I see franchise ownership as being a bloody mix of self employed+business owner(it sure as HELL isn't an "investor role" situation- not by any stretch of the human imagination!!)... As someone said, why buy a job? You take ALL of the risk and have just about NO control.. sound good? No, it doesn't. Unless you're buying something serious like a Mickey D's or a Burger king, and I can't even imagine what THAT must cost. Even then. No control. All of the risk. It is all on you.

And even the big ones do stupid shit to put you out of business
Fucking Mickey D's thinks they're going to become the hilton inn - they're wasting BILLIONS on this ridiculous fuck up, last I read anything about it

You want to spend 100k or less and really make some money? Lease a commercial property that has no structures (cheap, see) - put a trailer on there, like the one white trash lives in, you know? Buy 50 cars... Hire some clown to work on them.. hire another clown to sell them..

Do that and make sure you're around whenever money changes hands and you can make more than you might think. You just have to buy the cars RIGHT.

I guarantee you that a little dealership will be 1/10th the headache a franchise will be and the risk is a lot lower and you WILL make more money.

Of course, now that I really think about it, there's nothing to keep them from applying for duplicate title in advance .....

Good looking out Brass Monkey..... I like your posts :thumbsup

I like them but I do think they are overrated.

Honestly, the best sandwich shops are always the local joints run by the owners (who probably don't make much money) but want to put out a quality product and are doing their "dream." That's probably true with most styles of restaurants.

I try to stay away from chains as much as possible. Though that's personal preference, nothing to do with investing, LOL.

Food business seems very rough to me with way too many variables and not enough profit to cover the risk.

KK has been having trouble.

how far back? were they called car stamps? :1orglaugh

Buying a franchise is like buying an RV.

The idea sounds good, but the figures never add up.

A friend of mine opened a Quiznos (sp?) back in 2003 and now he has 4 of them, plus 2 other types of fast food companies. All are in L.A. near Hollywood. He doesn't work at any of the stores anymore. But when he started he slaved at the first one to build up equity in it to use as collateral towards buying more.

A writ of that thar sale done been made to the other fella :1orglaugh

There was thing called Sub&Stuff... here in kansas.. these two local guys owned and ran them. The best fries and turkey subs on the fucking planet.... they were fake processed food like everything else, but christ they were good!!! I think I would pay a lot just to eat there one more time

God damn those fries were good

Jesus

Funny timing.

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

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..



.

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...




.

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.