Engr. Ana Lustre-Malijan is the founder of Frotea, a Palawan-born beverage franchise brand that now has 23 branches nationwide and growing. Aside from this, she is also a franchisee of a large pizza chain brand and an executive officer of different companies.
Frotea started as a FroYo (frozen yogurt) and milk tea store concept that offers delightful yet affordable drinks since 2012. It was established in Puerto Princesa during the hype of froyos and milk teas but it has proven to withstand fad and to stand out from the booming competition. Add into the mix their cozy stores and warm service which definitely caught the heart of the masses.
“I am also a franchisee of a large pizza chain brand and that background helped and boosted my confidence in developing a franchise business,” Ana explained. The first Frotea store was in its 7th year in operation before she decided to develop it for franchising.
She said her decision came about during the time when they opened their second branch, which had a fantastic 4-month payback period. “I saw a big potential for Frotea and that’s when I realized it was the right time to franchise it,” she added.
During the regularly held “How to Franchise Your Business” seminar of Francorp, Ana shared three tips that will surely help would-be franchisors in their journey through franchising their business.
3 Tips for Would-be Franchisors
1. Determine what is your ultimate goal in growing
“It’s not only about the franchise fee and revenues you would get from the franchise. Before you grow too fast, you have to think carefully about what your ultimate goal in growing is. ” Financial goals are vital but a huge part of a franchisor’s ultimate goal should also be about the entire franchise brand and network.
Some franchisors go at it for the financial gains and they tend to forget that for a franchise to be successful, the goal should be bigger and deeper than that. Franchising is all about nurturing and upholding a win-win situation, where both franchisor and franchisees are profiting, growing, and succeeding. This is why franchising has a 90% success rate.
Several franchise brands like Frotea envision a revenue-generating, quality-oriented, customer service-based, livelihood-empowering business that creates a huge impact not only within the franchise network but also to the community and its people.
2. Support yourself by working with experts
Before a franchisor can support his/her future franchisees, he/she must be able to develop and support his/her own franchise brand and make sure that the prototype and its systems are working.
“Francorp helped me a lot in doing this. I had all these plans when we were starting but I didn’t know how or where to start. So, Francorp helped me by guiding me through the entire process - like how I should protect my brand, how I will support my franchisees, how I will systematize the franchise through the operations manual which is very comprehensive, and even on the marketing strategies on how I will be able to differentiate from the already saturated market - Francorp really helped me,” Anna shared.
Franchise experts strive to guide and help would-be franchisors achieve their dream of growing their business from one to many through franchise development programs that center on strategy, legal, sales, operations, marketing, development, and training. All these aspects will make sure that a would-be franchisor is ready and well-prepared to have a beneficial and empowering partnership with future franchisees.
3. Support your franchisees and make sure they are winning
Finally, Anna emphasized and said that “Your franchisees should always be a top priority. You have to make sure that they are happy and in order to do that, you have to make sure that they are winning and earning.”
She said that some franchise companies have no ongoing support for their franchisees. Once these franchisors receive the franchise fee, they leave their franchisees to fend for themselves. This could lead to severe complications and ultimately to business dissolution.
Franchisee support is really important and it is the role of franchisors to make sure their franchisees are well-supported so they can also win in the franchise relationship. Ana shared that during the pandemic, they made sure to employ strategies that could help their franchisees survive the crisis and now, Frotea continues to grow nationwide as a successful in-demand franchise brand.
Hear more exclusive franchise tips and get a FREE Franchisability Consultation with Francorp’s How to Franchise Your Business Seminar.