Innovative Ways to Support Franchisees

In the franchise game, the success of the franchisor relies heavily on the success of its franchisees. During these turbulent economic times, it's even more important for franchise systems to support franchisees. In an article on Entrepreneur.com, Adina Genn and Harold Kestenbaum explore some of the creative ways franchisors are cutting costs and finding financing for their most valuable players.

The Diaries was excited to see F.C. Dadson customer Kevin Brennan of Rock'n Joe's Coffeehouse & Bistro featured in the article. What's his franchise doing to help keep costs in check? According to Kevin, they've switched to a less-costly, but still appealing bread for their sandwiches as well as focused on training franchisees and employees to "maintain portion control and reduce waste."

Other ideas being employed by franchisors:

• Converting waste cooking oil into fuel for company vehicles (WingZone)
• Reducing store size and specifying more cost-effective interior finishes (Rising Roll)
• Ramping up online advertising (Kalologie Skincare) and using grassroots marketing tactics (CLIX)
• Becoming a Small Business Administration-approved franchisor (Synergy HomeCare)
• Producing educational webinars (Fetch)

That majority of these initiatives cost minimal -if any- extra money and seem like a very solid investment. Not only will current franchisees have increased confidence in the system, prospective franchisees may find you more appealing too.