11. What Happens After You Buy a Franchise?

Chad Palmer: Hi, welcome to FranCast brought to you by United Franchise Group. I’m Chad Palmer, and if you’re curious about franchising, whether you’re thinking about owning a franchise, growing one, or just want to understand how the industry really works, you’ve come to the right place. Each episode features candid conversations with the people building great brands and helping entrepreneurs succeed. Okay, so most people understand franchise sales, but what happens after someone signs? So, today we’re going to go behind the scenes with Cassidy Hawkins, a franchise logistics manager to explore what it actually takes to go from being a brand new owner to being open for business. Thanks for joining us, Cassidy. 

Cassidy Hawkins: Thank you for having me. 

Chad Palmer: Absolutely. Thanks again for your time. Appreciate it. 

Cassidy Hawkins: Of course. 

Chad Palmer: So, let’s start with what does a franchise logistics manager actually do? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So we work with the franchises once they sign their franchise agreement up to when they open for business. 

Chad Palmer: Excellent. So what happens? Let’s kind of go into the franchisees mind space. So they’ve signed up. So what happens like the day after someone becomes a franchisee? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So we get notified of the sale. We reach out to the regional vice president, get as much background information on the franchisee as we can. Um, if they have any industry experience, what they’re doing for financing, if they’ve started any of our checklist items, and then we reach out to the franchisee right away with a welcome email. Um we’ll try to give them a call, go through everything that we’ll be working on together, kind of high level with them. 

Chad Palmer: So there’s there’s obviously a lot that goes into starting a franchise or starting a business at all, but specifically a franchise because there’s so many sides to kind of connect. How do you help keep franchises just from feeling overwhelmed? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So, we do have a checklist that breaks down everything that the franchisee in corporate will be working on throughout the entire process. We break down that checklist into three different sections for them. So, it kind of breaks it down into smaller chunks of this is what you work on once you sign your agreement. This is what you work on after you sign a lease. And this is what you work on after you come to training school. So, it kind of helps not have not them seeing everything all at one time, um, but broken down into smaller sections. 

Chad Palmer: Yeah. Help kind of chunk it a little bit into into bite-sized pieces and then and then bite-sized pieces of the bite-sized pieces. So, what do you think kind of surprises a new franchisee the most? What should they think about that maybe they haven’t thought about? 

Cassidy Hawkins: We we ha I think they get surprised of how much they actually have to do before opening the business, but we have all of that on the checklist. We have all types of documents, whether it’s hiring guidelines, um what to look for in job applicants. We have everything that they could need as guides for them. So, I think they get surprises how much support we do offer them. 

Chad Palmer: So, I’m glad you brought up support because I I think, you know, someone starting a new business, that’s always the question. Should I do it myself? Should I join a franchise? Uh, obviously, you know, on the franchisor side, you’re biased because you think you have excellent levels of support, but what kind of what kind of support do you actually offer? What does that really mean to the franchisee? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So, we have all different departments obviously that are all working with them. Finance, real estate, uh, logistics, the marketing team, training team. So, we’re all there to support the franchisee throughout the entire process and even after they’ve opened uh their business advisors are there throughout the lifetime of their business to help them. 

Chad Palmer: So, there there’s a lot of steps obviously involved for them. So, what do you think the in that support that you guys offer, what do you think are the biggest roadblocks that you help franchises kind of overcome? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So sometimes it could be a bit of a waiting game. Whether it’s finding the right location, that can take some time, permitting takes time, construction takes time, but we do have con uh consistent check-ins with the franchisee just to see how it’s going. Kind of like a pulse point to see how they’re doing, what issues they’re encountering, if we or anybody else on the team can help them um throughout any roadblocks that they encounter. 

Chad Palmer: So, you’ve kind of mentioned a lot of different departments, right? A lot of different kind of areas of business, whether it’s franchise logistics, uh the real estate side, whether it’s sending them equipment, whether it’s the marketing side. How do those different departments really come together um to support a new owner? 

Cassidy Hawkins: So, we have a weekly call, all the departments, logistics runs the call and we go through each and every franchisee that is in the opening process. Uh, so we talk about where they’re at, any updates, if they’re encountering any issues, and we talk about on that call what we can all do as a team to help push them to the next step. 

Chad Palmer: Okay. So, Cassidy, this is your this is your big moment. You get to talk to the franchisee, potential franchisee that’s going to come into the system. Uh, what would you want them to know like that can help them about the support that you’re going to give them to kind of how can they how can you help them help you? 

Cassidy Hawkins: I would say to the franchisee, trust the system, trust the process. It’s proven to work. We’re there to help you, get you open and operating as soon as possible and efficiently as possible. And if you encounter roadblocks, we’re there for you to help you. Um, but you have to trust in us and trust the process that it will work. 

Chad Palmer: Yeah. Like there’s a checklist for a reason, right? It’s kind of the the process has been proven, and it’s time to use it. 

Cassidy Hawkins: Yes. 

Chad Palmer: Excellent. Well, hey. All right. That’s a wrap for today’s episode of FranCast. Thanks again, Cassidy, for joining us today and for sharing the behind-the-scenes magic of what it takes to actually launch franchise locations. Uh, if you enjoyed today’s conversation, be sure to subscribe and share this episode with someone interested in business ownership or franchising. I’m Chad Palmer, and we’ll be back soon with more conversations to help you better understand the opportunities, successes, and where the future of franchising is headed. Thanks for listening. Thanks again.