Posts from — January 2009

Franchise Opportunities Network President Garth Snider interviews Greg Voinovich from Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen

Hello, I am Garth Snider.  I am the President of Franchise Opportunities Network, which is the parent company of FranchiseOpportunities.com as well as numerous other franchise lead generation portals.  Today, Greg Voinovich, VP of Development with Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, a division of AFC Enterprises has joined us to answer a few questions about Popeye’s 2009 franchise development strategy.

GARTH: What is Popeye’s doing in the new year to attract new franchisees?

GREG: Please let me explain our strategic plan first and then I will talk about our tactics to attract specific franchisees.  Our business strategy plan focuses on the following four specific pillars.

• Build the Brand – Invite the guest, in other words grow traffic.  We have a series of initiatives specifically behind this pillar and our goal is to have food so good you cannot wait to eat at Popeye’s.
• Run Great Restaurants/Delight the Guest – These are the operational programs that we have to make the restaurants operate better such as, higher guest satisfaction and higher food quality.  We have an organized systematic plan to go through this step-by-step.  The goal is an experience so good; you cannot wait to come back to Popeye’s.
• Grow Profitably – We have a stated goal to improve our restaurant operating profit – our goal is to have returns so good that our franchisees cannot wait to own Popeye’s and build more Popeye’s.
• Align and Collaborate – building on the new partnership we have with our franchisees or franchise partners, or a partnership so good that it drives results.

With these pillars in place, we are getting ready to grow fast even with all the chaos in the marketplace, the marketplace has not stopped.  These are very exciting times and what that means as a restaurant operator is that the corner site at the corner of Main and Main that has not been available in 35 years, may finally become available.  So, what we are doing is getting all these properties in place so that the moment things do turn around, our franchisees are ready and we are ready to take market share from our other competitors.  That is what we are doing strategically right now to get ready as a brand, so we are making the brand more attractive and that builds our franchisee validation.  Our franchisees are happier with where we are and where we are going.

When it comes to successfully attracting new franchisees, we as a brand need to understand who our franchise customers are.  We have already indentified who we think are our best partners.  Most of the new franchisee recruits we are having the most success with are existing franchisees of other brands.  They are established, build out their market plan and have plenty of resources.  Being a fried chicken concept, there are many other concepts that we do not compete with and that makes us a good partner.  We can help them continue to grow and make them stronger.  We have a very large burger concept and do well with co-branding.  They look at us as a significant piece of a strategic plan to continue their renewals.   Adding a Popeye’s as a co-brand could increase your overall revenue and renewals.

GARTH: There are been a lot of talk about the credit crunch and how it is affecting franchisees.  Have you seen that in your business at all?

GREG: Yes, very much so.  For the franchisee’s that had relationships with larger lenders, they are now facing challenges because they are no longer lending to the restaurant community.

GARTH: Is there anything that Popeye’s or AFC Enterprises is doing to help the financing along?

GREG: Yes, as a brand we are going out and recruiting lenders.  We have five or six different lending needs for franchisees. Not everyone is doing new construction; some are doing a build out, remodel or need new equipment.  Since most lenders are specialized, we can give out franchisees a choice that fits their needs.

GARTH: Do you think the profile of Popeye’s will change over the next few years and/or has it changed over the past 12 months?

GREG: Yes, I think our profile for recruiting new franchisee has changed.  Typically, we have found that we have the highest opportunity for success with somebody who is already a franchisee of another brand.  We look for solid business and restaurant experience.

GARTH: Why start a Popeye’s franchise in this market and/or what separates a Popeye’s from the other well run concepts out there right now?

GREG: Since Popeye’s is an establishment, we have a lot of growth opportunity.  Because we are considerably large and have the resources, we will continue to grow.  Even in this recession, we have made plans to continue to spend money on our operations and marketing support.  I would have to say that the biggest advantage is that we are substantial enough to be there and give you the support you need, yet we have enough opportunity that you can get a good territory and grow it.

GARTH: That is great information.  Thank you for joining us this afternoon and answering my questions.  I am sure our prospective franchisees will find it useful.

GREG: Thank you for inviting me and take care.

If you intend to have something different take place in your life in 2009, do something this year that you haven’t done in past years.

To not do something different yet expect different or improved results is the definition of insanity.

You’re somehow considering opening a business of your own or you wouldn’t likely have run into this article.

I encourage you to “Just Do It” as Nike says.

Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal had an article titled “Yearly Job Loss Worst Since 1945″.

You know who didn’t get laid off or fired first during this contraction (or any other)?

The owners.

That’s right. The owners do the layoffs and only lose their jobs so to speak if things get really, really bad.

So what does that tell you?

It should say something like “I may as well be the owner instead of the employee”.

So Just Do It.

Search, consider, gather information on your next business.

Then do something!

Only then will your 2009 be different than your 2008.

In golf there is a facile yet profound saying that goes something like this:  100% of the putts that are left short fail to go in the hole.   Anyone who has ever played golf knows that there is nothing more frustrating then leaving a putt short.  Why?  Because in the back of your mind you know that had you hit he ball a little bit harder it just might have gone in.

What does putting have to do with on-line lead generation?  Admittedly not a whole lot save the following analogy:  If you leave a putt short the putt is not going in the hole.  Likewise, if you don’t take measures to generate franchise leads you pretty much guarantee yourself that you will not generate any franchise leads.

In 2009 there appears to be more than a few franchisors that have chosen to reduce their franchise advertising budgets.   And, there are even some that are choosing to not advertise at all in 2009.   I do not presume to know the particulars of each franchisors’ decision to reduce its franchise development budget. Reducing or eliminating the amount of money spent for franchise lead generation may in fact be a non-negotiable necessity.   If so, this post is not intended for them.  But for those companies that can spend money but are simply choosing not to (for whatever reason), then I would like to point out the following: Franchise Opportunities Network has been generating franchise leads for the last 9 years and we intend to be doing it for at least the next 9 years.  Stated simply: we are not going anywhere and we are not going to slow down our efforts.

Admittedly the decision by franchisors to spend less on franchise lead generation in 2009 impacts my company–as well as the rest of the industry.   But while I cannot speak for my competition, I can guarantee you that the economy is not going to impact how diligent we are in generating leads.  Our lead generation efforts are agnostic to our total client number.  We are going to work just as hard and be just as diligent whether we have 50 clients or we have 500 clients.

This means is that the advertisers who continue to advertise with us in 2009 (and those who join us in 2009) will get a relatively larger share of the leads we are able to generate.   Will this give those franchisors an advantage over their competition?   There is no way for me—or anybody else for that matter– to know for certain.   But not advertising in 2009 is quite similar to the putt left short.   And personally I hate walking to the next green wondering what could have been had I simply trusted my abilities and put a little bit firmer stroke on the ball.

Finally, and please excuse my continued use of golf as a literary device, but if you think you cannot hit a putt you are not likely to hit the putt.   Confidence is everything.   It is in golf, and it is in business.   In the last two months a never-ending avalanche of bad economic news has overrun us.   The problem with macro-economic news is that it is many times self-fulfilling.  If we think we cannot get out of this economic anytime soon then we are probably not going to be able to do so.   But that is antithetical to the ideological premise upon which franchising is based.  We are optimists.  We are “can do” people.   We never have and we never will simply sit back and wait for something or somebody (be it government or individual) to help us out.  In sum, we don’t need a bailout because we are the one industry that actually can bailout the rest of the economy.   We can, that is, if we thing positively and get the ball to the hole.

Franchising can and will thrive during this recession because we can and will hit the next putt.