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Detroit’s problems in the last decade or so have been well-documented. The once-proud home of America’s automotive industry has been gutted in recent years and competes with the likes of Newark for the ranking of the ‘worst city in the US’.

Despite Detroit’s problems, the story of its death is also the story of the revival of the US city. There are many people working on the grassroots in Detroit right now to revive the city’s economic future. Its current financial woes mean that enterprising people have the freedom to launch exciting and bold ventures at a greatly discounted price. And, not surprisingly, franchising is there on the ground in Detroit and thriving.

The Detroit Free-Press ran an exciting and long story this week on franchising in the Motor City. Buoyed by extremely low rents, franchisors are now looking to invest in the building of the new Detroit.

Even though credit is still tight, local commercial real estate brokers say there are active franchise operations and retailers looking for prime sites in metro Detroit, including Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, T-Mobile and Del Taco. There are 28,139 franchise businesses in Michigan, the International Franchise Association reports.

Interrestingly, the problems in Detroit have helped franchises already, primarily in the automotive sector. This is different though. American cities have been undergoing huge changes in the past two decades, with many big cities like Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Detroit losing their industries and populations. But with signs appearing that people are moving back to the city, franchises are taking advantage of the need for business activity in these spaces, and in turn, spurring on the regrowth of the US city. Hopefully, this will spread across the entire economy.

“There are fewer employment options,” Mark Cory, franchise consultant, told the Free Press. “And maybe, to a lesser degree, there’s a sense that this is a good time to start a business because we have hit rock bottom and are starting to come out of it now.”

It’s a fascinating idea: a franchise giveaway.

Back in December, we blogged about TCBY’s plan to give away one franchise. Essentially, over the last six months, Americans have had a chance to make their case for why they deserved a free frozen yogurt franchise. Our reaction was as follows: great from a marketing perspective, less so from a business perspective. Giving away a franchise seemed to slightly demean the very hard work of getting a franchise off the ground. Well, seeing that the semifinalists have recently been chosen, we thought we would check in on how ‘The Great TCBY Store Giveaway’ is going.

So far, so good, actually. On the ‘Giveaway’ website, you can now watch the video applications of the ten semifinalists. You’ll find it’s a diverse group of businesspeople, broadly covering most of the country. If you provide your email address, you can even vote for the person you think is most deserving of the franchise. Also, it’s incredibly easy to share the videos on Facebook and Twitter.

And as a quick Google News check reveals, this contest has made for extremely useful content for old media as well, as a number of papers have profiled these new local celebrities.

Voters have until May 10 to vote for the video they like the best.

In terms of generating organic publicity for the company, it’s clear that the campaign has been a success. Also, and most importantly, they’ve attracted quite a polished group of contenders, between people who’ve inquired about opening a TCBY franchise in the past and genuine TCBY lovers.

I’m interested in how other franchisors have responded to this campaign. Seeing the pool of potential franchisees that TCBY has generated, would you take on the risks of giving away a franchise and eating a franchisee fee for this kind of grassroots marketing?

The winner will be notified on May 25.

What does a franchisee really want? It’s the eternal question for franchisors. Thankfully for everyone in the franchising industry, someone has done the simple thing and gone ahead and asked the franchisees themselves.

Franchise Times magazine and PR firm Campbell Communications have been conducting a survey of food franchisees over the past few months. Information like this is invaluable for franchisors who are figuring out certain demands of their franchisees, such as what it will take for them to open a second or third unit.

The full study is set to be published around May. Below we’re reprinting some summarized preliminary findings. Franchisors will be interested specifically in some of the findings about Discovery Days and funding.

• Multi-unit franchisees aren’t willing to sit out the present recession.
• Factors considered more important include visibility of the brand and the sales of stores in the area, which were No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
• These franchisees found that the best sources of information on franchise opportunities included friends in the industry, business and trade publications and Web sites.
• When it comes to closing the deal, the most important factor was being able to contact existing franchisees, according to 54 percent of respondents.
• Respondents considered Discovery Days or the time it took from signing to the store opening its doors as much less important than other factors.
• Almost half of the respondents said their franchisors didn’t offer either financing or help arranging financing, but they wished the franchisor would step up and help.

We eagerly look forward to the publication of the whole study. Food franchisees also have time to participate if they are interested.

Does the input of your fellow entrepreneur matter to you very much? For some, sitting in conferences and listening to Powerpoint presentations is just a distraction from the real work of running a successful small business. But for others, the input of another franchise owner can be of great value.

This might partly explain the rise of recent the business group. The advantages of this trend were laid out in a recent article on the New York Times You’re The Boss blog. Jay Goltz, the post’s author, knows a thing or two about running a small business, as he’s the owner of 5 businesses in the Chicago area. He blogs that business groups, while involving a serious invesment and money and providing a ‘mixed track record’ of results, can provide the entrepreneur with a great range of rewards.

The business groups that Goltz’s refers to provide “a forum for noncompeting businesses to share experiences and compare notes”. Obviously, these business groups will connect entrepreneurs directly with other like-minded business owners. But often times, it’s not the operational similarities that will prove enlightening, it’s the differences.

“Sometimes what you can get from a group is not advice or a lesson. It might be an observation, a different perspective, or just a better understanding. Here’s an example: In all four of the groups I’ve joined, I’ve been the only retailer. I’m not sure why. Maybe most retailers are too small, maybe they don’t want to spend the time or money, or maybe no one is calling them to join. As I was exposed to the inner workings of other businesses, I came to realize that while we did have things in common, there were some stark differences.”

If you’re looking to get closer to the small business community around you, this guide of upcoming events will from Small Biz Trends is quite helpful. Beyond that, you’ll find all of the relevant dates on the national and international franchise calendar at the Franchise Direct Expo Guide.

Earlier this week, we were discussing the role food franchises might play in spurring on the national economic recovery. Well, there’s more good news for those charting the state of the QSR sector as NexCen, a big franchisor, has announced that it has moved on from its recent financial problems.

NexCen, who own the likes of Great American Cookies, Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream & Treatery, Marble Slab Treatery, Pretzel Time and Pretzelmaker, has literally returned from the brink. After a disastrous 2008, where the franchisor lost $38million in one quarter, NexCen, thanks to the guidance of CFO Kenneth Hall, has clawed its way back.

“I think we’ve proven operationally we’re back on track,” Hall told QSR Web, and added that the company had improved its income at “an adjusted basis 175 percent over the prior year.”

NexCen have been trying to evolve the multi-brand franchise model that companies like Yum! Brands have patented. Readers of this blog will be interested to see that international franchising has helped sparked the revival of NexCen.

That diversity is especially helpful in international franchising, where the company has been focused since U.S. franchise lending has all but dried up. Country developers who sign master franchise agreements for one brand welcome the opportunity to develop additional NexCen concepts as well, Hall said.

You’ll now find NexCen franchises in 22 different countries. While it’s a bit early to declare the financial crises of the past 24 months over forever, NexCen provide proof that a franchise model that’s run with cost-efficiency in mind can right itself.

“I like to think the turnaround is complete given our four consecutive quarters of operating income and positive cash flow,” Hall said. “As it relates to the legacy debt and how we address that, it’s an immediate priority of ours for this year. And it’s something that we hope to resolve in the coming months.”