Sometimes, they say, two franchises are better than one. Many franchises have discovered in the last few years that co-branded franchises can dramatically increase customer number and profits. No franchise can give everyone what they want, so why not team with other like-minded concepts?
Perhaps the best known co-branded franchise concept in the country is the YUM! Brands package of Taco Bell and KFC. YUM! helped pioneer the piggybacking franchise and brought it to national prominence. Co-branding was worth $2 billion to the business in 2002. It's a franchise concept ideal for airports or highway rest-stops. Entrepreneur magazine has profiled the ups and downs of the movement in recent years.
While food franchises like Dunkin; Donuts and have struggled to introduce co-branding to their systems, co-branding remains an interesting strategy, especially outside of the food domain. Take, for instance, Seva salon, which has co-branded with Walmart in order to radically improve its global reach.
"Our customer is the Walmart customer, so co-branding to me has been huge," Val Maniatis, Siva founder told Entrepreneur. "We're all about enhancing the one-stop shopping experience [that] Sam Walton built." With the help of Walmart, Siva has opened 25 unites in 8 states and its aspriring to double that figure by the end of the year.
The success of co-branding rests upon on finding an ideal partner for your business, but if you can find one, your franchise can reach all kinds of new markets.