The band of red denotes brotherhood and equality, while the white band signifies purity and virtue. The waxing crescent moon symbolizes a young nation on the ascendancy and the five stars represent democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.
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As I get older, I find myself morphing into a prototypical old man—standing on my front stoop with minimal clothing, squinting my eyes and wondering if the world is going to hell.
Operators who are on a growth track are discovering they can build new stores with no skin in the game. It may sound too good to be true, but development sale-leasebacks provide a financing alternative that can fully cover land and construction costs.
Doing the math is part of building a successful brand, our three Living Large franchisors believe, and they're putting loads of data to work every way they can.
As any vendor would be, Carla Bainbridge was thrilled when she landed a contract with the Dwyer Group, a well-known franchisor with 21 service brands under its growing umbrella in Texas. Her company, Predictive Profiles, was to be the preferred provider, she said, of a software platform that aids in the recruiting and hiring of front-line employees.
Have you ever wondered why in September, October and November, Hollywood's elite rave endlessly about their new projects? It's all about blockbuster hits, edgy independent films, star-studded rom-coms. The reason is simple—it's Oscar season.
No, he hadn't gone to college, explained Jersey Mike's franchisee Chris Brown after I had inquired about his prior work as a management consultant with an MBA. I chuckled at his wry humor. After all, Brown's LinkedIn profile listed an advanced degree from Southern Methodist University and impressive work experience. “There is another Chris Brown, and he's a Jersey Mike's franchisee in Texas, I think,” Brown added brightly.
When I was charged with launching Franchise Times 20 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing. Sure I was the editor of FT's sister publication, the Restaurant Finance Monitor, but that's a 12-page newsletter. Franchise Times was a different beast.
In my last column in August, I provided an overview of what's happening in international franchising today, drawing largely on insights gathered at the International Franchise Expo at the Javits Center in New York in late spring. Some of the matters addressed were: Where are franchisors seeking franchisees? How much of a shift has there really been away from a U.S.-centric model? How sharply have U.S. franchisors tilted from domestic to cross-border development? And is that movement reaching a plateau, or accelerating?
This retail earnings season had some major winners and losers. Consumers weren't exactly racing to restaurants overall. Domino's was one of the few standouts with a 6.8 percent same-store sales growth. But the average same-store sales growth across the franchised burger segment was 1.4 percent. It's better than nothing, but not by much and includes some significant price increases to keep comps growing.