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Mobile franchises have exploded in popularity. For good reason. For one, the world continues to favor convenience, and mobile franchises provide this to their customers.
And on the other side of the deal, mobile franchises allow incoming franchisees to spend less during the start-up phase, and allow them to scale at a rate that is comfortable to them. Even traditional store-front franchisors have seen the benefits of expanding their mobile capabilities, particularly when the pandemic kept more people at home.
Kinds of Mobile Franchises
Mobile franchises are businesses that provide services (and sometimes products) to individuals at their homes and/or at their businesses. Franchises like this are quite common. The variety of options only adds their popularity with prospective franchisees.
For example, can you remember seeing trucks and/or vans in your area when someone’s home or business flooded or caught fire? That’s an example of this type of franchise business.
In the given example, as the owner of a restoration franchise, you’ve been granted a territory with a set population or in a specified boundary area. Your role as the franchise owner is to provide the services needed to help restore or properly dispose of flood and/or smoke damaged furniture, carpeting, and other items.
But you don’t have to do it by yourself, if you would rather stay out of the field. In fact, many service franchise opportunities are more white-collar in nature. You can have trained employees doing most if not all the work, if you so desire.
Other types of mobile franchises include the following.
Residential or Commercial Cleaning
One of the mainstays of the industry. There’s literally no other place this service can be done. Traveling to the customer’s home or place of work is a necessity.
Home Services
Do you like decorating? Like handyman tasks? Don’t mind yard work? There’s as many home service franchises as there are tasks to be done in and around the house.
Car Care
This area of mobile franchises, surprisingly, is on the newer side but catching on quickly. Now, car maintenance from car washes to oil changes and more can be done in the driveway of the vehicle owner.
Fitness
This is another more recent division of mobile franchises. Many people got a taste of exercising in the comfort of their own home rather than going to a gym during the lockdown days of the pandemic—and they liked it.
Food and Restaurants
It’s not only food trucks. For instance, restaurants that use a lot of cooking oil need to dispose of it, and then purchase new oil. There are franchises that specialize in that exact service: The disposal and renewal of cooking oil.
Pet Care
From pet food delivery to grooming and pet waste management, there are several mobile franchises that can fill your days with the company of furry friends.
Bottom line: There are mobile franchise opportunities galore!
Benefits of Mobile Franchises for a Franchisee
Whether you're a first-time buyer or hoping to expand your brick-and-mortar capabilities, here are six reasons to seriously consider the mobile franchise option.
- They are usually cheaper to run. Mobile franchises do not have the same overhead that a store-front demands. The economy and rental costs are current concerns, and a mobile-only franchise eliminates having to pay rent for a dedicated physical space. The franchise owner performs the administrative work at their residence.
- They are typically cheaper to buy. With lower overhead, mobile franchises require a smaller initial investment. They are more affordable because they have lower financial requirements to get started. Another related advantage is without the costs of build-out, signage, and construction, franchisees can typically get rolling more quickly.
- Your lifestyle can take priority. You choose your schedule. Since you are probably filling calendar appointments, you choose when you work. Early start-ups will need time and attention, but if your preference is to golf every Tuesday morning, you can do that and still dedicate the rest of your week to growing your business.
- They are commonly easier to operate. Many mobile franchises do a fabulous job of staying focused on their area of professional expertise. They are streamlined operations whose success is greatly due to being simple and straightforward. Customers easily understand a mobile franchise that specializes in home window treatments, and the operators focus on that market and are the experts in that field.
- You go to your customers. This reason almost didn’t make it to the list, but in the new (post-) pandemic world, waiting for customers to walk in the door can be demoralizing. With a mobile business, customers feel more comfortable, and franchisees can limit how they provide their product or service.
- You scale at a rate comfortable to you. In a typical service franchise, franchisees start with one vehicle as an owner-operator. As their business grows, they add additional employees and vehicles to fit demand. But not until they and their business are ready. You could buy a service franchise and purchase or lease multiple vehicles right off the bat. But, why would you do that if you don’t have to? Just add new vehicles as warranted. That way, you can avoid getting into too much debt or being unnecessarily overwhelmed as you get settled into business ownership.
Mobile franchises are well worth considering. The easier financial entry and operation combined with low overhead make them a good option, especially for first-time entrepreneurs.