To Master, or not To Master…

Taking a Franchise brand into far flung International markets is an aspiration of many Franchisors... and one filled with challenges, excitement and potential. Not getting your head turned by an appealing locale and a sizeable upfront fee though when you are not ready is just as challenging.

It's your brand. Keep control of it, which markets you enter and when you do it. Sometimes saying no is the hardest word... but a strategic approach as to where you are launching will lead to a much longer and successful expansion.

Don't get drawn into the lure of flag planting and being in 30 countries, with just 30 locations.

Selecting the right route to market for you is absolutely key.

Master Franchising

The long favoured approach for decades, and one that continues to retain it's appeal. What's not to like about someone paying you a chunky fee upfront to open up 100's of your Franchises in their country right? Maybe. Often it is the best approach, and can be hugely successful... but finding the right partner, in the right country with the right background is even more fundamental than in your home country. Not easy either.

The concept in very simple terms means that you need to find a local version of you. You will commonly be granting the rights to both operate, sell and support Franchisees in a new country. No small undertaking - if you are a Franchisor you did it yourself right, and it wasn't easy. Get it right though and the potential to scale up your business at pace is extraordinary.

As such, you are going to ideally want a Master Franchise that has experience both in your specific sector, but also in operating and supporting a multi location business and ideally a Franchised system. You can usually find a partner with a background in one of the two, but both is more challenging. Perhaps even more important is trust and credibility, you have to believe in this person or their organisation whole heartedly.

Get ready for some bumps along the way, a rollout that invariably takes longer than expected, a development schedule that isn't quite met and a whole host of requests for localisation because "you don't understand the market". Year one will usually be a year of bedding in but stick with it.

Any challenges can be mitigated with careful research and planning upfront, and picking the right market for you. We all long for a Franchise empire that conquers the US right, but sometimes it is best to be first to market in a fast growing economy where you will get far quicker results.

Alternative routes

There are other ways to approach International Franchising that you should explore including Area Development, Direct Franchising, Licensing and Joint Ventures. Again all have relative merits and challenges... all of which I will be comparing in an upcoming post.