Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2015 | Page 55

FUND-AMENTAL CHANGE? Franchisees also should take note of the power of collaboration. This endeavor is essentially an exercise in demonstrating the power of collaboration. When franchisees get together and pool our resources, it allows us to do far more than any one of us could have done individually—because we have a resource which, in franchising, is more powerful than funding: we are operators. There are just so many tracks this endeavor tries to address: the sophistication of franchisees, the recognition of their financial power, how franchisees can rise to the next level, the inequities in franchising between risk-adjusted franchisor and franchisee returns, the growing inequities in franchising in terms of the relationship, the franchise agreement, it goes on and on. It sounds like we’re trying to take a stab at all of these issues through just one structure. We’ll see how far we get, but I’m very optimistic, and most of the people I talk with feel this is a really important first “This fund is owned by franchisees, and we’re buying brands we believe in.” step and will lead to, hopefully, many other steps by many other people that will continue this work. How do you think this will affect the future of franchising? People who are familiar with what I’m doing say this represents a significant innovation in franchising and a turning point in the growth of franchisees. When people come up to me and say, “This is going to change the face of franchising,” I don’t take that stuff lightly. This is going to change the future of franchising because it’s going to be the equalizer, rebalancing the scales between franchisors and franchisees. It’s going to make franchisees stakeholders in the franchisor in real terms, not in lip service. This represents major innovation in that it allows sophisticated franchisees access to “the other side of the trade,” that is, being able to participate in franchisor ownership, in the royalty collection part of the business. Number two, we have a fund now that, potentially, will provide that Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. It will not guarantee anything, but will say that, for at least the brands we buy, they have been vetted by other franchisees. We didn’t buy a brand because it was a way to make money at the expense of the franchisees. This fund is owned by franchisees, and we’re buying brands we believe in. And as I mentioned, a lot of our limited partners will be developers of many of the brands we buy. So that’s a huge innovation as well. This is really a big game-changer—and should have been done a long time ago. WE DID fresh & tasty LONG BEFORE IT WAS TRENDY. Franchises Available in Key Markets. Contact Perkins® today: [email protected] 1-800-877-7375 www.perkinsrestaurants.com/ franchise-opportunity This advertisement is not an offer to sell a franchise. © 2015 Perkins & Marie Callender’s, LLC MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S U E I, 2015 muf1_azziz(48-50,52-53).indd 53 53 1/15/15 2:48 PM