Franchise Focus Business News…

Recently, I spotted this article in the Irish Times on food franchise giant – McDonald’s. We’ve known for quite a while how diverse the Golden Arches franchise are when it comes to their international operations and also how dynamic they can be in terms of adapting their menus for different cultural traditions and customs, and for their increasing awareness of healthy eating. So news that McDonald’s in Ireland are to completely revamp all 82 McDonald’s outlets across Ireland in the coming months, in order to incorporate their new healthier image came as no surprise.

Following controversy and negative media which resulted from a series of productions such as the SuperSize Me movie and the book - FastFood Nation, McDonald’s overhauled their image and menus. This has led to a number of other food franchises following suit including Domino’s Pizza, Subway and KFC. This hasn’t protected them from receiving criticism however. Michelin Star chef Anthony Bourdain has called McDonald’s “The Evil Empire” and has taken drastic measures to discourage his two and a half year old daughter against the franchise by demonising Ronald McDonald and is also threatening to “dip something decidedly unpleasant in an enticing chocolate coating and wrap it carefully in McDonald’s paper”, leaving this somewhere he knows his unsuspecting daughter will find it so that she can experience “an early, traumatic, Ronald-related experience [which] can only be good for her.” The first time I heard about Bourdain was when my brother, a chef, gave me his copy of Bourdain’s autobiography Kitchen Confidential to read. So yesterday when I saw Bourdain’s comments, I immediately contacted my sibling chef via SMS who replied “K*&b end. Can’t beat the occasional big mac. Been known to slip one past the lips”. He later went on to cook for 50 people on a fancy yacht in Sydney Harbour, but refrained from serving them Big Macs.

So, is it the view of all food snobs that if food is “mass produced” then it is therefore completely unworthy of consumption? In saying that, McDonald’s meat is 100% Irish which is saying a lot more than other burger outlets in Ireland. I would never suggest that a trip to your local franchise restaurant is anything like a trip to Maxim’s, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be an example of bad eating.

Some foodies seem to believe that franchises eliminate the creativity involved in creating food and lack the diversity that a stand alone restaurant can offer, as they change menus every week in some cases while franchises tend to stick to the same menu for a longer length of time with no deviation. However, a lot of franchises adapt their menus for new markets and often source food locally and only what is in season. My fellow franchise blogger Donny recently visited India and commented that McDonald’s, after issues with the cooking of fries in beef fat caused riots outside their outlets, have become quite culturally sensitive and feature a varied menu with no pork or beef to respect religious beliefs.

I think perhaps education and moderation is key, too much of something is never good and I’m pretty sure that even McDonald’s and Domino’s wouldn’t recommend eating their products every day.  Enjoyed as a treat every now and then, food franchises offer lots of families across the UK the opportunity to eat out as a family and to eat from a relatively healthy and low cost menu.

In comparison, it’s a well known fact that a significant number of gourmet chefs add unknown amounts of butter and salt to their food to add to the flavour, except you don’t know how much because that information is not freely available in restaurants, yet it is with an increasingly amount of franchises. Visit the website of most of the leading food franchises, and I bet you will find details of the nutritional information for their products, Subway in particular have been very proactive with this freedom of information tactic. Domino’s recently carried out focus groups in the US and used the feedback to redevelop their recipes, see the video below to see the redevelopment in action:

An Entrepreneurial Dream

Who had ever heard of a vuvuzela before last week? Now it seems to be all that we can hear, even the players on the pitches during World Cup 2010 can’t hear each other plot their attack because of the almighty roar of the vuvuzela and when you look into the crowd there are vuvuzelas dotted everywhere – so where did they all come from? Someone somewhere has got to be making lots of money from the sale of the vuvuzela!

Today, the UK Premier League announced it would not be enforcing a ban on the vuvuzela during matches in the UK venues which means the instrument could very well be here to stay. Even though some have voiced concerns over the effect the instrument can have on hearing and others have complained of the nuisance it causes for players and referees, there are a number of entrepreneurs who are definitely very thankful and not in the least annoyed by the presence of South Africa’s most famous musical instrument.

Since the 2009 Confederations Cup which was also held in South Africa, the vuvuzela has grown in popularity as a supporters call at matches. The Times Live writes:

“The ubiquitous plastic trumpet, embraced as an emblem of the World Cup by South Africans and visitors alike, sells for between R20 for a simple Chinese import and R60 for a more contoured instrument, produced locally. ”Our vuvuzelas have the purest sound and they are the easiest to blow. A two-year-old could play it,” said Cape Town-based Neil van Schalkwyk, who claims he developed the vuvuzela seven years ago. Sales have grown from 500 a month to 50,000.”

That’s a pretty impressive increase in sales, even with the influx of the World Cup spectators. The sale of vuvuzelas has really been a retailer’s dream, with more and more producers creating merchandising options for teams and businesses to emblazon their logo or crest on to a suitably coloured vuvuzela – wouldn’t we just love a nice blue one with the Franchise Direct logo along the side!! Merchandising is something which can really boost brand prominence and is a great way to get your name out there. Emblazoning a business’ name onto a vuvuzela won’t necessarily help if they’re being handed out at a dignified business conference – unless you think the clients would be into “that kind of thing”, however personalised pens, sticky notepads and other office stationery can often be a welcome gift for clients and will mean that a business’ name stays on their desk all day long…each time they go to write a sticky note, the business name can be what they see on the top of the page!

So if you think you may like to sell personalised vuvuzelas, or maybe just settle for personalised pens, take a closer look at some merchandising franchise opportunities available on the UK market today. Here’s a video on how to play a vuvuzela - maybe turn the speakers down!

As you may or may not already know, Franchise Direct does not just advertise franchise opportunities in the UK , we also operate 7 other multilingual sites (look up to the top right of the page….there they all are!). To really grow our US site, we recently opened up a US office in Atlanta, Georgia and as part of the opening of the office; online news channel Global Atlanta interviewed the founder of Franchise Direct, Sean McGarry.

The interview below is very interesting for any of you who have ever wondered how the franchise recruitment process works and about the current atmosphere in the franchise industry.

If you are a franchisor looking to expand your franchise into the US, then click here to contact our sales team. Or if you are looking to start your own business in the US, then we may be able to help! Explore our directory of the freshest US franchise and business opportunities available today.