MULTI-UNIT
EDITOR’S
NOTE
Buyer’s Guide
Multi-Unit Partners
Franchisors and multi-unit franchisees team up for growth
M
ulti-unit franchisees dominate
today’s marketplace, controlling more total units than their
single-unit counterparts—and an increasing number are operating multiple brands.
This steady shift over the past
decade led Franchise Update Media Group
in 2004 to debut a new magazine—MultiUnit Franchisee—to serve the growing
generation of multi-unit operators, hungry
for information to help them expand both
their number of units and their number
of brands.
The first issue of the new magazine featured multi-brand franchisee
John Prince, a former stockbroker whose
franchise holdings then included
Applebee’s, Aaron’s, Famous Dave’s, and
a Hooters (in Salt Lake City, no less!).
We also featured Jim Gendreau, who in
1981 sold 70 franchises in 9 months for
Cost Cutters, and then became a serial
franchisee for several brands, including
operating 54 Cost Cutters of his own. We
also told the story of Tom Larson, who had
20 lodging and restaurant units spread
among 7 brands. We led the story with this:
“Besides size, what ma