7 Business Tips from Franchise Leaders

Find inspiration to help your enterprise toward the right path.

(From left to right) Sam Christopher Lim; Ma. Alegria Sibal-Limjoco; Jose Magsaysay, Jr., Chairman Emeritus, Potato Corner; and Samie Lim

It’s always nice to be given the opportunity to learn from the best of the best. Success is the testament of people’s hard work, patience, and resilience and others can always learn from their wisdom and experience. 

If you’re an entrepreneur aspiring to start your own business or a franchisor aiming to grow your enterprise, these 7 tips will help guide and inspire your journey to success.

1| "Dream big"

Joseph Tanbuntiong

Country Business Group Head, Jollibee Foods Corporation 

“One of the things that our founding chairman in Jollibee has always been telling us is if we want to do anything, we have to start with a big dream. If you have a dream, make sure you dream big,” said Joseph Tanbuntiong.

If we’re talking about legit Pinoy pride, Jollibee is the brand that comes to mind. Just like Jollibee, your business venture may start small. But what makes the difference is that big dreams will have a great influence on how you steer your business through time and adversity. The story of Jollibee is truly an inspiration to all businesses to dream big and achieve bigger. 

2| "Develop a unique product that solves a problem"

Alice Liu

Chief Marketing Officer, Penshoppe

You may have a strong business sense and the desire for success but it all goes down the drain without a good product—something unique that provides a solution to a problem. Whether it’s in the food, retail, or service industry, a good product will go a long way because it serves a purpose while bringing in profit. Most importantly, if you have a good product, people will desire to resell it or to replicate your business through a franchise. 

“You have to have a good product and a strong brand. Only then will you entice people to come and franchise your brand. We’ve learned a lot of lessons through the years and it’s working with the right people and the right partners who are experts in franchising that have helped us develop our own strong franchising [strategy],” said Alice Liu.

3| "Create strong systems and processes"

Jerome Tuguin

Chief Operating Officer, RAMCAR Group of Companies (Tokyo Tokyo)

A business is the sum of its product, systems, and processes. In order to have a longstanding and constantly improving business, the systems and processes behind-the-scenes should be strong, proven, and adaptable. Weakness in this aspect will result to excess spending for corrective measures, delay of production, and loss of profit. 

On the other hand, having strong systems and processes will up your business to the next level, which is franchising.

“Franchising is about replicable success,” Jerome Tuguin said. “So, before one starts franchising their business, I strongly advise them to be able to setup their systems and processes first before actually franchising the business to others, to ensure that any multi-unit operation will be successful as the first one.”

4| "Help your franchisees make money"

Benjamin Liuson

Founder, The Generics Pharmacy 

A sure-hit way to be successful in franchising is to ensure the welfare of your franchisees.

“Franchising is relatively simple,” said Ben Liuson. “The only thing that you need to do is to help your franchisees make money.”

With over 2,000 outlets, TGP is an empire of satisfied franchisees located in almost every corner of the country. By making cheap and effective generic medicines available, TGP is able to cater to the needs of the majority, thus allowing its branches and its entire franchise network to earn great profits. 

5| "Focus on core competencies"

Richard Sanz, CEO, Bibingkinitan

Dr. Alan Escalona; Engr. Richard Sanz, CEO, Bibingkinitan; and Sam Christopher Lim

A wise person is one who concentrates energy on what matters most. It could be a waste of resources if you try to accomplish everything your business requires by your team alone. The best thing to do is to identify your core competencies and focus on them so that your resources will be utilized efficiently.

“Focus on your core competencies,” Engr. Richard Sanz said. “For example, in my case, I am an engineer by profession and my core competencies are manufacturing and branding, so we focused on doing that ourselves, and for other functions, we subcontracted them to suppliers and service providers.”

6| "Establish new income streams"

Dr. Alan Escalona

CEO, Fruit Magic and Pure Nectar 

Dr. Alan Escalona, CEO, Fruit Magic and Pure Nectar

Identifying other income streams alongside the one provided by your main product or service will boost profitability and build resilience. If you’re into gadget retail business, other income streams might be repair service, insurance, and selling of accessories. 

“Try to create more income streams,” said Dr. Alan Escalona. “I am a doctor by discipline that’s why Fruit Magic became a health and wellness advocate and we turned it into a business and now we have many franchisees.”

7| "Just franchise"

Jose Magsaysay, Jr.,

Chairman Emeritus, Potato Corner

“You should consider franchising,” Jose P. Magsaysay, Jr. “For me, it is the way to go. We actually started with a small kiosk in 1992. Today, because of our professional world-class franchise system, we are all over the world. We are in the USA, Indonesia, Panama, and we are working to be in more countries soon.”

Franchising truly opens up your business to a multitude of opportunities and if done right, it can take you to new heights you never even dreamed of. 

As seen in Esquire.