buyer has a familiarity with us and a better sense of their own comfort level.”

The fact that the forums allow candidates to tailor their interests with their budgets in exploring a franchising deal is part of the educational process that is the seminar’s greatest value, said Paul Steck, senior vice president of operations and franchising for 83-unit, Conshohocken, Pa.-based Salad-works.

“It’s getting in front of prospective franchise candidates in an open setting with a number of brands, and it allows us to educate a person who is just starting to explore the business as opposed to someone who has already bought into a concept,” Steck said. “We get to educate them about what franchising is as opposed to making a sales pitch about our individual concepts.”

That distinction between newcomers exploring the business and veteran franchisees who want to add to a portfolio of brands is important, McKee said, given that her ideal candidate, for example, is a multiconcept franchise operator with strong financial security.

Just as locating a few separate dinnerhouse brands under one roof has been a cooperative way among casual-dining competitors to eliminate the “veto” vote among groups of consumers with disparate tastes, the same principle is at work when it comes to franchising fairs, Steck said.

“To the extent that we can, we are almost creating perfect marriages,” he said. “Maybe a guy who was really interested in Salad-works realizes that maybe they are really more attuned to Carvel or Nathan’s.

“So it works both ways: Someone who thought they were eager about one or the other concepts discovers us.”

The participating franchisors post news of the fairs on their websites and on in-store signs aimed at patrons who have thought about franchising with their favorite brands.

At the Hilton Hotel in Huntington, N.Y., where the group held its most recent forum, about 140 people showed up to listen and learn about the brands and their franchising requirements.

After executives provided presentations about their chains and their histories, a question-and-answer period followed. Then serious candidates had individual meetings with brand executives.

“You know how much it would have cost us to reach 140 prospective franchisees in one room at the same time?” Steck asked. “Let’s put it this way: It would have been a real stretch. Here I am able to share the costs with some of the best-known brands in our industry.”

Some of the brands offered some of their menu offerings for refreshments throughout the meetings.

While the idea of competitors teaming up to woo franchise candidates in one setting is novel outside of a traditional convention hall, Donald Boroian, chairman and chief executive of Francorp, a franchise consulting firm and developer in Olympic Hills, Ill., said there is a long history of franchise brokers who would bring different brands together for the same purpose.

“It might appear to be a unique phenomenon for restaurant executives to do this, but brokers have long solicited several companies to put on mini seminars to attract folks who want to own their own business,” Boroian said. “So you might get one to five companies to sponsor a program and the brokers do all the legwork, write the program agenda and set up the face time so that these candidates can learn about the joys, requirements and challenges of running their own business. They don’t make a sale, but they do get the referral.”

Marty Ferrill, vice president of operations for 110-unit Philly Pretzel Factory, which is franchised by Philadelphia-based Soft Pretzel Franchise Systems Inc., said the opportunity to participate with larger, more prominent brands in the franchising fair was a strategic way to expose the chain to local entrepreneurs he probably could not have reached outside of a website.

Randy Watts, vice president of operations, marketing and franchising for Westbury, N.Y.-based Nathan’s Famous, said the franchising fairs are really the result of good friends and colleagues in the same business and similar positions coming up with a solution to a mutual problem: how to reach more potential franchise candidates without it costing an arm and a leg.

The Nathan’s restaurant system consists of 293 franchised or licensed units and six company-owned units featuring the Nathan’s and Kenny Rogers Roasters brands.

“Many of us were friends for years, always going to the same conventions, always trying the same tactics to a common goal,” he said.

“Yeah, we are competitors. But we’re also friends.”

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