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Football season kicks off tomorrow night in Nashville. There is something in the collective spirit and all of the constant game planning that prepares football players perfectly for a second career in franchising.

We’ve blogged in the past about pro football players who own franchises. Add to that list Kory Minor, a Notre Dame graduate who played with the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers. For their new September issue, Franchising Times have written one of the most insightful profiles of a franchisee you’ll ever read, as they document Minor’s journey from the gridiron to the pizza kitchen, as he now owns a Domino’s franchise in California.

“I must have every FDD out there,” he quips. “My wife said, ‘you’ve reached the end of the Internet, there’s nothing else out there. You’ve got to do something.’”

It’s great to hear the way Minor has taken the lessons learned in the locker room and brought them to his staff.

Motivating young employees is tough, even for a former football star. But Minor was counseled by some of the best coaches available.

He uses positive reinforcement and saves the reprimands for behind closed doors. “It’s hands-on, coaching, even ministry at times,” he says.

One of the first questions he asks youth groups he speaks to is: “Who dreams?”

He worries about the kids who don’t raise their hands. “If you have no goals, nothing to aspire to” where are you going? he asks.

The same question is posed to his workers. “I ask them, ‘If you’re not here tomorrow, what do you want to do?” he says. “I don’t mind losing someone to go back to school.”

There is life after football and its great to see Kory Minor succeeding in the franchising game.

Franchise Direct’s Top 100 Global Franchises has barely been published two weeks and we’re already seeing franchises competing to improve their standing for next year’s rankings.

News comes to us from the Financial Times that Pizza Hut UK are considering serious expansion over the coming months. The UK’s eminent business paper has reported that Pizza Hut UK is considering opening up 30 - 50 new units by the beginning of 2010.

“Delivery has been a very successful part of our business over the past 12 months or so,” said Jens Hofma, head of Pizza Hut UK, told the FT.

“Clearly, the economic situation has caused customers to dine in more often and resort to pizza delivery. So this is definitely a sector which is in strong growth.

This is interesting on a few levels. For one, it backs up all of our statements about the state of the pizza franchise industry, which we published in our inaugural franchise study.

At the same time, it backs up the foundation of our Top 100 Global Franchise study, which claims that the franchises that are expanding internationally are best positioned to thrive in this struggling.

It will be interesting to see where Pizza Hut finish on next year’s list.

Here at the Franchise Direct blog, we are always looking to keep franchisees abreast of new technological developments that might help them generate new business solutions. So we feel dutybound to blog about this recent Wall Street Journal story about a new study from the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University on dining technology.

Nearly 2,000 restaurant-goers were asked their opinion on the usefulness of a number of computer technologies that are meant to improve their dining experience, such as online reservations or paying with a cell-phone. Some of the findings will be of great interest to food franchisees with eat-in options.

• The most popular restaurant technologies are pagers and online reservation systems
• Diners prefer technology that increases convenience at the beginning stages of the meal, instead of the end.
• Diners rarely use cell-phone payment.

Also, we’ve written extensively about the state of the pizza franchise industry in the past. Pizza franchises with take-out/ delivery options might be interested to learn about the latest innovation in pizza boxes: the green pizza box (it’s called that even if it is made out of cardboard). The video below explains all:

Franchise Direct has analyzed the latest facts and figures from the pizza industry. What emerges is a snapshot of a food franchising sector that is well-positioned to thrive during the current economic downturn.

This pizza franchise study comes from assessing FDD (UFOC) documents of a sample size of 20 pizza franchise chains, as well as published industry sources.

Generally-speaking, the restaurant industry has shown initial resilience in coping with the downturn. Americans continue to rely on restaurants, primarily take-away establishments, for their daily eating. National restaurants surveys show an industry bracing for hardship, but confident that consumers will remain loyal.

Franchise Direct’s research shows that pizza franchises make up a majority of America’s restaurants. Our findings state that pizza franchises experienced consistent sales growth up until last year, when the industry slowed. There are a number of reasons why pizza franchises are projected to remain strong. Commodity prices will fall in the coming years, creating savings for the purchase of ingredients. Pizza franchises will also seamlessly fit into new consumer trends, such as the switch towards healthier and organic food options and the integration of new technology in ordering food. Our research suggests that pizza franchises present a deft balance for consumers searching for quality at an affordable price. It is believed that pizza franchises will succeed as other more expensive dining options fail.

Pizza franchises also boast a number of advantages as far as purchasing a restaurant is concerned. New entrepreneurs can avail of a franchisor’s assistance in getting their business up and running. Our research reveals the typical franchise fee for a pizza restaurant. That figure tends to drops significantly for carry-out restaurants and double for larger, full-service pizza franchises.

The total investment sum for a pizza franchise can also vary greatly depending on location, unit size and whether the restaurant is take-out or dine-in. Our research tracks the range in investment in owning different types of pizza restaurant, factoring in fixtures, signs, inventory, training expenses, payroll and more. There are also a number of ongoing fees that the franchisee must be accountable for and our analysis details every payment that one can expect to make.

Most pizza franchises come with an exclusive territory, although some franchisors maintain a right to open new outlets within a given territory in certain circumstances.

In all, it remains hard to forecast the total earning potential of owning a pizza franchise.  Every franchised industry is facing challenges at the moment, with the economy flailing and the sales expected to drop across the board in 2009. Cost control, management efficiency and slumping commodity prices will help to offset the sales decline brought on by the slump in the economy. According to research by Franchise Direct, pizza franchisees who can enhance their service and offer true quality to consumers will be the ones that will enjoy positive outcomes in 2009.