Franchising: To do or not to do?

All businesses are risky, small or big. The smaller franchises are normally ones that are starting out with more or less popularity. The advantage of franchises it brand recognition, most people when going somewhere they do not know or to a get a service like for instance dry cleaning, may go to a franchise because they know it exists and that they what it will cost and assume they can trust the specific brand. The idea that all franchise stores always make money and are always successful is not always true, even something like a McDonald may not work out if the area chosen does not work well with the concept. The advantage of franchises is that all the licencing and business plans have already been arranged as well as suppliers, building designs, concept designs and they even have help lines. The advantage of opening your own business is that it is just that your own, you may design and create your own brand, your own idea, the disadvantages is that you have to do everything and contact suppliers, create a a client base, get the business licensed which can be difficult and find investors if the initial cost are more then you can handle - banks will sometimes give preference to franchises. Starting a business is always difficult so the ideal is to work out what best works for you.

I think the concept of franchising is awesome. The things you pointed out are true. When a person wants support and to follow a game plan they can be suitable. With say something like McDonalds you have everything available for you to do your business. They will help you succeed. I heard they even have a McDonalds University. Yes it is a partnership but the company will handle all name branding, product, and marketing rep for you. That is looking at the other side of the arrangement. A good starter for business. But do you have any idea how much it does cost to buy one from McDonalds now? The smaller ones are like all business and you need to be careful. There are going to be bad ones. You need to really examine any new business very carefully, this it true.

Franchising is one of the very lucrative businesses these days. As you mentioned , there are many franchise possibilities. Yes, first of all, they need some investments. And, secondly, one has to have the proper knowledge and skill about the type of franchise one is going into. And, depending on the type, the location is a very important factor, I agree.

I am not a business owner, and I only heard about franchise, and I read some articles about it on McDonald Frachnise deal. You might need at least a million or something to run a McDonald Franchised store. Like everything you said above, it is expensive, and you don't get everything you got here. So, not every business is profitable.

Hi ajpa, I am presently running a shop with two independent franchise products. One dealing with cakes and savories and the other providing online services like air tickets, bus tickets, railway tickets, mobile/DTH recharges, bill payments and many more services. The main business is cake shop and the other is just time pass. I can therefore give you forst hand information on merits and demerits of franchise business. First of all it is not easy to establish a business you normally go for franchising. You require lot of capital, men power and expertise to establish such a business. It even takes more expertise to establish a brand you promote. In franchise business you get everything ready made. The disadvantage being you have to be satisfied with very low margin franchiser gives you. You are more than satisfied if your business location is in prime spot and business turn over is very large if not you have to struggle to meet the two ends.

The decision really depends on you. You have to think of it very clearly so that you won't have any regrets in the future. Think first whether the business that you are franchising is really good. If you think that the franchise will really boom, then go for it. In business, you really need to take risks. You need to invest. For me, franchising is really good since by that, you'll already have an idea if that business will work or not because if you open a new business, it will take time for it to be known to other people and you are also not sure if the new business will be successful. But as what I said, you have to take risks. So if you want to venture into business, then why not? Maybe the business that you will open will be a great success and the advantage to that would be you'll be having the money all to yourself. I don't know with those franchises that costs less than 20K. That sure is a very small amount. But I don't know. Just make sure that if you do franchise, just check if it is not a scam. Don't make a decision if you're not sure of the status of the business you are franchising.

If you have the capita required for franchising, why not.. you can go for it as long as you make a feasibility study first before involving into it. Better study first coz 20k is big enough already when you loose it or turned it into nothing.