Franchises are touted as a means to run your own business if you don’t have your own business idea, or would like the support of an established brand, an organisation and the benefits of corporate marketing.
A franchise is an arrangement between an established company (the franchiser) and a local operator (the franchise owner, often known as a ‘franchisee’).
As a franchisee, you would be classed as self-employed and would own the business, but you would benefit from your products or services already being familiar to the public.
Many types of business are run as franchises, including:
– retail outlets – e.g. some WH SMith stores
– fast food outlets, e.g. McDonalds, KFC, Subway
– printing businesses
– professional cleaning services, e.g. Molly Maid and Maid2Clean
– hair salons
– parcel delivery
– estate agents
– recruitment consultancies
There are hundreds of franchise options available – and many of them are home-based, or flexible, so you can work around other committments.
To become a franchisee, you pay an initial fee to use the franchise brand (the name) and products, and usually pay the franchiser a regular management service fee based on a percentage of your turnover.
In return, the franchising company will provide you with training, guidelines for running and advertising the business, and any stock, equipment and shop fittings that you might need.
What qualifications and experience will employers look for?
You don’t need formal qualifications to run most franchises, but you would be at an advantage with some business skills in areas like people management and basic accounting.
You often do not need any direct experience of the business that you are running, and if you do, the franchising company would usually provide that training. However, previous work experience in sales, management and customer service would be useful, and an advantage.
You will need enough money to buy the franchise and pay the franchiser’s fees. Few franchises are available for less than £5,000 (although that number is increasing for many franchise opportunities targetted at those wanting to earn an extra income, rather than a full-time salary -= e.g. party planning businesses), and the average start-up cost is between £20,000 and £50,000.
If you are thinking of running a franchise and would like some advice, contact the British Franchise Association (www.bfa.com), which runs seminars, provides information and approves franchising companies.
Before you buy a franchise, you may find it useful to take a short business start-up course run by a local college, adult education centre or enterprise organisation – there are many available these days for free, to shop around.
What further training and development can I do?
All franchising companies will offer you some initial training. Some franchisers will also train your employees and provide ongoing training as part of the franchise agreement.
Training is likely to include:
– operating the business to the required standard
– sales skills
– product knowledge, pricing and marketing
– finance, administration and customer relations.
You could choose to work towards qualifications aimed at people running their own business, such as:
– NVQ Level 3 in Starting a New Business Enterprise
– NVQ Level 4 in Developing an Established Business Enterprise.
