Food franchise watchers will naturally have a grasp of how the big chains are all faring. As in life, it is hard sometimes to avoid seeing news about McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. But those interested in spotting the food franchise of the future might be interested to read about a lesser-known success story in food franchising.
Andy Unanue has been gradually growing his firm Trufoods since 2007. The firm consists of Pudgie’s Famous Chicken, Wall Street Deli, the franchising rights to Arthur Treacher’s Fish And Chips, plus Ritter’s Frozen Crust. These are relatively small franchise brands with a known business identity in their specific field.
As QSR Online has written, the firm have opted for slow, calculated growth as opposed to rapid-fire expansion. The strategy seems to be working so far. As QSR writes:
“They began by returning each brand to its core values while also developing a product development and marketing strategy. On the menu side, each brand now has a cohesive program focusing on its core offerings plus regional specialties. Several of the brands also developed new offerings, including Ritter’s recently launched probiotic frozen yogurt.”
First and foremost, Trufoods are committed to delivering quality food to their customers. Beyond that, they have launched many innovative co-branding strategies that benefit the entire franchise family, as well as some interesting approaches to financing.
Food franchising is so competitive that one can never be to sure which way the tradewinds will blow, but there is something notable in the sustainable evolution of Trufoods. One feels that their franchise brands will only continue to grow.
Newsflash: franchising is leading the recovery of the US economy.
News comes today that franchising has created over 36,000 jobs already this year and we are only halfway through the calendar. After a difficult year last year, where 400,000 jobs were lost in the franchising industry, it’s certainly encouraging to see franchise sparking the economy back to life.
Clearly, franchising is catching the attention of people in Atlanta. The city’s main paper, the Journal-Constitution, has printed the following article about a number of ambitious entrepreneurs who turned to franchising after the recession struck. Also, author Jane Applegate deals with the new opportunities available for entrepreneurs through franchising in this article.
Of course, the country’s economic problems remain, but it’s very encouraging to see the first signs of a turnaround coming through franchising.
Sports have been on our mind lately with the World Cup in full swing (and we were sad to see the US go out on Saturday.)
Of course, there are great links between franchising and the sports world, as many pro athletes have taken up the franchising game after their playing career has ended. Everyone from Phil Mickelson to Francho Harris has invested in franchises. The IFA long ago sensed the potential in the marriage between athletes and franchising and we are only few weeks ago from the tenth-annual ‘Allied Athlete Group/ IFA Franchise Summit’.
Taking place from July 12-14, the conference will feature a number of seminars that explain the specifics of the franchising industry to athletes while outlining where potential franchise opportunities may come from.
“By partnering with the IFA, we can leverage the expertise of leading franchise companies to bring the power of franchising to professional athletes,” said Michael Stone, CEO and founder of Allied Athlete Group. “AAG is committed to providing its members with resources that will maximize their opportunities to create generational wealth.”
Professional athletes face many challenges in their post-playing career. Many make enormous sums of money in a very short time. They will need to work in some field after retirement, and for those who don’t go to work in the media or with the team they played for, the franchise industry holds many opportunities.
For any athletes out there, this sounds like a slam-dunk of a weekend.
The Economist magazine is one of the most trusted voices in the world on global economic affairs, and they recently turned their eye to franchising matters .
The magazine recently wrote a typically-thorough article about the challenges that fast-food restaurants are facing at the moment.
It’s a very good read and we’d recommend sitting down with it over the weekend (say, between watching the World Cup)
Congratulations to US soccer team, who qualified for the second round of the World Cup thanks to a very late Landon Donovan goal against Algeria yesterday.
Some fans may have given up hope, but the American team has shown great determination throughout the tournament. The win means they will play Ghana on Saturday afternoon (EST) and by winning Group B, America have avoided some of the heavy-hitters in the tournament- the likes of Argentina, Germany and England. There is a pretty good chance that the US will be able to roll onto the semifinals of the World Cup, which would be a historic achievement.
We have a very international team at Franchise Direct, with our German and Spanish staff still hoping their respective countries can go all the way. Ireland, of course, did not qualify (the less about that, the better, but at least France have received their own serving of misery).
So all the best to the US and Germany in the Round of 16 and hopefully Spain will get out of the group stage as well.
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