Bouncing Back from Bankruptcy: Ground Round, Sizzler, and Bennigan’s

Posted on June 24, 2012 by bermanevansretail
Ground Round, Sizzler, and Bennigan’s are three well known restaurants that were forced into bankruptcy protection due to weak performance. Today, they are back and on an upward path.
Click the photo for an in-depth story from Entrepreneur.

Photo source: Entrepreneur
Posted in Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lessons for Franchisors About Social Media

Posted on June 24, 2012 by bermanevansretail
Franchise operators have learned a lot about the uses of social media.
As Jason Daly notes in Entrepreneur: “Some new franchise systems are so heavily invested in social media that it’s a required part of the business. Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney’s 64-unit franchise, Painting With a Twist, which offers painting parties and wine tastings, has invested heavily in social media. The Mandeville, La.-based company’s Facebook pages now average more than 3,000 fans each. ‘It’s in our training, and we emphasize that it’s not all about self-promotion,’ says Maloney, who began using the national/local tool as soon as it was available. ‘It’s more about interacting with a community of Facebook friends. Out of our three-day franchisee training, we spend half of one day doing nothing but social media.'”
Click the photo learn more.
Renee Maloney (left) and Cathy Deano make social media a priority at Painting With a Twist.
Renee Maloney (left) and Cathy Deano
Posted in Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Social Media and Retailing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The 10 Most Popular Franchises for Military Veterans

Posted on June 24, 2012 by bermanevansretail
As Tracy Stapp reports in Entrepreneur: “According to the SBA, about a quarter of the country’s 23.5 million veterans are interested in starting or buying their own business. And franchises are eager to meet that demand through VetFran. VetFran, or the Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative, was started during the Gulf War to help veterans become franchisees through financial incentives from franchisors. Since its relaunch after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, about 400 franchisors have joined the program, and more than 2,000 veterans have become franchisees as a result.”
VetFran is based on this principle: “With its rapid training opportunities, scalability, and need for operational execution and excellence, franchising provides an ideal career path to enable returning veterans to become leaders of and productive participants in the U.S. economy.”
Click the image to see Entrepreneur’s list of top franchise operators. 

Looking to Buy a Franchise? Here's How to Start

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment