June: Summertime Quotes on Summer 1. Summer afternoon- Summer afternoon.. the two most beautiful words in the English language. Henry James (1843-1916) 2. The Summer night is like a perfection of thought. Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) 3 . Summers lease hath all too short a date. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 4. When Iwas a small boy growing up in Kansas a friend of mine and I went fishing and we sat there in the warmth of the summer and talked about what we wanted to do when we grow up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major-league baseball player. My friend said that he'd like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish. Dwight D Eisenhower (1890-1969) In this issue... Street Smarts: 10 Tips for Selecting the Best Franchisees. Industry Focus: Meal Assembly- The next big thing in food franchises. Guest Column: Franchise Hunting…The Game Has Changed.

News You Can Use Pizza Hut Fights Off Competition with New Pizza Formula Jack in the Box Posts 25% Jump in Profits Starwood Reveals Major Makeover for Sheraton Brand Jamba Juice to Test Breakfast Accor Hotels Plans Expansion in China Baja Fresh Buys La Salsa Featured Supplier Greenbaum We Thank Our Sponsors FREE White Paper FranchiseHelp's Franchise Meal Assembly Report Subscribe | Unsubscribe to the Newsletter

Companies franchise because it's a great way to build an organization, expand markets, and leverage growth beyond their capital limitations. Fast growth can be exciting but, too often, adding to the unit roster becomes a matter of quantity rather than quality. Successful franchisors know that being picky about who is allowed to buy a franchise is vitally important to the ultimate health of the company. It's important to find qualified, competent franchisees who can and will promote the brand, add value to the organization, boost the unit success rate, and increase revenues and market penetration.

Here are our tips for selecting the best franchise candidates for your organization:

1. Conduct credit and background checks; investigate any red flags.
2. Be thorough when checking references.
3. Require a business or marketing plan to gauge the level of knowledge and expertise.
4. Reject candidates who don't fit the personality profile and list of qualifications you're looking for.
5. Have diverse staff members interview candidates, not just the franchise sales personnel.
6. Field staff should meet and interview candidates before completing the process.
7. Never rush to close a sale.
8. Don't grant more territory or other considerations to close a sale.
9. Choose candidates who are active and able to network in their communities.
10. Look at current affiliations with professional and community service organizations.

Meal Assembly - The Next Big Thing in Food Franchises

Last time we talked to folks who originated the meal assembly concept. It’s only been five years since the first meal assembly franchises opened, and already the trend is starting to morph into something new. For this issue, we talked to Bill Byrd, CEO of Super Suppers. The concept started much the same way as Dream Dinners, as an answer to the time-crunch problem that most families face.

“Our studies showed that it takes a minimum of 40 hours a month to get a menu, shop, prepare, cook, serve, and clean,” says Byrd. “That’s a lot of time. We took the 40 hours and shortened it down to 2 hours by setting up the prep bar much like a Subway Shop, only turning it around so the customers do the assembly themselves. The measuring is done and everything is there, even the spray for the pans. The food is good – and it’s healthy.”

So far, this sounds like the typical meal assembly concept. All was going well for Super Suppers. Customers were saving time and money and feeling good about themselves because they were serving good food to their families, food they cooked themselves. But the folks at Super Suppers noticed that people still wanted convenience. That’s why the fast food industry continues to thrive. “At 4:00 it hits us,” says Byrd,

“We think, ‘what am I going to have for dinner?’ By then you’re tired and you grab the nearest fast food. Half an hour later you’re feeling guilty because you didn’t do a very good job. It turns out convenience is still the most important factor - more important than the satisfaction of putting together your own meal.”

The answer for last minute meal planners? “We now have a curbside-to-go concept where we offer meals that have already been prepared by our staff. Customers can call in their order for the evening meal, stop by to pick it up, and take it home and cook it the same way as if they had put the ingredients together themselves. They know it’s real, it’s the same food they would have assembled themselves so they feel fine about it.”

Byrd says Super Supper’s next step is to be able to provide a full meal. “In addition to entrees, we now have several side dishes to choose from. Next we’ll have salads.”

Franchise Hunting…The Game Has Changed
By: Flo Schell

It used to be that franchisors would advertise wisely, talk only with prospects that proved a high level of interest, and award the franchise to the most able. That still happens today, but the rules of the game have changed; the franchising world has entered The Intention Economy.

Franchisors (the sellers) have long been seeking out qualified prospects (the buyers). And while they still do, the worldwide web has changed the game considerably. The tables have turned and savvy prospects (the buyers) are seeking out the best qualified franchisors (the sellers). We might say they have the upper hand. They're shopping intentionally.

Here's how it goes; they shop the web, find the franchisors that seem to have what they want, and then selectively communicate with those franchisors. They narrow their search to a handful or two of franchisors. They might say, "Here's what I need and here's what I want. What can any of you franchisors do for me?" And then they choose the one franchisor that offers them the best fit. In essence, the buyers decide who they will purchase from.

*Doc Sarles, a savvy technology watcher, says this change in the buyer- seller relationship is a result of something that he calls The Intention Economy. Buyers of the future, he said in 2006, will pursue sellers, rather than the other way around. But the truth is this: The Intention Economy is no longer a future trend; it is already alive in the franchising world.

What does this mean?

So what does this mean for franchise sales professionals as they adapt to this economy? It means that now, more than ever, a successful sales process is more about connecting and clicking than ever! And the sales professional who wins is the one that the prospect connects with and trusts the most. Because in the end, while a prospect is buying your concept, he is just as surely buying your people!

So, franchise sales teams… take a moment now to measure your Click IQ!

1. Building relationship is my #1 objective with a prospect and I spend quality time on this.
2. I strive to create a specific connection (magic click) with a prospect in the first 15 minutes of the communication.
3. I use that magic click to build a strong foundation for my ongoing relationship with that prospect.
4. I strive to create a long term relationship based on trust.
5. I act as a strong partner as we move through the ups and downs of the sales process.
6. I confront problems with ease.
7. I use problems to strengthen the relationship.
8. I know that the relationship we have developed will get us through the landmines that are sure to occur.
9. I follow up consistently and positively.
I0. I close cleanly and surely, The more yeses you have…the higher your potential to win!

Flo Schell, EdM, is former VP Franchise Development, Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc, Founder of Franchise Coaching Systems and Author of Stop Selling: Start Clicking! You may reach Flo at www.FloSchell.com and www.StopSellingStartClicking.com and by phone at 732-528-4385 Eastern.

Pizza Hut Fights Off Competition with New Pizza Formula

The nation's largest pizza chains are experiencing increased competition for market share from upgraded frozen pizzas in the supermarkets, rapidly growing take-and-bake chain brands and fast-casual pizza contenders. Amid those challenges, operators of Domino's Pizza and Papa John's Pizza outlets are waiting to gauge the effects of segment leader Pizza Hut's latest marketing initiative, the promotion of a "new and improved hand-tossed-style" crust. The Yum! Brands division is promoting pizzas made with that dough as taste-test winners over the No. 2 and No. 3 chains' products.

In a bid to reverse its recent record of six straight quarters of negative domestic same-store sales, 7,500-unit Pizza Hut is turning up the heat on Domino's best-selling pizza, which is made with a hand-tossed crust. Pizza Hut recently ran a full-page ad in USA Today that claimed its newly reformulated "hand-tossed-style" crust had been subjected to blind taste tests in which it beat out similar products from 5,129 unit Domino's and Papa John's, which has approximately 2,600 domestic units. Pizza Hut also expects to introduce many new menu items in the next two years. (Nation's Restaurant News, 5/14/07)

Jack in the Box Posts 25% Jump in Profits

Jack in the Box Inc. cited reduced costs and skyrocketing sales at its namesake quick-service chain as driving factors behind its near 25-percent year-over-year jump in second-quarter profit. The company also raised its full-year, per-share earnings guidance, reflecting confidence in its efforts to continue building sales through new menu offerings and remodeled restaurants, even in spite of rising beef costs expected for the remainder of the year. The company expects its full-year same-store sales to increase between 5 percent and 6 percent at namesake corporate units.

Latest-quarter corporate revenues for Jack in the Box, which also operates or franchises the Qdoba Mexican Grill fast-casual chain, rose 6.8 percent to $660.7 million. The chain drove second quarter sales through menu offerings like the Steak 'n' Mushroom Ciabatta sandwich and grilled cheese sandwiches for kids as well as through the remodeling of 56 locations which have generated more guest visits and gained "more loyal users" than older units. Jack in the Box plans to renovate between 150 and 200 units in fiscal 2007, which ends in October. The company's system totals 2,098 company and franchised Jack in the Box restaurants, including 57 with Quick Stuff convenience stores, and 353 company and franchised Qdoba restaurants. (Nation's Restaurant News, 5/16/07)

Starwood Reveals Major Makeover for Sheraton Brand

Earlier this month, Starwood marketers transformed a portion of the W Times Square in NY into a maze of features and amenities that will eventually be found in the lobbies, guest rooms, meeting spaces, club floors and fitness centers of Sheratons worldwide. The build-outs were part of a large publicity plan to woo investors, developers and media into looking at the Sheraton in a new light. Sheraton is Starwood's "biggest and most important brand" with more than 400 hotels in 75 countries accounting for 51% of Starwood's room inventory and 40% of the corporate bottom line.

The first of the five initiatives being undertaken to revitalize the brand is to redefine lobby space with the attributes of a park. This will be accomplished by employing scent, plants, furnishings, high-tech devices and food-and-beverage offerings. Central to the high-tech innovations will be Microsoft's newly released coffee table "surface computer" which a guest can use to order drinks, download tunes to MP3 players and transfer photos from digital cameras to create e-postcards. Other initiatives include upgrading bed furnishings, installing flat screen TVs, adding extras to meeting spaces and fitness center programs that fine tune a guest's workout, even after checkout. (Travel Weekly, 6/11/07)

Jamba Juice to Test Breakfast

Jamba Juice plans to test a breakfast menu of hot stuffed pocket sandwiches and "chunky smoothies" or meals-in-a-cup that have to be eaten with a spoon. New selections are part of the 633-unit juice chain's strategy to boost visits by current customers as the system continues to grow. Eighty percent of Jamba's customers now stop into a unit fewer than two times a month, according to a report in BusinessWeek. Boosting the frequency would propel the average unit's intake far above the present level of $771,000. Currently, 95 percent of the system's sales are generated by smoothies. The test is slated for mid-to-late summer in 30 to 40 units. (Nation's Restaurant News, 6/12/07)

Accor Hotels plans to open 80 hotels in China over the next two years. There are currently 44 hotels under the Accor name on the mainland and this year the group aims to open a further 18. The 18 hotels to open this year will be "a mixture of new hotels and takeovers of existing hotels." Accor competitor, Intercontinental Hotel Group, also plans to extend its network in China by increasing the number of hotels on the mainland from 68 to 125 by the end of 2008. (Forbes.com, 6/7/07)

CKE Restaurants Inc. has agreed to sell its 96-unit La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill chain to Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, the 292-unit competitor led by David Kim and M Plus Capital. Under the deal, CKE's Santa Barbara Restaurant Group subsidiary would sell its wholly owned La Salsa Inc. and La Salsa Nevada Inc. Terms were not disclosed but the sale is expected to close by the end of this month.

Kim, a Thousand Oaks, Calif-based Cinnabon franchisee who owns the Sweet Factory candy-store and KaBloom flower-shop concepts, is a former franchisee of CKE's 1,087-unit Carl's Jr. burger chain. He also led the group that bought Baja Fresh from Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc. last November for $31 million. According to CKE chief executive Andrew Puzder, the sale of La Salsa would not have a material impact on the future earnings of his company, which also owns the 1,906-unit, St. Louis, Mo.-based Hardee's brand. (Nation's Restaurant News, 6/30/07)