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Anyone with an interest in the history of franchising, and for history in general, will take great interest in a new book that charts out the spread of one of the most popular restaurant chains in the American frontier.

Appetite for America by Stephen Fried traces the history of Harvey’s restaurants, which was at its time, the biggest name in American eating. The restaurant chain was founded by Fred Harvey, a brilliant entrepreneur who sensed the westward development of America and realized that all of these hungry travelers chasing their fortune in the American West would get quite hungry along the way. Harvey’s genius was to open restaurants near all of the popular train stops around the turn of the twentieth century.

As the Wall Street Journal writes in a recent review: “It was this ambition—to serve not just fast food but the best possible fast food—that would mark his true contribution to American business. Before there were four-star hotels or restaurants, he set out to create a brand that delivered the goods quickly without cutting corners on quality.”

It’s hard to appreciate now, but Harvey faced incredible challenges getting his fresh food to out-of-the-way restaurants. But he managed to build a small empire, and a Harvey chain of hotels and bookstores were soon to follow. I think of Harvey as a proto-franchisor. He saw the value of a national brand way back in the era of the telegraph. He built a centralized business up from scratch and he has a lot to teach today’s entrepreneurs. As the car grew in popularity, America fell out of love with rail travel and the sun set on the Harvey empire. Regardless, he was a giant in business that laid the ground work for today’s big international franchises.

You can read an excerpt from the book here.

It’s been nearly a year since Franchise Direct published its report on the automotive industry. After assessing the FDDs of 30 franchises, we found the automotive aftermarket thriving in the wake of the crisis in Detroit.

Those looking for a glimpse into how that franchise market is holding up should check out this recent video interview that CNBC did with Ken Walker, CEO of Driven Brands, owners of Maaco, Meineke and many, many other automotive franchises. Speaking live from Charlotte, NC, Ken touches on many topical subjects, including the state of both the economy and the auto franchise sector.

Mr Walker says the biggest challenge for his businesses is “finding credit capabilities.” Driven Brands franchises, like so many other small businesses, are struggling to find financial assistance from banks and lenders.

He provides a stark view of the funding landscape: “In a typical year,” Ken says, “I’ll open 70 stores between the brands and about 60 of those will be SBA-financed. This year, I think we had about four.”

The US economic crisis has been good for the automotive market because it’s coincided with problems in Detroit. Ken does say that he finds the level of unemployment worrying, saying that if there’s a 5% drop in employment, that means a 5% drop in people driving to work. All in all though, he admits his companies have thrived as Ford and GM have suffered.

“The candid truth is it helps us. We took a second step and said if there’s gonna be additional closings… we said we’ll make lemonade out of lemons and went after those folks… We think we’ll have 50 of them before it’s all over with.”

Interestingly, it is not only macroeconomic factors that determine the profits of Driven Brands. Ken says that bad weather in particular can mean big business. And anyone doubting the profitability of the franchise industry should take his following comment on board:

“The last three weeks have been the best in the company’s history,” Ken said.

For franchisees at the coal-face of business, every public meeting is an opportunity to form a new relationship and make a new customer. So maximizing visibility at these public events is essential for franchisees. Luckily, a leading e-mail marketing expert has outlined some steps that every franchisee can take to get more people to your events.

Kevin O’Brien of Constant Contacts, an email marketing firm, has written a thorough article for Franchising Times that outlines the many different cost-efficient steps that franchisees and entrepreneurs should take in managing event marketing. Event marketing isn’t the most pressing concern for some franchisees, but one can never have too many customers. As Kevin writes, “there are a number of affordable, Web-based tools available to help bring the event marketing effort together in a single browser window. These tools allow event home pages to be built, invitations to be sent, registrations to be collected and tracked, and payments to be processed. All of this cuts down on the time needed to produce a successful event and helps with logistical and other planning efforts.”

Kevin outlines the following nine steps for launching your marketing event.

• Mark the calendar
• Send an invitation.
• Create word-of-mouth marketing
• Get an RSVP and/or payment.
• Create an event homepage.
• Send reminders.
• Post-event communications.
• Seek feedback.
• Follow-up with unhappy attendees

While some franchisees benefit from the advertising budget of a much larger franchise operation, other franchisees are under constant pressure to reach new customers and clients. Kevin’s tips will come in handy when you hold that next marketing event for your own business.

Yesterday, we discussed some of the differences that erupt between franchisors and franchisees and how to go about solving them. We’d like to extend this topic for one more day by focusing on a rare man in franchising: someone who has experienced life on both sides of the franchise divide.

Meet David Karam. He is the president of Wendy’s, but he’s also one of the company’s largest franchisees. If there’s anyone who understands the stresses and pressures of being a franchisee and franchisor, it’s David. And we found this interview with him in Chain Leader magazine quite illuminating.

Karam discusses his own experience with Wendy’s as well as some of things that both franchisees and franchisors should do to make their business run better. Here’s a sample of the interview:

Since you bring them up, what conflicts loom between you, now president of the company, and Wendy’s franchisees?

Honestly, I don’t see any conflict. Franchisees have a long-term perspective. Their investment is illiquid. It’s not just their net worth at stake, but their life work. Wendy’s has tried to avoid [signing] financial engineers as franchisees. Historically, we’ve typically nurtured operators. If you have that long-term perspective and you are also given the opportunity to steward the brand, I don’t understand or see the conflict.

For the sake of argument, let’s say the board wants to increase the royalty by a half of a percent. Where would you stand?

If there came a point where I felt I was being directed or asked to embrace a policy I couldn’t support, I would not do a disservice to the board by trying to play the middle ground. I would be clear in my perspective on what’s best for the business in the long run.

Yet you bring a different perspective from that of a professional manager.It is different, in part because I am more entrepreneurial. What you see in a lot of people who have only worked in large corporations is they oftentimes are missing that entrepreneurial ingredient that understands risk and reward. When you understand that and are disciplined in the way you make decisions, it binds that relationship between franchisor and franchisee even more tightly. Trust me, it doesn’t mean we aren’t tackling issues that some franchisees are opposed to, at least at some level, whether that’s value, reinvestment, breakfast advertising or raising operational standards. These are often lightning-rod issues.

It’s easy for franchisors and franchisees to find business advice in magazines or on the internet. It’s the good advice that can make or save a business that’s truly hard to come by.

Dennis Monroe, a partner in Krass Monroe, PA, a Minneapolis law-firm that specializes in multi-unit franchise finance, mergers and acquisitions, and taxation, has an insightful column in March’s edition of Franchise Times magazine. Monroe writes candidly about the testy nature of the franchisor-franchisee relationship. For the sake of both parties, Monroe urges that both sides have a very clear understanding of where the franchise is going so that no one is under any illusions when there are bumps on the road.

Dennis’s first two sentences are interesting:

“In today’s fluid and volatile franchise world, it is imperative that a franchise system knows itself and where it’s going. As I have discovered in my representation of many franchisors and franchisees, it is a rare franchisor that has a good understanding of its franchisees’ financial positions.”

Now Dennis goes on to outline why the situation is like this. But his real interest in writing this column is to highlight the steps franchisors and franchisees can take together to make daily business function smoothly. The better both sides understand each other, the better off everyone will be in the end.

He goes on to outline six areas that franchisors and franchisees can focus on to improve transparency:

• Balance Sheet
• Franchisee Questionnaire
• Corporate Structure
• Lenders
• Landlords Positions
• Supplier and current accounts payables

We urge both franchisors and franchisees to read the article. Following Dennis’s advice can only help to make a franchise run better.