Established Brands vs. Emerging Concepts
In this, the eighth installment in CSA's PizzaRev series, we’re featuring a Q&A that pools the expertise of several seasoned franchise operators to highlight the pros and cons of franchising with established brands and new concepts.
Multi-unit franchisees with a history of working with nationally recognized brands are PizzaRev’s bread and butter. While these savvy franchisees come with important knowledge about opening and operating a restaurant, they also come with high expectations. Understanding this challenge and facing it head-on, PizzaRev spent its first year in business developing a franchisee integration strategy before even approaching a franchise candidate. With a historic partner like Buffalo Wild Wings, the challenge was lightened extensively. The goal was to make opening a franchisee’s store as seamless as possible.
But, it didn’t happen overnight. On the surface the obvious advantages of working with a national brand outweigh the perks of working with any emerging brand. There are pros and cons to either scenario, and PizzaRev wanted to maximize the pros by employing the tried and true tactics of the veterans they signed as franchisees and minimize the cons that a newer brand likely must face. Brand recognition with a solid PR campaign, along with the introduction of the brand to the VERY local community, is critical to minimize the lack of brand awareness.
Franchising experts include: Dave Jones, a Buffalo Wild Wings and PizzaRev franchisee; Jeff Meyer, a long-time Applebee’s franchisee who recently joined the PizzaRev franchise; and, Irv Zuckerman, co-founder of PizzaRev.
What are the key advantages and disadvantages of being a franchisee with a new or emerging brand?
Jeff: The flexibility and creativity available with an emerging brand, like PizzaRev and other fast casual operations, allows us to enjoy more community involvement and social media freedom, while enabling us to carve out our place in the customized pizza segment and emphasize how unique and exciting the process is. Certainly it’s true that a national brand delivers a turnkey option for potential franchisees, including investment in national TV advertisements to generate interest, but a new brand like PizzaRev gives someone like me the opportunity to help build to the next level with a more open ended opportunity for growth and help establish the next generation of pizza concepts.
What are the key advantages of being a franchisee with a well-established brand?
Dave: Brand awareness is the most significant advantage of being a franchisee with a well-established brand like Buffalo Wild Wings. Emerging concepts that have a solid franchise plan in place should deliver most of the same start-up services — from building plans to training manuals and procedures — as a national brand. In the end, it's satisfaction with the product and service that will win customers over in the long term. The win-win with PizzaRev is that they have a partnership with Buffalo Wild Wings, so the franchisee gets the best of both worlds — an established brand's economies of scale and recognition and the fresh approach and entrepreneurial spirit of an emerging concept.
How does the ability to collaborate with the franchise owner improve the operations of your store in particular and the brand in general?
Jeff: The greatest advantage is the hands-on approach that comes from the founders of a smaller organization like PizzaRev — from help with real estate selection to day-to-day advance planning, and key marketing and social media strategies. The model is simple, yet the execution and employee training are critical. As a new brand evolves, R&D can be more easily implemented, and we've already seen model and menu tweaks. The franchisor/franchisee interest level is very high.
Is it easier to engage in marketing initiatives as a franchisee with an emerging business?
Dave: Yes and no. It is easier to bring “best of” ideas into execution faster with an emerging brand, and it’s easy to experiment with concepts before rolling them out franchise-wide with PizzaRev because they have corporate and franchise stores. While it is easier to weigh in on marketing initiatives with an emerging brand, there is certainly something to be said for having established materials ready when you’re just starting out as a new franchisee. The research and promotion/marketing history of the two founders who added their live entertainment concert promotion background to our efforts has been notable.
What support from the franchise owner do you find most beneficial?
Dave: Real estate coordination and sourcing help to determine the best locations to maximize specific brand success and is a significant benefit any franchise owner can deliver. In the PizzaRev case, since they had opened a dozen company owned stores in diverse demographic and economic areas, we felt very comfortable with their selection criteria.
How does PizzaRev forge collaborative relationships with franchisees?
Jeff: Our decision to go with PizzaRev went beyond the obvious components of quality product and service model. A lynchpin for us was the history and entrepreneurial approach of the owners of PizzaRev. They deploy a collaborative approach, and look to the franchisees for input on the brand, product and marketing. All franchisees bring different areas of expertise to the table, and working together enables us to learn from one another. Yet, it’s clear that there are guardrails and principles of operation that are core tenets to their success.
According to Irv: "Most of our franchisees come from brands that have national ad campaigns and other prescribed materials. As an emerging brand, this simply is not possible early on, but we do offer a toolkit that makes deploying marketing campaigns very manageable. It links our franchisees and their staffs more closely with PizzaRev as we all work together to plan for success.”
While a limited budget does pose challenges, it also encourages emerging brands to think outside the box and get creative in order to enhance brand recognition, utilizing more cost effective platforms like social media as compared to deploying major advertising campaigns.
“As we continue to grow, we will absolutely work to maintain our current connectivity with franchisees,” said Irv. “Our fresh approach yields newfound excitement and energy from our franchisees. Getting their buy-in yields better results as they utilize the tools we collectively provide.”
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