BlueMauMau.Org Launches Franchise Directory
June 29, 2007
(FranBest.Com) Congratulations to our friends at the lively franchise industry forum BlueMauMau.org on the launch of their new franchise directory, which they claim is “one of the most complete, if not the most complete American franchise directory on the Internet. As far as we can figure, it has easily twice as many listings as any other major franchise portal.”
The new Blue Mau Mau franchise directory has a lot of people very excited, not the least of which is the woman to the left.
While it will take a little time for BlueMauMau.org to finetune and prune some of the listings, I have to say there are a number of active franchisors in their list I’ve never heard of… and that’s saying something since I cruise the web franchise scene pretty frequently. Here are some I’d never heard of:
Over 2400 Listed, Categorized, and Alphabetized, with Franchisor Website Links
For convenience, nearly all franchisor entries have a hyperlink to the franchisor’s site. They’ve built a lot of tools to help you find and contact the right franchise for you. And of course, you can read members’ remarks and star rankings on concepts.
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Rita’s Italian Ice Has Ambitious Franchise Growth Plans
June 23, 2007
According to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the new owners of Rita’s have aggressive growth plans for the franchise chain.
Here’s an excerpt:
Rita’s wants 1,500 stores, each earning $500,000 a season
By HAROLD BRUBAKER
When Jim Rudolph and his brother, Bill, bought Rita’s Water Ice in May 2005, they were stunned by the amount of attention they got.“You have to remember, I’m not from Philadelphia,” said Jim Rudolph, now Rita’s chief executive officer. “I’m from Pittsburgh.”
Rudolph didn’t realize how popular Rita’s was in the Philadelphia region, where it had been founded in 1984 by a firefighter trying to supplement his income.
But McKnight Capital Partners - the Rudolph brothers’ investment firm - didn’t buy it for the strong Philadelphia connection. They bought it to expand far beyond the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Who says this can’t travel?” Rudolph retorts to skeptics who say that people outside the region have no idea what water ice is.
Rudolph - described by franchisees as passionate, tireless and intense - has lofty goals for Rita’s: He wants to have 1,500 stores by 2010, up from 319 when he bought it, and $500,000 in average annual sales per store, up from $225,000 last year.
Full-time employment at Rita’s Water Ice Franchise Co. L.L.C. has climbed from 42 at the time of the sale to 83 now. That does not count the thousands - mostly part-time workers - employed by franchisees. Last year’s sales at Rita’s outlets totaled $73.7 million, the company said. So far this year, they are up 5 percent, Rudolph said.
To meet the 2010 store goal, Rudolph has stepped up the pace of openings, going from 33 in 2005 to 68 last year. This year’s goal is 135 stores. As of last week, 45 had been opened this year, giving the company 451 stores, Rudolph said.
There were about 20 things Rudolph said he was trying to do to meet his ambitious sales-per-store goal. First among them is a steady flow of new products, such as this year’s Blendini, which contains bits of Oreos or Nilla Wafers.
“We want ‘new’ all the time,” Rudolph said. He and franchisees said the Blendini was the first new Rita’s product since 1998, with the exception of Rita’s Squeezers launched in 2005 for supermarket sales.
Perhaps most significant is a change in Rita’s culture, with Rudolph’s leaving behind the model of Rita’s as a part-time mom-and-pop business.
“We’re trying to get a more engaged partner to be involved in this business,” Rudolph said. Like other fast-growing franchisers, Rita’s is signing more franchisees to multistore deals, including a five-store deal last week in Jacksonville, Fla.
That means Rita’s is signing franchisees with more business experience and much more money than the typical franchisee of five years ago. At the same time, the company, which in April moved its headquarters from a cramped building in Bensalem to a 12,000-square-foot facility in a Trevose office park, is demanding more from existing franchisees.
“They’ve raised the bar in the franchise community to run better stores,” said Mitchell Cove, who has been a Rita’s franchisee for 18 seasons and has four stores in Northeast Philadelphia and three in Bucks County. “It’s been a challenge, but they are kind of keeping us on our toes more.”
Rudolph has increased the number of franchise service managers, who are constantly on the road visiting stores and working with franchisees. The increase - from seven, or one for every 46 stores in April 2005, to 13, or one for every 35 stores now - means each franchisee gets more attention… CONTINUE READING…
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Is a Franchise a Better Investment Than College?
June 22, 2007
According to a (tongue-in-cheek?) post over on Franchise Pick, going to college is just a waste of time and every college student and graduate knows it. Would students be better investing in a franchise than higher education? You be the judge:
Here’s an excerpt:
Wise Up! Skip College. Buy a Franchise!
by Sean Kelly
I don’t want to imply that college is a waste of time, money and brain cells, so I’ll state it:
College is a waste of time, money and brain cells.
I know. I went to college (7 of the best years of my life).
When I graduated with my English degree, the business world threw a HUGE welcome party for me and rewarded my educational accomplishments with a lucrative position in Combustible Timber Logistics (or firewood delivery, for you non-grads). Pursuing my dream of complete unemployability, I returned for my Masters degree, and even stayed on to teach for a few years. Eventually, they forcibly ejected me through the ivy-covered doors to accept the fate of all college grads: a job completely unrelated to my field of study in a company whose owner dropped out halfway through 7th grade.
But don’t college graduates have much higher incomes than non-graduates?
Sure. Just ask the clerk at That Fish Place next time you’re buying goldfish for your pet piranha. He’ll tell you how he thanks his lucky stars every day for his PhD in Marine Biology.
Or ask those unfortunates who have had to struggle through life without college degrees. Poor Bill Gates ($56 bil), Paul Allen ($18 bil), Michael Dell ($15 bil) & Larry Ellison ($21 billion)… think of what they could have achieved had they finished college! Such a waste! It’s reported that billionaire John Simplot (3 bil), inventor of the French Fry, felt inferior around the liberal arts graduates who manned his deep fryers or who so articulately asked the customers “Would you like fries with that?”
College Diplomas: Worst. Investment. Ever.
According to The College Board’s annual report, “Trends in College Pricing”, the total college costs…
Continue Reading Wise Up! Skip College. Buy a Franchise!.
New NC Manny & Olga’s Pizza Franchise Exceeds Expectations
June 20, 2007
(FranBest.Com) According to the Roanoke Daily Herald: the large pizza franchisors said it’d never work. They refused to grant Gary and Sue Bardwell a franchise for the Lake Gaston area of North Carolina, saying it was too small of a market. Manny & Olga’s Pizza took a chance, granting Gary and Sue Bardwell a Manny & Olga’s Pizza franchise for Lake Gaston. The gamble paid off: In the first week, the Bardwell’s Manny & Olga’s Pizza franchise broke all franchisee sales records, with sales 150 percent higher than expectations
McAlister’s Deli Expanding in Tallahassee
June 15, 2007
(FranBest.Com) Source: Tallahassee.Com
McAlister’s Deli plans announced:
Owners of the McAlister’s Deli chain of restaurants has announced plans for four locations in Tallahassee in the next four years. The first, in the food court at Governors Square mall, is scheduled to open June 18. And within the next 18 months, a full-service, stand-alone restaurant is scheduled, according to Jason Carr. The Carr family owns the chain, and local operations will be overseen by Lawson Carr, the family has announced. The food-court version is called McAlister’s Select. In addition to salads, the Governors Square McAlister’s Deli will offer more than a dozen sandwiches as well as baked potatoes. “We’re excited to finally be opening our first restaurant in Tallahassee,” Jason Carr said.
