better sweat money http://www.jimmyjohn.com/franchise/investment.aspx :helpme

If the nearest is 1,000 miles away how will the people in your town know about your outlet being part of a group? A Franchise is only as strong as its name and if the nearest is that sort of distance it will have little if any pulling power.
You are restricted to what you can buy, how you can promote, what you can sell, your buying price and your selling price, then you will find that all sorts of other restrictions start coming into place, and the guys that are controlling your local business are thousands of miles away and have no idea about your client base.

With $200,000.00 yo can open your own place, have control of your costs, and you create a kick ass menu at a price that is guaranteed to pull clients in. Make it quirky, make it memorable, terrific service, and cleints wil come back. Then once you have a winning combination you create your own franchise.

So you want to spend $200k to let someone else run it for you?

I have a bridge to sell you. :1orglaugh

Seriously, think about it. Never go into a business you don't understand unless you start at the bottom without putting up a lot of money. Never trust others to run it.

Researching on GFY is a bad start. :1orglaugh

i think this is starting to make more sense. i just dont know if i want to go through the whole process..



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i know you are like 150 years old, so you havent heard about the latest theft prevention measures you can put in..

of course theft is always a concern..

and this isnt a business for me, its an investment..

there is risk to any investment and i can handle the risk if the return makes sense..

thanks for sharing your old world wisdom with me.... :1orglaugh





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what state are you in?

Thanks,
~Ray

Yeah I agree, however I am not recommending the franchise, rather I am recommending to study how the business is opperated.:2 cents:

Quiznos is closing up shops left and right. There were 3 within a 10 mile radius of me that are gone. If you look at the businesses for sale boards people are selling Quiznos franchises for a fraction of what a new one would cost.

There is one of these right up the street from my house http://www.jerseymikes.com/ and I love their subs...

Jimmy Johns is putting Quiznos out of biz in Seattle.

Imagine paying an advertising % that went toward ads that featured a rodent with bad teeth as the companies mascot! I have never eaten in one, never will.

Go to youtube and look at a few Quiznos commercial examples then imagine trying to make a living selling food.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aZrks-BPeLQ ....... Seriously check this out.


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Are you talking about the ads with the Sponge Monkeys from a few years ago? It seemed like they were trying to take advantage of an early viral video in their commercials, which is a good idea if more people actually knew who the Sponge Monkeys were. Since most people had no clue it was a pretty big fail.

For me though Quiznos food really sucks. They were WAY overpriced in the beginning for a sub that didn't really stand out in any way, and then they were already too late when they tried to roll out the $4 torpedoes...

*Edit* I missed your youtube link, it was the Sponge Monkeys you were talking about. This was the original video... http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song

I have no idea what a Sponge Monkey is/was. But I do know an unappetizing food commercial when I see one. :1orglaugh

Such are the hazards of corporate advertising with hard earned franchise fees.

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The people who buy franchises and then bitch and sue over having to buy their products/ingredients from the franchisor are morons - that's the whole concept of the franchise industry. They don't hide that fact from potential franchisees.

A franchise can't compete quality wise with a mom and pop independent restaurant - they're trying to get ingredients as cheap as possible, and then distribute them to their franchisees - means lower quality ingredients, lots of frozen and pre-prepared stuff - while the mom and pop has his local suppliers of fresh ingredients.

The grocery stores around me make a better sandwich at their deli counter than Subway.

I really wanted to try the fast food biz - I wanted to do fresh cooked French Fries stands - retro looking free standing little kiosks in the shape of a french fries container like the red McDonalds french fries packages, located in corners of parking lots of malls, gas stations in high traffic areas. French fry trucks here make an absolute fortune. When the smell of hot frying fresh french fries is in the air people can't resist. I wouldn't need much space from a gas station, just a corner of their property - and for them it would be a few grand a month of found money. Construction/equipment costs wouldn't be that expensive and french fries have to be one of the highest markup items in the fast food industry - potatoes, salt, vinegar, gravy, chili, gravy.

There's a guy in Appleton, Wisconsin that every time we went there, he'd be out selling dogs and he was busy as hell.

yes, thrashers etc are very big up north, i just dont know if there is a market for that here..

one of my friends is trying to get me into the food truck thing and my city is having a big city council meeting on how they are going to permit them..

might be interesting to steal your idea and put it on a food truck...




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I just ate at a food truck in downtown Chicago a few weeks ago that specialized in macaroni and cheese http://thesouthernmac.com/ and it was fucking phenomenal. Gourmet food trucks are starting to pop up everywhere and you can make a killing with the right idea and a good route...

i'd love for anybody to take my French Fry kiosk idea and try it. I used to have cool drawings of the concept I paid a kid from an art college to do for me. Any kind of parking lot in a high traffic area - strip malls, big malls, gas stations were my ideas for locations. Even in cold weather cities, hot fresh cooked french fries on a winter day is pretty irresistable.

their quality went down hill. i go to Lolo's Chicken and Waffles instead :2 cents:

My Buddy did the same with Jimmy Johns. He started with one, his wife and him worked their asses off. He now owns 7, doesnt work at any of them (key is finding a great manager and paying them well) and he makes bank.

think of all the young pussy that will be begging you for a job...

I passed on Quiznos for the same reasons. It seems like you would need to own a chain of these stores to make a decent living and not a single sub shop. :2 cents:

Something like this???
http://www.boardwalkfries.com/index.html

They started out as just fresh cut fries and soft drinks back in 1980 but it looks like they've broadened there menu since then. The fries were great and they rocked in locations that had HIGH foot traffic 365 days out of the year, but those same high traffic locations have high rents too.


As to the OP considering getting in to the restaurant business, I think Beaner summed it up the best,
The only way to make a profit in the foodservice industry is by managing every one of your controllable costs (food, labor, paper, utilities, etc) every minute of every day.

If you move forward with your plans I wish you the best.

Yes, a Cruise Consultancy back in 2001. Not the best year to get involved in travel:Oh crap

Lucky you didn't. Looks like Quiznos' going belly up very soon.

kinda, but those shops are in storefronts in what looks like high traffic tourist type areas.

my idea was free standing fresh cut french fry kiosks/buildings in a unique shape located in parking lot corners on high traffic streets with walking traffic as well.

like this type of kiosk but would be about twice the size and have its own unique shape like the container a large order of fries from McDonalds comes in.

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/396...Food_Carts.jpg

That is a multi-million dollar business here in Vegas. BUT, they really garner their rep on their food.
Slidin' Thru gets a ton of free press for their burgers here in Vegas for instance.

The other concept if I were to do fast food is BACON - bacon is the hottest thing in the fast food industry now BUT there are no fast food businesses based all on bacon - it's KFC with its Double Down, and all the burger chains have their spin on a bacon burger.

if i were walking in a mall fast food court and smelled the aroma of bacon frying/smoking i'd be heading right there like I was hypnotized. Sell me 10 strips of crispy bacon in a paper cup.

Just need to come up with some unique menu items all based on bacon as a main or big ingredient.

Krispie Kream's are going under left and right.

In general, it is hard to make any real money in a franchise unless you are the franchise creator or got into a big one such as McDonald's very early and own multiple locations.

Mitch

In Amsterdam I really loved those fry stands. That was where I first learned about using mayo on fries. The fries cooked in goose fat are the absolute best. I agree that this idea could do well, but you would definitely need the right location.

There is a guy in Seattle that does a hot dog stand that does all sorts of funky Japanese hot dogs and that guy usually has a bunch of customers... but I only see him mostly when I am getting out of shows - so he obviously is capitalizing on all the stoned, drunk munchy seeking patrons of the clubs.

Location, location, location.

Quiznos in deep financial shit, Wall St Journal article ......


http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/artic...ge-quiznos-wsj

Then as an investment it does not make a great deal of sense. You have to buy all the kitchen equipment which means its immediately devalued because its `used`, you probably rent a property so that is lost money every month, you pay for the franchise so you do not even get the chance to build a marketable name of your own. Your only chance of success as a pure investment, is if you make the business work, and even then you have to consider what return you are getting in exchange for risk and amount of work put in.

Guys down is Brasil are buying Apartments when the property has not even started to get built, they wait 3 years for the property to be constructed and then sell for 50% more than they paid, or, they keep the Apartment, rent it out for a thousand or more per month, and their investment just keeps increasing while they earn a living from it. No work, very little risk, solid investment.
One guy I know, paid $90,000.00 3 years ago, now worth $260,000.00. Is going to sell and re-invest in another Apartment.

You are describing Arizona, California and Florida a few years ago. Your friend should keep that in mind .....


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Must be one hell of a sub shop. I suggest trying something a lot less costly for your first run. Last place I did I had less than $15k into. When I got tired of the 12 hour days 7 days a week it wasn't so hard to walk away. You can buy good used equipment all day long for pennies on the dollar from failed franchisees. Also seems the sub shops are in a pricing war right now due to competition so I'd imagine the profits are slim.

Yea but Brasil probably has a good amount of time. 2014 Football World Cup, 2016 Olympics, massive investment and massive boost to trade.
The new Oil finds off the coasts of Brasil will make it the 3rd or 4th largest exporter of Oil in the World, and the work is underway now, the investment that is taking place down here at the moment is enormous, and normally that would create a damn big bubble that could easily burst, but these Oil fields are going to keep it active for a fairly long time to go. Now is the time to invest in this region, especially is some of the areas where you can buy 10 acres for $60,000.00.

I owned and operated a sub shop and deli. Not a franchise though.

That would be the last type of franchise I'd look into buying.

I know no one will believe me but, I did own a franchised business for 3 years with multiple units and 40+ employess, lots of pitfalls, i only read the initial post but ill skim here a little before i add my two cents.

Your friend dodged a bullet. I know someone who got suckered into that, wound up taking a bath. I don't know how they are doing in the rest of the country but they are dying fast down here in FL. Meanwhile mom and pop ice cream shops are starting to boom. Go figure.



I looked into doing this a few years ago. Not real hotdogs though, veggie dogs. There's one in Orlando that does good business, was thinking about doing one in Ybor or downtown St. Pete. Doesn't take alot of money to get going, but even something as simple as a hot dog cart with other people manning it requires a time investment I just don't have right now, and in reality probably won't have for a few more years.

If I had a 9 to 5 working for someone else I could do it, but I can't stack a business on top of a business, not right now anyway.



I mean, in my opinion if you open up your own restaurant or you go with a chain you'd be looking at a min of a year or two of full time blood, sweat and tears getting it to where you want it to be. But I think if you were going to break out and do your own thing independent of a franchise it should be something you're passionate about, or at least something you have some hands on experience with.

If you launch your own concept you have total management over your costs, concept, etc- but the plus of going with a franchise is they put money into market research to try and stay on top of what people like and what people want. They are selling you a formula that has worked. Unless you have your finger on the pulse in that industry- especially with the high failure rate of restaurants-that's a pretty heafty dice roll.