welovemarmite Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Has anyone had any experience of buying a franchise that they could share? Looking and feels a bit scary so any advice would be great. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 My partner bought a franchise coming up to 3 years ago and last year opened a second outlet with the same company. For him, it was the best thing he ever did, terrifying yes, (especially resigning from a good, relatively secure, job mid recession!), but he'd do it again in a heartbeat. As with every business there are good and bad ones and he didn't go with the first one in that industry that he investigated - in hindsight, just as well for a variety of reasons. Examining the stability of the parent company is important! You need to look at what start up costs they will expect you to bring yourself, what their initial franchise fee is and then what their ongoing costs are and what support you get for that. Whilst you'll usually have a high degree of autonomy it isn't exactly like being self employed and there will be things which you are dictated to about, so you'll need to check that you are happy with these, morally, ethically, financially etc. Also, how much would it cost you to 'walk away' (in my partners situation, the vast majority of his goods stay owned by the parent company and are only paid for once sold on, so in theory, although he would loose his start up costs, he could walk away if things went wrong and not be saddled with lots of debt). I don't know if it is the case generally, but he certainly had to do plenty of leg work to convince them to take him on and sell him the franchise in the first place, but the end result is that he has a fantastic working relationship with them. I hope that's helpful and that I haven't just stated lots of obvious things you've already considered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welovemarmite Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 thanks katy. It really is scary. I think it might be what i need to do. but then part of me keeps saying why dont i just start my own business from scratch and avoid that outlay. but then if i did that i am not sure what i would do... I already have a small business which is more of a hobby that i have managed to generate money from, and a part time job. Its the job that i need to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
