Franchisee resource center

Founded in 1992, the CruiseOne franchise is now one of the leading travel retailers in the country. As part of World Travel Holdings (WTH), CruiseOne maintains its position as a premier vacation supplier, providing millions of people access to the world’s most fascinating destinations through its 775 franchise owners. This year, Entrepreneur Magazine named CruiseOne one of its Top 50 franchises, out of over 4,000 operating franchise systems worldwide.

Bill Redfern, President and CEO of A Buyer's Choice Home Inspections, has been a realtor, broker, and property management company owner for over 20 years.

In all the talk about deficits,unemployment, and the precarious state of our nation's economy, one of America's most powerful engines for recovery is often (and foolishly) excluded from the conversation -- a classic case of missing what's right under our nose. Developed and perfected right here in the U.S., the franchise business model represents the ideal blend of national heft and local business, accounting for hundreds of thousands of stores, millions of jobs, and billions in annual output.

Have a professional background in Corporate America but thinking of finally jumping out to start your own business? Think a business coaching or business services franchise could be your perfect fit? Not looking to pay a crazy lease on an office and considering home-based (also known as "work-from-home") opportunities?

The Crown Crust Pizza may strike U.S. eaters as a truly strange juxtaposition of American fast food staples, but to a foreign audience, it's no less bizarre than piling ethnic entrees from different regions onto a single plate and labeling them by country, as in U.S. strip mall buffets that feature Indian food items side-by-side while those same items may only be eaten thousands of miles apart in their country of origin.

On the subject of “fairness” in franchising, we will try to separate the optimists from the pessimists . Hopefully, we will make an optimist out of even the most cynical readers amongst us.

AS: The finance background is helpful but absolutely not necessary in opening the franchise. It was helpful that I knew how to read the financial statements, but it is not a skill that cannot be learned quickly. In retrospect, any experience that one has is helpful in opening and running your own business. You are faced with so many different challenges on daily basis, therefore the more experience you have with Marketing, Operations and Finance, the more tools you have to solve these problems the best possible way.

FranchiseHelp interviews J.R. Cottle, franchisee and area developer of Highway 55 (formerly known as Andy's Burgers Shakes & Fries) casual restaurants. J.R. started working as a fry cook at HWY 55 as a teen and now owns multiple HWY 55 restaurants with plans to introduce the franchise to South Carolina. He draws upon his experience as an employee and his current perspective as a franchise owner to offer his advice and best practices to prospective franchisees, employees, and employers alike.

Because we have 30 years of experience as the largest frozen yogurt concept, our size allows us to provide services to franchisees that smaller brands don’t have the resources to provide. We are only as successful as each of our individual franchises are, so it is of utmost importance that we offer a service model, economic model and brand model that are appealing and profit generating for our franchisees.