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COVER STORY
Kathleen Matthews is charged with making Marriott more socially responsible, greener and more visible to a younger, hipper audience, while keeping its established guests. No wonder the woman never stands still. Her charge as executive vice president, global communications & public affairs, is multifold, which is what appealed to her when offered the job 18 months ago. In addition to handling public relations, her role was expanded to encompass politics; social responsibility, such as Marriott's green initiatives; and new media. New media, by the way, is using nontraditional channels to get |  |
FRANCHISE FOCUS
Casual Dining
Applebee's Tankel gets Ernst award
Zane Tankel, CEO of Apple Metro, Inc., a New York-exclusive franchisee operating 25 Applebee's Grill & Bar units within its franchise-portfolio, was the recipient of a regional Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for his contributions to his businesses and community.
Phillips Seafood is already a well-known name among foodservice operators and some East Coast residents. Now it wants to become well known to everybody else.
Nick Vojnovic knows the problems facing casual dining restaurants as much as anybody, having spent his career with concepts such as Chili's and Applebee's and Famous Dave's. "It's so competitive in casual dining," he said. "There are going to be come restaurant chains that won't survive."
It can come as a surprise that Kansas City-based Houlihan's has only 93 restaurants around the country. The casual-dining franchise just seems bigger than that, especially to its fans. And indeed, it actually was bigger once - the chain had 140 units at its peak a decade ago.
What's a casual-dining chain to do these days when it wants to expand? For Beef O'Brady's, the answer is simple: Go where the others don't...
Expansion
Development agreements
Restaurants
The Blevins brothers, Mark, Eric, Gary and Brad have managed to build a strong reputation among Oklahoma City area diners. Multiple Oklahoma City newspapers have named City Bites the city's best deli nearly every year going back as far as 1991.
Florida-based concept plans to use its flexibility to speed up what has thus far been methodical growth.
"That's the Soup Nazi." The phrase brought a smile to the face of Michael Barr, the franchisee of The Original Soup Man. "You can't buy that (marketing)," he said. True. The marketing for the restaurant began more than a decade ago, without anyone's knowledge.
PEOPLE
Features
Halfway through the phone interview for this story, Carolyn Gough paused. "But I want to hear about you," she says. "Tell me what's going on with you."
Promotions
A list of promotions in the world of franchising
UPFRONT
Briefs
News briefs in Franchising
Currents
We were intrigued by the name Red Beard Marketing, especially since in all the years we've know its principal, Jack Burris, he's never sported a beard, red or otherwise. Turns out Burris grows the beard when his adventurous side comes out.
Forget the high cost of gasoline. We have another crisis brewing. Thanks to the higher cost of ingredients, beer prices are going up. Yes, beer. The very beverage American patriot Benjamin Franklin said was proof that God loves us.
We polled franchise litigators for their thoughts about whether defense attorneys should be allowed to shed a few tears in an attempt to get an acquittal or a light sentence for clients? A few brave - and funny - souls agreed to play along with us.
It seems like Americans would get bored watching people gobble hot dogs on a national holiday, but spectators started lining up for Nathan's annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest hours before the athletes took the stage.
We're not sure who has the tougher job, the interviewer or the interviewee. Both see bizarre behavior from the person on the other side of the desk.
News
Cork & Olive, a small Florida wine franchise, declared bankruptcy and shut its stores, but its franchisees vow to go on.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Departments
Exit Interview
Closing remarks from the Managing Editor
Franchise Features
Jen Beck is both a franchise owner and a full-time chiropractor, which makes her the perfect franchisee for the burgeoning massage concept N8 Touch.
The leg-presses were a dead giveaway. Two of Glenn Parker's investigators at L&W Investigations near Orlando, Florida, were finding it tough to tail their subject, a woman supposedly disabled, unable to walk and, therefore, unable to work.
Minorities and Women
The Latino population is growing fast and becoming a huge part of the economy. Franchises can take advantage of this market by recruiting Latino franchisees.
Will there ever come a time when we no longer feel the need to have a Women & Minorities in Franchising section? We know that's not an original question. But it is intriguing to think of a world where gender and ethnicity didn't matter.
Publisher's Column
It's apropos we have a woman on the cover this month, because August features our annual Women and Minorities in Franchising focus. Matthews isn't the only one changing the way women work. Take franchise development maven Lynette McKee. McKee's journey to become one of Dunkin' Donuts' top executives is interesting, but her support at home is worth a read, too.
Women and Minorities
Some entrepreneurs team up because they've been pals for a few years, while others develop a friendship after months of working together. But for Leland Nelson and Gary Fallings, their partnership was forged decades ago, when the two were teenagers walking to school together.
Susan McCloskey stole a look at her watch. A federal agent who investigated white collar crime, McCloskey was in the middle of interrogating a "perp" - who also was an alleged double-murderer - for fraud at a school in Baltimore, when she realized she was not going to make it back to Washington, D.C., in time to pick up her three children from the federal day care.
One doesn't know who to feel more outrage for: Lynette McKee, who people regularly assume is the spouse of the Dunkin' Donuts executive, rather than the executive, or her husband John, who often is spurned because he chose to stay home to raise their son.
Kimberly Fowler's advice is to stand at the edge of your cliff and "just jump." "Figure it out on the way down," she suggests.
BIZ WISE
Finance
In recent months we have seen many franchisors selling off their corporate units. There are many reasons for refranchising. For example, DineEquity (the franchisor for Applebee's) feels its focus should be pure franchising and the capital investment necessary to own corporate stores is not part of their strategic plan. Additionally, Applebee's refranchising is necessitated by DineEquity's high leverage and desire to pay down the debt that was incurred in the Applebee's acquisition.
Human Resources
Everybody knows the importance of a having the best person for the job, but not enough attention is focused on hiring skills. Now technology is coming to the rescue.
International
Employees who are part of the Welfare to Work program or are returning veterans with disabilities may be qualified to earn tax credits for their company. This could account for up to $2,400 per employee, per year in tax credits.
Despite an uncertain global economy, franchising continues to grow in the U.K., as the recently released 24th annual NatWest/British Franchise Association Survey reveals. In fact, in 2007, the franchising sector was worth a record £12.3 billion to the country's GDP, up from £10.8 billion in 2006.
There's more to international franchising than opening units in a foreign land. Chris Eilers of Dunn Bros saw a hole in the specialty coffee business and went to Africa to fill it.
Marketing
Minorities appear to have a greater inclination toward franchise ownership, bring new ideas and a new customer base and attract real estate perks, so why does our columnist not recommend you target your marketing dollars toward minorities?
No matter where your concept is based, key messages help create brand credibility. Without them, your audiences hear disparate, and distracting, messages.
Operations
There is an old joke that says even an average manager can make a good business decision if given enough information. A good manager can make excellent business decisions if given inadequate information and the great manager can make superior business decisions based on no information at all.
I'm a Marine currently serving in Iraq and will be rotating back to the United States at the end of the year. I've read about VetFran on the Department of Veterans Affairs Web site. What can I expect with VetFran and who's benefited from it?
For decades forward-thinking CEOs have used surveys of consumers and employees alike as a means of gauging their company's general welfare and competitiveness. So it should come as no surprise that during periods of financial distress, senior franchise executives return to time-tested methods such as confidential franchisee surveys as a tool to enhance the value of their franchise offering.
Real Estate
The surge in dark storefronts popping up across the country is a welcome sight to franchise groups still in expansion mode.
Real Estate Transactions
Restaurants are moving patrons outdoors with a wide variety of seating options ranging from picturesque rooftop gardens to busy sidewalk cafes.
Scoreboard
Health care: The forgotten culprit
Most discussions of the current economic malaise focus on a handful of usual suspects, such as the slumping housing market, the credit crunch, high oil prices and rising food costs. But one factor doesn't get nearly as much blame for the problems as it probably should: health care costs.
Technology
Computer speech recognition for everyday dictation has been an objective since the 1980s; and every year the prediction was that it remained five years away. Early applications, as well as those available just a few years ago, were more toy than useful tool. Accuracy was terrible (50 to 60 percent), and the user needed to adopt awkward speaking patterns with pauses between words. As a result, most people that tried it became quickly frustrated and gave up.
Technical improvements for franchisees
LEGAL
CFR
In a high-profile lawsuit which prompted the IFA to file an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of Atlanta Bread Company, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's decision in favor of franchisee Sean Lupton-Smith on partial summary judgment.
In The News
Updates on lawsuits and lawyers.
Last December, Leslie Smith walked into a McAlister's Deli in the East Texas town of Longview, paid for his bill with a credit card and received a receipt with a few numbers too many. Four months later he took his receipt to court.
International
Franchise laws differ from country to country. Be prepared for the differences.
Legal
Keeping a finger on franchisees' PULSE
Domino's Pizza has the right to specify which POS system its franchisees use, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling that reversed what many franchise attorneys considered one of the most notable decisions of 2007.
