Incentives for Restaurant Franchise Owners

From The Wall Street Journal: Restaurant operators are using incentives to encourage their franchisees to keep growing, despite the struggling economy.

Companies such as Papa John's International Inc. and Denny's Corp. are establishing lending programs, cutting back royalty fees and assisting their franchisees in other ways to push growth in new markets and help those in challenged ones, even if it hurts the company's earnings in the short term.

Restaurant operators are using incentives to encourage their franchisees to keep growing, despite the struggling economy.

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2012 Outlook Brighter After Tough Year

From The Wall Street Journal: The number of U.S. franchises declined for the third consecutive year, falling by a modest 0.6% in 2011, according to a new report commissioned by the International Franchise Association.

"There was a greater contraction in the number of businesses than we anticipated," said Steve Caldeira, president of the IFA, the franchising industry's largest trade group.

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Need a Job, Veterans? Own a Franchise!

From The Street: President Barack Obama declared last month that the remaining military troops in Iraq would come home by the end of the year, a relief for thousands of families.

But this means that the number of unemployed veterans is about to get bigger.

Like young entrepreneurs, military vets are a sector in the job pool that has staggeringly high unemployment rates.

The post-9/11 veteran unemployment rate is at 12%, according to the International Franchise Association. (Veterans under 25 have it even worse; unemployment rates hover near 22%).

It is this alarming number that has Obama urging the private sector to extend jobs to vets. Along with other measures (for instance, the Senate approved legislation Thursday to incentivize businesses to hire veterans and "wounded warriors" by offering tax credits), one area where veterans can feel confident they'll find jobs is in the franchise community.

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Franchisors Offer Franchisee Financing

From Nu Wire Investor It used to be that prospective franchisees positioned to start a franchise business would secure financing from a bank, but more of these people are finding banks unwilling to lend to them.

This is putting the squeeze on parent companies and now some of them are creating lending opportunities for interested investors by partnering with banks to guarantee against losses or other otherwise secure funding.

Some of these franchises include Marco’s Pizza, Weed Man, Fastsigns and the UPS Store.

Critics argue this could create conflict between franchisors and franchisees, but options remain limited in the struggling U.S. economy. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet.

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The Food Franchise Sector is Recovering

From Yahoo News: A recent survey of nearly 2,000 food franchise owners indicates that many food franchises are making a big comeback in the recovering economy,

while some brands have nothing to “come back” from, according to a report released today by Franchise Business Review.

Franchise Business Review’s new report, Food Franchises 2011, looks at an array of franchise concepts within the food sector to assess the franchise investment opportunity.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,800 franchisees from the food sector—representing more than 75 brands—to name Franchise Business Review’s Top 30Food Franchises for 2011.

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