Sponsored Section: Hot New Franchise Opportunities
Franchisors and franchisees alike have found great success following their passions, their entrepreneurial spirits, and their instincts in building their businesses. Here we share the stories of a handful of standouts, whose experiences offer inspiration and advice to those entrepreneurs interested in pursuing franchising.
Each year countless entrepreneurs contemplate launching new franchise opportunities that they hope will become the next hot business. But how many are really new? More importantly, how many have the potential to become the next big thing?
Franchise consultant Michael Seid says that the uniqueness of a concept by itself is not the best way to assess the promise of a franchise opportunity. "What we're looking for today are things that meet market needs," says Seid.
Demographics drives two market needs Seid sees as ripe for new business opportunities. The first is our aging population. This creates openings for a variety of services tailored to meet the health and other needs of a mushrooming population of senior citizens. A second trend concerns the needs surrounding the proliferation of two-earner families that require assistance with the education, entertainment, and care of children.
To fulfill its promise as a future business star, a concept also needs infrastructure. That means a management team with the talent and experience to grow it, the standardized systems that will enable franchisees to emulate the success of others, and the capital to fund continued development of management, systems, and product offerings. Not many new franchise systems have that combination. Here are nine that might.
Pizza Fusion
Vaughan Lazar didn't invent pizza, but the president and co-founder of Fort Lauderdale-based Pizza Fusion is certainly a pioneer in environmentally friendly dining. Lazar's concept features buildings built to sustainable construction standards, hybrid company cars, mostly organic food ingredients, and numerous other sustainable characteristics--right down to sourcing foods locally whenever possible.
Sustainable restaurants clearly aren't simple, but Lazar cooks Pizza Fusion's appeal down to a simple statement: "We serve organic food in a fast-food setting," he says. "That really sets us apart." The combination of appealing to diners' desire for both healthy food and quick service helped propel Pizza Fusion to 22 locations in only two years of franchising --a remarkable feat in the hyper-competitive pizza business.
Today, Lazar is focusing on building Pizza Fusion's management team and recruiting experienced master franchise operators who can provide individual franchisees with the support they'll need to prosper. The company is expanding into airports and Lazar hopes to have from 150 to 200 units within three years. "Business is good," he says. "We're still growing."
GUAVA Senior Home and Healthcare Services
Mary S. Schreiber, PhD, founder of GUAVA Senior Home and Healthcare Services, and GUAVA Franchising, has paired a fresh new conceptwithherGUAVA Building Block Healthcare System for healthcare planners preparing to meet the growing needs of Baby Boomers caring for aging parents as well as their own children. Caring for her father after a heart operation, Schreiber realized there was a need for home-based personal healthcare services for seniors. "Finding the personalized, individualized attention when a family member was unable to be there for my father was very difficult," she says. Using her entrepreneurial skills, Schreiber researched the industry and launched GUAVA in 2006.
In January 2009, the Hockessin, DE-based company began franchising the GUAVA concept, using a unique approach that helped franchisees build their revenues from home-based nonmedical care providers all the way through operating medical in-home care agencies to staffing. According to Schreiber, this provides many lucrative revenue streams in serving pediatric togeriatric clients."Wegive you thetoolsto putteams in place and to build your business one step at a time," she says.
Schreiber counts the carefully chosen name among the company's assets."I wanted a fun appeal, a fresh approach that communicated that growing old is one of the best parts of our lives, so enjoy!"she says.Among other providers bearing labels evoking comfort and caring,GUAVA stands out as memorable, she says. Calls to potential referral sources often feature complementary guava juice and guava slices and the odd-sounding name services as a reliable conversation-starter. "I wanted our company to be very different,"she says."Our name is a fabulous marketing device."
Zamba Chicken
Zamba Chicken is such a new concept that its first franchised location has yet to open. Yet, with franchising veteran John Gennaro as founder and president, plus an intriguing approach to casual dining, its promise is clear. Zamba's menus focuses on barbecued chicken, ribs and burgers prepared in a style that fuses American, European, and Latin American flavors. Everything is flame-grilled, prepared to order. "There are no microwaves and no precooking," says Gennaro. "It's real food."
The Clark, NJ, entrepreneur previously started and grew a nationwide fitness chain and today is looking for master franchisees to help develop the New York, New Jersey and Florida territories. He got interested in starting Zamba because he saw a lack of places serving the kind of high-quality, carefully prepared food he ate in an easygoing, convenient atmosphere.
The first units of Zamba were built with eventual franchising in mind, and have the feel and function of units in a well thought-out system. Gennaro feels he already has in place what it will take to grow Zamba nationally, especially the all-important products. "It's all about the food. My biggest difference is the quality and type of food that I'm selling," he says. "It's real food, served in a fast, casual way."
Kidville
Kidville addresses the trend of an increasing need for the care and education of children. Andy Stenzler co-founded the New York City-based company in 2005 to give parents an alternative to driving pre-kindergarteners all over town to attend different lessons. "We set out to create a place that had all kinds of classes under one roof and also would have additional services, and also we pride ourselves on the facilities being clean, safe, and secure," says Stenzler.
