CURVES Franchise Owners React to Comments That They’re Being “Pruned”

Curves President Mike Raymond Says Widespread Franchise Closures Part of Plan to “Prune the System”; Franchisee Responses Invited

More than 1/3 of the domestic Curves fitness club franchises have closed in the past 3 years.

In 2009 alone, more than 1000 Curves franchise owners lost their dream businesses… along with their savings, retirement accounts and, in some cases, their homes.

But there’s no cause for alarm, according to Curves International President Mike Raymond.

According to Raymond’s comments in the Wall Street Journal, what may be the largest mass-closing in franchising history is all part of Curves International’s master strategic plan:

Franchisees and industry experts point to a failure to keep up with changing trends—including more flexible hours for busy working women—cheaper competition and the tough economy as major reasons for Curves’ decline.

The company disagrees with its critics, contending that much of the club closings were intended as part of a plan to “prune the system,” according to Curves President Mike Raymond. Some owners had bought into Curves for the wrong reasons, he says, “they were motivated primarily as investors rather than owners.”

No Cause for Concern. Corporate Profits are Up!

Sure, thousands of club owners may be devastated and their club members forsaken, but there is a silver lining:  Curves International actually increased earnings as a percentage of sales, with 2009 earnings of $16.4 million on revenue of $84.1 million.

So the story has a happy ending after all… unless, of course, you are one of the prunees.

Unless, of course, you are  one of the thousands of franchise owners who actually believed Curves International when they said that, as one of their franchisees, you’d be going into business for yourself but not by yourself.

To be fair, if Curves International had stated that their franchise would give owners the opportunity to be, say, superfluous twigs to be eventually pruned from their corporate money tree, Curves never would have become the fastest growing franchise in history…

Now would they?

CURVES FRANCHISE OWNERS:

Share your feelings, opinions and experiences with founder Gary Heavin,  President Mike Raymond and the board of Curves International, below.

Contact us at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com

Also read:

CURVES: 1000 Franchise Clubs Failed Last Year (More on the WSJ article)

Robert Lay’s Story (Featuring 850+ Curves franchisee comments)

Curves Posts on UnhappyFranchisee.Com (Directory of posts & discussions about Curves)

photo credit:  stefano lubiana wines License:  creative commons

Favorite BBQ Chains

Which of these 50+ BBQ (Barbecue, BAR-B-Q, Bar-b-que) chains are your favorites… and why?

FranBest.com is putting together the definitive guide to BBQ and related restaurant franchise opportunities, and we need your input.

We know some BBQ aficionados and purists out there may turn up their noses at chain barbecue joints, but we want to know which chains have been able to successfully duplicate great bbq taste and atmosphere across multiple locations and operators.

Leave a comment, accolade and/or endorsement for your favorite(s) below.  Franchise owners, franchisees & employees are welcome to brag on their own chain (after all, you eat it all the time).

Here’s our list so far.  Have we missed any?

BBQ CHAIN	Headquarters	Info
Bad Bob’s BBQ	Dyersburg, TN
Baker’s Ribs	Dallas, TX
Bandana’s BAR-B-Q	Chesterfield, MO
Bar-B-Cutie	Brentwood, TN
Bar-B-QSA	Saratoga Springs, NY	New concept from PJ’s Bar B Q
Beach Pit BBQ	Irvine, CA
Billy Sims BBQ	Tulsa, OK	12 locations in OK, MO. Franchises available.
Bonos Pit Bar-B-Q	Jacksonville, FL
Brock’s Bar-B-Que	Chester, VA	Franchised?
Brother’s BBQ	Madisonville, KY	Franchised?
Buddy’s Bar b q	Knoxville, TN
Cecil’s Texas Style Bar-B-Q	Orlando, Florida	Franchised?
City Barbecue	Dublin, Ohio	Franchised?
Colter’s Texas BBQ	Dallas, TX
Coopers BBQ	Llano, Texas	Franchised?
Corky’s BBQ	Memphis, TN
Damon’s Grill	Columbus, OH
Dickey’s BBQ	Dallas, TX
Dinosaur BBQ	Syracuse, NY	3 NY locations. 42K+ Facebook fans.
Dreamland BBQ	Vestavia, AL
Famous Dave’s	Minnetonka, MN	52 company & 125 franchise locations in 36 states
Fat Jack’s	Williamstown, NJ
Fire Fresh BBQ	Louisville, KY
Golden Rule BBQ	Miramar Beach, FL
Gyu-Kaku	Gardena, CA
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue	Honolulu, HI
Hickory River Smokehouse	Tipp City, OH
Hole in the Wall BBQ	Eugene, OR
Hook’s BBQ	Opp, Alabama
Jack’s Old South	Dyersburg, TN
Joey’s Smoking BBQ	Torrance, CA
Love’s BBQ	Diamond Bar, CA	Jakarta?
Maurice’s BBQ	West Columbia, SC	Franchised?
Melvin’s BBQ	Charleston, SC	Franchised?
Moe’s Original BBQ	Vail, CO
Ono Hawaiian BBQ	Walnut, CA	Not franchising
Original Thai BBQ	Los Angeles, CA
Pee Wee’s Pit BBQ	Scottsville, VA
Pigman	Kill Devil Hills, NC
PJ’s Bar B Q	Saratoga Springs, NY
Red Hot & Blue	Winston-Salem, NCn-Sa, NC
Rib City	Fort Myers, FL
Rib Crib	Tulsa, OK
Rudy’s Bar-B-Q	Austin, TX
Shane’s Rib Shack	Atlanta, GA
Smithfield’s Chicken ‘n Bar-B-Q	Cary, NC
Smokey Bones	Orlando, FL
Smoking Joe’s BBQ	St. Louis, MI
Sonny Bryans	Dallas, TX
Sonny’s BAR-B-Q	Maitland, FL	139 restaurants in 9 SE states. Franchises available.
McGhin’s Southern Pit Bar-B-Que	Griffin, GA
Squealer’s Barbeque	Indianapolis, IN
Stonewall’s BBQ	Picayune, MS
The Little Dooey	Cornelius, NC
The Shed BBQ	Ocean Springs, MS	“The Original Shed in Ocean Springs, Ms , the Mobile, Alabama location and our vending cart, affectionately known as the “Rollin’ Joint” are family owned. The rest of our locations, Scott, La. Gulfport, Ms. Destin, Fl. are franchises.”
Three Little Pigs BBQ	Kansas City, MO	Franchised?
Tony Roma’s	Plano, TX
Virginia BBQ	Beaverdam, VA
Viteks BBQ	Waco, Texas
Voodoo BBQ & Grill	Baton Rouge, LA
Whitt’s Barbecue	Nashville, TN
Whole Hog Cafe	Little Rock, Arkansas
Willie Jewell’s	Jacksonville, FL
Woody’s BBQ	Jacksonville, FL

LOVE BARBECUE?  WHICH CHAIN DO YOU RECOMMEND AND WHY?

BBQ franchisors, for advertising info on the upcoming guides, please email Sean Kelly at info[at]franbest.com.

Failure Rates of the 10 Most Popular Franchises

Failure Rates of the 10 Most Popular Franchises What are the failure rates of the 10 most popular franchise opportunities?  CNNMoney.com recently published the list they determined were the “most popular” franchises based on the dispersal of SBA loans to franchise owners.

According to CNNMoney.com, the “loan data is from the Small Business Administration, covering loans made from October 2000 through September 2009. The failure rate represents the number of loans in liquidation or charged off, divided by the number of loans disbursed.”

The Matco Tools was deemed the riskiest franchise with a 36% franchise loan default rate.

Cold Stone Creamery franchise was listed as 2nd worst with a 31% failure rate.

The much maligned (& litigated) Quiznos franchise was 3rd worst with a 25% default rate.

The Curves franchise was the 4th worst, with a 16% SBA loan default rate (no surprise to readers of this site or to those who left 600+ comments on our Curves franchise discussion)

Also posting a double-digit default rate is heavily promoted The UPS Store franchise with a 12% SBA franchise loan default rate.

Franchise	# SBA Loans	$$$ Dispersed	Avg. Loan	Failure Rate
Subway	2,292	$391.8M	$170,928	7%
Quiznos	2,019	$291.7M	$144,458	25%
The UPS Store	1,085	$159.4M	$146,943	12%
Cold Stone Creamery	774	$180.9M	$233,687	31%
Dairy Queen	478	$157M	$328,383	8%
Dunkin Donuts	464	$270.4M	$582,726	8%
Super 8	456	415.2M	$910,476	4%
Days Inn	390	$399.2M	$1,023,690	6%
Curves	371	$36.4M	$98,094	16%
Matco Tools	321	$28.9M	$90,131	36%

The winners include Super 8 and Days Inn motel franchises with 4% and 6% respectively, Subway with a 7% default rate and Dairy Queen & Dunkin’ Donuts franchises with 8% default rates.

Franchises with the Highest Failure Rates:

Here are comments from the CNN writer, from worst to best:

Matco Tools franchise – 36%: “Tool manufacturer and distributor Matco is the riskiest investment on the top-10 “most popular” list, with more than one third of its SBA-backed loans going bad.”

Cold Stone Creamery franchise – 31%: “The product is sweet, but the financials can be bitter. In the last 10 years almost one in three SBA-backed franchisees defaulted on their loan.”

Quiznos franchise – 25%: “One in four franchise owners was unable to make good on their SBA-backed loan. Quiznos recently settled four class-action suits brought by its franchisees, agreeing to pay as much as $100 million to end years of wrangling over its pricing, royalties and fees.”

Curves franchise – 16%: “The overhead costs are pretty low, but the investment can be risky. Curves’ fast expansion goes hand in hand with a relatively high churn rate, and almost 16% of its SBA-backed franchise loans this decade failed.”

The UPS Store franchise – 12%: “Seven years ago, they [MBE franchisees who converted] filed suit against UPS, and will finally take their case to trial later this month in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, UPS rolls on, adding new franchisees to its network for an initial fee just shy of $30,000.”

Franchises with the Lowest Failure Rates:

Super 8 franchise – 4%: “Getting into the motel industry is pricey… but it’s also a pretty safe bet. Among the handful of franchise brands… a notable number are hotels and motels. Super 8 has the lowest default rate on this top-10 list, hovering just under 4%.”

Days Inn franchise – 6%: “Days Inn is another member of the Wyndham Hotel Group’s franchise family. Launched in 1970, the chain currently boasts 1,900 hotels throughout 15 countries.”

Subway franchise – 7%: “With fewer than 8% of SBA-backed borrowers defaulting on their loans, Subway has a better track record than similar brands — rival sub shop Blimpie has a 46% loan failure rate, and Quiznos is also well into the double digits.”

Dairy Queen franchise – 8%: “Today, it boasts 5,700 locations around the globe and a single-digit failure rate for its SBA-backed franchise loans, making it one of the safer investments in the food franchise market.”

Dunkin’ Donuts franchise – 8%: “Dunkin’ Donuts’ modest default rate is matched by its corporate sibling, Baskin-Robbins, which had a 10% failure rate for its SBA-backed loans.”

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THESE FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES?  WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Hand & Stone Massage Franchise: Discover the Potential

The demand for affordable spa services is booming… This powerhouse team is ready to seize it.

My search for the most promising new and emerging franchise opportunities recently led me to the seaside town of Toms River, New Jersey, and to Discovery Day at the home office of The Hand & Stone Franchise Corporation.

This series of short posts will give you a glimpse into this fast-growing new franchise opportunity that has attracted some of the top talent in the franchise industry.

Part 1: What to Look For in a Franchise

Part 2: The Booming Market for Massage & Facials

Part 3: How Hand & Stone Meets the Market Need

Part 4: The Powerhouse Team Behind Hand & Stone Massage

Part 5: Franchise Discovery Day at Hand & Stone Massage

Image:  Hand & Stone Massage

Commercial Cleaning Franchise Complaints

Commercial Cleaning Franchise Complaints
The commercial cleaning gold rush is on, but are franchisees getting the gold mine… or the shaft?

Commercial cleaning is being hyped as the hot, recession-defiant franchise opportunity

The February, 2010 Entrepreneur Magazine states “of the 10 fastest-growing franchises measured by Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500, six were commercial cleaning companies.  That’s downright recession-defiant.”  In fact, nine of Entrepreneur’s 100 fastest-growing franchises were commercial cleaning companies.

Janitorial franchises have a low cost of entry (Unit level franchises are generally less than $10,000) and don’t require an academic or a professional background, making them attractive to vast numbers of desperate, unemployed or under-employed opportunity seekers.  Many allege that some of these companies specifically target recent immigrants or non-English speaking groups.

The complaints behind the hype?

The complaints we’re reading about janitorial and commercial cleaning franchises are remarkably similar from company to company:  Franchisees not receiving accounts as promised, franchisees receiving underbid, unprofitable accounts, franchisees having accounts unfairly taken from them and given to other franchisees (to meet the franchisor’s and master franchisee’s obligations), and franchisees being charged excessive fees. 

Nearly 10% of Entrepreneur’s “fastest-growing franchises” list are commercial cleaning franchises: #1 Jan-Pro Franchising Int’l Inc., #3 Stratus Building Solutions, #5  Anago Cleaning Systems, #7  CleanNet USA Inc., #8  Bonus Building Care, #10  Vanguard Cleaning Systems, #16 System4, #66 BuildingStars Inc., #91 Mint Condition Franchising Inc.

Janitorial franchises also hyped in the Entrepreneur 500 list include: Jani-King, ServiceMaster Clean, OpenWorks, OctoClean, Office Pride Commercial Cleaning, City Wide Maintenance, Janitize America, and OMEX. (Coverall is conspicuously absent from Entrepreneur’s lists.)

Other commercial cleaning franchises on Entrepreneur.com: BearCom Building Services, Champion Clean, E.P.I.C. Systems Inc., On Target Maintenance, Pro One Janitorial Inc., Service One Janitorial

Please share your experiences and observations – good and bad – with commercial cleaning franchises by leaving a comment below, or on one of the relevant posts.

Commercial Cleaning Franchise Posts & Discussions:

JANI-KING Franchise Complaints

JAN-PRO Franchise Complaints

ANAGO CLEANING SYSTEMS Franchise Complaints

COVERALL Franchise Complaints

OCTOCLEAN Janitorial Services Franchise

JAN-PRO: Janitorial Franchise Warning

CHAMPION CLEAN Using Bogus Franchise Statistics

JANITORIAL FRANCHISE ISSUES

Commercial Cleaning Franchises: 10 Reasons to NOT Buy One

FTC Guide to Buying a Janitorial Services Franchise

FTC’s Janitorial Franchise Buyer’s Guide

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Oxi Fresh Supports Franchisees With Central Scheduling Center

Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning books jobs, maintains schedules for fast-growing franchise chain.

Owning a franchise should give the small business owner an unfair advantage over the competition.  After all, that’s why they pay a franchise fee and agree to follow the franchisor’s guidelines, right?

Oxi Fresh President Jonathan Barnett, MBA agrees.

Since first launching the fast-growing Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning franchise system in 2006, Barnett has aggressively sought innovative ways to give his franchise owners a competitive edge.   One of the most significant advantages of the Oxi Fresh franchise program is an ambitious in-house Scheduling Center that frees Oxi Fresh franchise owners from the burdens of answering initial phone inquiries, educating would-be customers, scheduling appointments, and having to maintain  their customer databases all by themselves.

“Oxi Fresh franchisees focus on creating satisfied customers, not answering phones.”

According  to Barnett, the Oxi Fresh Scheduling Center enables franchise owners to focus their energies on what drives their success:  Providing superior carpet cleaning and excellent customer service.

Here’s how it works: When a prospective carpet cleaning customer calls either the local or national Oxi Fresh number, the call is then rerouted to the Scheduling Center at the home office.  Calls are promptly received by specially trained representatives who are thoroughly trained on different carpet cleaning methods, carpet fibers, and chemicals.

According to Barnett, scheduling center representatives can answer customer questions professionally and thoroughly, and are specifically trained to explain the many ways the Oxi Fresh green carpet cleaning process is superior to traditional methods – and to those used by competitors.

When speaking with either new or established customers, the Scheduling Center representative references the appropriate franchise’s  schedule and other detailed information via a powerful, customized CRM (Customer Relation Management) database that can be accessed by both franchisees and Scheduling Center personnel.  The  Oxi Fresh representative schedules cleaning appointments and assigns the jobs to the appropriate “techs,” (as the carpet cleaners are known).  The Oxi Fresh franchise owner is automatically notified as new jobs are booked.

While Oxi Fresh has maintained its Scheduling Center since launching its franchise program in 2006, Barnett and his team are in the process of finalizing a major software and system upgrade that provides Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning® owners access to their schedule 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The schedules are updated in real time and can be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection.

For more information on the Oxi Fresh franchise opportunity, visit the Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning website.

Why Franchises Fail & What to Do About It Part 2

Experts agree: franchise failure is often the result of improper screening and qualification of franchisee candidates.

In Why Franchises Fail & What to Do About It Part 1, I posted a disturbing ode to franchise failure I discovered on Twitter.

The author, a print shop franchise owner named Jenny, posted 5 total Tweets.  In the first four Tweets, she revealed that she spends her days passively waiting for customers, gazing out the window, playing on the Internet… doing just about everything except marketing or any other activity that might bring her business.

In her last Tweet she angrily blamed her franchisor for her lack of success, and referred to her franchise agreement as “a deal with the devil.”

I invited readers and franchise industry experts to share their opinions on a situation that will inevitably lead to conflict and failure for both franchisee and franchisor.

The consensus is that this situation was (unfortunately) not all that uncommon, that the blame is shared by franchisee and franchisor, and that the situation could have been avoided with more honest and thorough due diligence by franchisee Jenny, and with more effective screening, stricter selectivity, better training, support and enforcement by the franchisor.

“We don’t sell franchises.  We Award them.”

Franchisors are fond of saying that they don’t “sell” franchises, they only “award” them to individuals having the attributes needed to be successful with their specific franchise concept.  Obviously, the only success criteria Jenny met was the “fog the mirror” test.

There are few businesses as fiercely competitive as the printing business.  Like other competitive businesses, print shop franchisees better have a penchant for – if not a love of – aggressive sales, marketing and customer engagement.  All of our contributors agree that Jenny is the wrong franchise owner for the challenges ahead.

Joel Libava, owner of Franchise Selection Specialists and author of The Franchise King Blog, writes:

Unreal. to sit in a B2B franchise store, and waaaait for business to come rolling in. Like the franchisor is going to just make that happen..
1. Shame on the franchisor for not digging deep enough, and at least doing some type of sales profiling tool.

2. Shame on the franchisee for not doing her due diligence. (Starting with what her skills are!)

This happens more than folks think.

Joel Semanko, franchisor of the startup franchise Cool Cycles, writes:

…how does someone with this type of attitude even get a franchise? …franchising is a two way street and both parties should want to be on the road!

Some blamed the franchisor for simply selling a franchise to anyone who can meet the financial requirements – and not screening for the personal and professional attributes they know are needed for success.

Franchise consultant Craig Slavin, of Franchise Central, writes:

This is a perfect example of a franchisor engaged in the practice of just selling franchises… this franchisor is simply collecting fees.

…there is no such thing as a good or bad franchisee. There are franchisees that match and those that mismatch with the business model.

Legitimate franchisors are the ones who carefully profile their existing franchisee population and using their own performance metrics create a standard for which all inbound candidates are measured to.

The others are probably going to go away and take many unfortunate people, such as Jenny, with them.

Robert Bilotti, Managing Director at Novita New Employee & Franchise Training agrees, but also adds that Jenny may have simply interviewed well, and that the franchisor lacked the tools to test on a deeper level. writes:

This is more than likely a case of a franchisor simply seeing dollar signs and taking on any franchisee. The only other scenario is that Jenny fooled them all. Similar to when someone is great at interviewing and lands the job, but then performs poorly… Many franchisors wrongly assume franchisees know about sales and marketing or ever that they actually have to (gasp) get out there and sell and not just hang up the ‘open’ sign… A lesson for us all… never assume a franchisee knows anything!

John “Doc Franchise” Wilson, who blogs at The Franchise Doctor’s Office, concurs:

I can see and agree that the franchise company missed something in the selection of this candidate. Craig may very well be right and this particular franchise might be simply sniffing for franchise fees.

But, in my experience it is just as likely that they got a great interview. We have all had one or ten of these kinds of candidates. They feel they are on a job interview and they are really great at giving up the right information…

I urge the franchise consulting firms to truly come up with the right tools to “REALLY” profile their candidates. Many people simply are not, nor should they be at this time in their business development maturity franchisee’s…period! Not just with the wrong franchise…but at all! Find THAT out first and then make sure that the instruments you use don’t merely measure personality type or leadership type but those things that create the foundation for success internally within an individual or organization. This is no small task but… it is doable with all we know and all we can determine in the twenty-first century.

Joe Mathews, founder of Franchise Performance Group and co-author of “Street Smart Franchising” writes:

The franchisor didn’t either properly communicate what it takes or didn’t check in to see what the franchisee thought. This is often what happens when you have a franchisor who “sells franchises” rather than one who carefully screens and educates candidates. The franchisor apparently lacks one or more of three things.

One, a step-by-step recruitment process to educate candidate about the company and opportunity
Two, franchise salespeople who have not been effectively trained as recruiters
Three, poor departmental leadership. No one watching out for the franchisor’s candidates best interest.

This is a highly avoidable lose/lose situation.

Mike Sobol, founder of The Collaboration Lab & blogger at The Big Brain Theory writes:

I believe that the fundamental issue here is one of denial. The franchisor and the franchisee are both guilty of it.

I have zero doubt that there were red flags along the way by both parties. I have zero doubt that SOMEONE at the franchisor questioned signing the candidate and I have zero doubt that the franchisee did hear a thing or two about marketing, and that despite owning the RIGHTS to run a print shop, she knew she had no right to print money. None of that will stop people from being lazy, believing what they want to and regressing to the mean.

While Fred Berni, founder of Dynamic Performance Systems, lays most of the blame on the franchisee’s lack of due diligence and poor judgement, he acknowldeges that franchisors sometimes fail to maintain high selection standards.  He writes:

Yes, the franchisor could have and should have done a better job of selecting. They should never have accepted Jenny as a franchisee. They could have avoided this right at the beginning by stressing the heavy marketing/sales responsibility during the first interview and suggested you talk to other franchisees about what they have to do on a daily basis…

In an ideal world, franchisors would live their words about “awarding” rather than selling franchises, but realistically, many franchise sales people are under a lot of pressure to lower their standards. Whether times are good or bad, many franchisors use a business model that depends on the franchise fee to meet operational expenses. Of course doing so is a very short-sighted approach to selection, but it meets today’s financial needs.

…Bottom line? In this case 90% Jenny’s fault and only 10% the franchisor’s fault.

[Read Fred's full comment]

As unfortunate as the situation is, most agree it was avoidable.  Flo Schell, founder of Franchise Coaching Systems, writes:

There is no question both franchisee and franchisor are suffering in this case, and needlessly so.

Long-term success in franchising is dependent on creating a win-win-win situations between the franchisor, the franchisees and the franchise service providers who serve both.  However, without due diligence and proper qualification prior to engagement, the franchise marriage is doomed to fail.  And like traditional matrimony, when one side fails, all sides fail.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Why Franchises Fail & What to Do About It Part 1

When a franchise location fails, everyone involved loses.   Can most franchise failures be prevented?

Whether you are a franchisor, franchisee, future franchisor or franchisee, or service provider to ‘zors and ‘zees, it’s safe to assume that you want to succeed.

In order to understand and implement the principles of success in franchising, it’s essential to recognize the attitudes and behaviors that so often lead to conflict and, ultimately, failure within franchise systems.

As a 20 year veteran and a daily student of franchising, I’ll share my beliefs and observations on the subjects of franchise successes and failures in this multi-part series – and welcome your thoughts, questions and comments at the end of each blog post.

The inspiration for this series of posts came to me in the form of a short Twitter message by a franchisee named Jenny:

“Never ever get involved in a franchise,” Jenny tweeted this morning, “I have signed a deal with the devil.”

What Satanic franchisor was tormenting this poor woman so? I wondered.

I clicked on Jenny’s message and was transported to her Twitter page. In just five short Twitter entries, Franchisee Jenny had created one of the most compelling, revealing and depressing franchise cautionary tales I have read.

Here is the content of her entire Twitter page with her picture; only her location, identity and franchise name have been obscured:

Name jenny —–

Location ——-

Web —–.com

Bio Run a print and design company in —–. Desperate need of interesting conversation

12:59 PM Mar 10th Sitting in my print shop waiting for a sudden onslaught of customers

12:13 PM Mar 18th looking out of the window watching the world go by

7:29 AM Mar 20th Wondering if there is likely to be any work t do today. Might actually have to attempt some marketing

1:09 PM Mar 23rd I have just spent ages picking my favourite top 5 albums on facebook. Now I have finished and everyone can see, I feel a bit pretentious

7:58 AM Nov 24th Never ever get involved in a franchise I have signed a deal with the devil

Jenny is the poster child for franchise failure.  Despite the fact that she owns a small business in one of the most fiercely competitive segments of the service industry (printing), she seems content to just wait for fate to decide whether her business will succeed or fail.

Instead of posting a photo that shows that she’s an energetic professional eager for your business, Jenny displays herself slumped lazily on her couch.

Instead of making sales calls, attending Chamber of Commerce networking events, or putting on seminars, Jenny prefers to wait in her shop “for a sudden onslaught of customers.”

Instead of dropping by new businesses in town or bringing donuts to customers she hasn’t seen in a while, Franchisee Jenny is “looking out of the window watching the world go by.”

Rather than sending out email blasts, postcard mailings or putting together a webinar, Franchisee Jenny is “spending “ages” picking her favorite albums on FaceBook.

Rather than using Twitter to find and follow hundreds of potential customers in her area, Franchisee Jenny follows 22 “people” that include Neil Diamond, The Ellen Show, John Mayer, Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, Demi Moore, 10 Downing Street & Barack Obama.  She’s built a following of 14 followers consisting of a few spammers plus Britney Spears & 10 Downing Street.

When Jenny’s printing business fails (as it surely will, barring divine inspiration and/or intervention), she will lay the blame entirely upon the terrible economy, her greedy landlord, unforgiving lenders and vendors… and especially on her evil franchisor.

In franchising, success is a team effort.  Unfortunately, so is failure.

You don’t need a crystal ball to see what is going to happen next.  In the printing industry (as in many others), aggressive marketing, efficient operations and diligent customer service are critical for success in the best of times.  In a down economy, they’re a matter of survival.  Printing franchisees who spend their days gazing out the window waiting for an onslaught of customers are not long for this world.

Jenny’s print shop franchise will likely fail.  She will likely lose her investment, her credit rating and perhaps her home.  The lenders will end up with a defaulted loan, the landlord with an empty space and no rent monthly check, and the vendors with more used, repossessed equipment in their warehouse.

The franchisor will lose the future royalties due from the now-bankrupt Jenny;  they’ll lose her store’s contributions to the advertising fund and the system’s buying power, and their reputation will be damaged in that market.  In time, they may resell the territory to a new franchisee, but every franchise failure is a black mark on their record, one that must be disclosed to future potential franchisees.

Fingerpointing, hard feelings and, possibly, litigation will follow.  Franchisee Jenny will blame the franchisor for making unrealistic promises, not providing enough support and, in short, not making her successful.  The franchisor will blame Jenny for not following the system, not promoting her franchise and, in short, not taking responsibility for her own success.

Both, probably, will be right.

Simply blaming Jenny for her lack of motivation, accountability and sales & marketing acumen is easy but short-sighted.  Many critical questions remain:

How did someone as ill-suited to be a printshop owner as Franchisee Jenny end up in this situation?

Could the franchisor have anticipated this result with a better franchisee screening and selection process?

Could the franchisor have reoriented Franchisee Jenny with a better marketing and sales training program and requirements?

How did Franchisee Jenny get the idea that fate – not her own hard work – would provide an onslaught of customers?

Could the franchisor have mandated sales and marketing programs that Franchisee Jenny would be required to follow?

What else could have been done to prevent this situation – or can now be done to keep it from becoming worse?

Also read: Why Franchises Fail & What to Do About It Part 2

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

RICKY’S CANDY, CONES & CHAOS FRANCHISE

This post was originally published in July, 2009 on Franchise Pick, and was updated November 11, 2009.

Franchisee reports that one of the more colorful franchise concepts of recent years, Ricky’s Candy, Cones & Chaos, may have been more aptly named Ricky’s Chaos, Lawsuits & Bankruptcy.

We’ve been following and documenting the unfortunate decline of this once-promising concept in a series of posts, supplemented with commentary from Ricky’s franchise owners, ex-franchise owners, employees and corporate executives.  Read them here:

RICKY’S CANDY: Message from Donald William Cheng

RICKY’S CANDY, CONES & CHAOS: Summit, NJ Store to Close

RICKY’S: Princeton, NJ Store Eviction Notice

RICKY’S CANDY: Why’d the Princeton Store Close?

The website of the Willy Wonka-esque concept, started by former FAO Schwartz exec Rick Barber, articulates the dream:

Ricky’s Candy, Cones and Chaos® is the ultimate ice cream and candy experience for customers—and a franchise opportunity for you!

It includes thousands of bulk candy choices; a delicious super-premium ice cream you make in the store; candy novelties and other great gifts; and a color-filled party room terrific for kids’ birthdays.

These three business centers—candy, cones and ‘chaos’—provide an all-season business opportunity for the dedicated franchisee.

A July 9, 2009 post we made stated that of the 18 locations that had been listed on the company website in recent years, only 5 remain in operation as Ricky’s stores.  In fact, 2 of the locations currently listed as open on the corporate site were, in fact, closed.

As of November, 2009, only two of the 18 stores remain open:  Red Bank, NJ & Staten Island, N.Y.

Additional woes for the sweet concept gone sour include a group action lawsuit filed by franchisees last year, and a franchisor bankruptcy filing that was allegedly rejected.

Comments to the original post:

July 19, 2009 at 7:16 am Donald William Cheng wrote:

Rickys Candy Cones and Chaos is now run by Mr. Donald William Cheng as of May, 2009. The Princeton store is undergoing a restructuring and is out of bankruptcy. New changes are being effected to combat the changes in the business environment. The current economy has impacted the retail sector much more heavily than others.

The Ricky’s candy, cones and chaos model was heavily dependent on a robust economy where parents splurge on their children and friends. However, as the economy worsened, more people became budget conscious and retailers have to react by providing better value and Rickys did not adjust fast enough.

New management and marketing have been brought in to ensure that future partners and franchisees will be able to sustain a dip in the economy by providing long term financing and stronger financial management and brand management

October 29, 2009 at 11:54 am  Former Store Owner says:

http://summit.patch.com/articles/downtown-candy-store-to-close

Ricky’s Candy, Cones & Chaos will be closing its doors in November due to a raise in rent after seven years on Springfield Avenue.

“We just can’t afford to stay here,” said Donna Dill, the manager of the store.

Dill said that business has been slow for a while, and at the time of the interview no other patrons were shopping in the store.

Dill mentioned that the economy could be a reason why many stores in the Summit area are closing up shop or moving to different locations.

“The economy’s not that great,” she said. “I see so many vacancy signs, it makes me sad.”

Ricky’s will be closing by the end of next month, although there is not a specific date at this time.

At the last count by Summit Downtown Inc. in August, there were about 20 vacant storefronts, Tony Melchionna said. At that time it was the most he said he’d ever seen in downtown Summit.

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Photo: Taken May 12, 2006 by roboppy , license: Creative Commons location: Ricky’s Candy, Cones & Chaos store, Ridgewood, NJ (closed)

Creative Tutors

Home-based tutoring franchise for experienced educators.
Franchise Name: Creative Tutors
CEO/Founder: Jan Van Blarcum, CEO  (Interview)
Website links:  Creative Tutors,   Timmy’s Tutor Blog
Comments:  Creative Tutors FanWall
Corp. Name: Creative Tutors 4 Kids International, Inc.
Year Founded: 1999
Year Franchised: 2004
Number of units, company: 1
Number of units, franchised: 12
Initial investment: $30,000 – 80,000
Minimum Net worth:  $150,000
Home-based Business?: YES
Priority Markets for Expansion: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming

Contact information for franchise program:
Jan W. Van Blarcum, Ph.D.
Founder, Creative Tutors
214-282-6268
janvb@creativetutors.com

Description:  Creative Tutors franchisees operate a home-based educational tutoring business serving students from grades PK-12. Creative Tutors franchisees enjoy training and support systems and an Internet-based reporting and accounting system that enables them to concentrate on marketing their services and building their businesses in their protected territories.

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