Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2012 | Page 60

“ THAT your back office people have to be really sharp,” he says. A strong, efficient infrastructure is the only way to keep up, but that has a price, he says. “It’s not as synergistic as you may think, which is why I mention the business case. Now you need a better person in your office to manage the complexity.” That usually means paying them more, as well as more costly software and accounting systems. “I would ask people not to build in cost savings with multiple brands,” he says, calling rosy predictions of largescale efficiencies “phantom.” His G&A, he says, has been essentially the same as he adds and sheds brands. “I think the synergy argument is not a good enough reason to go into multi-branding,” he says. However, it does have one huge benefit. “I like the diversification angle. It helped me in the recession with different price points, and not all geographies went in and out at the same time.” Finally, he says, “I see some people go into multi-branding who had a lot more runway with the brand they had, so instead of expanding with that brand they decided to add another.” Before exploring which bran