Why Franchise My Brand?

Broaden Your Market & Increase Profits

When you have a successful business that has immense growth opportunity, franchising may be the most efficient and strategic way to expand your market. Winmark has a 30 year history in franchising and we have done everything as a franchisor, from expansion and growth to turnarounds and divestitures. Because Winmark will only work with you if we feel you have a viable concept to franchise, if not, we will let you know and can part ways without ever having to pay us for that service, we are invested in seeing our business partners flourish.

Listed below are a few potential benefits that come with franchising your brand.

Rapid Growth

Day-to-day management can take up a lot of your time and energy, with some entrepreneurs personally managing different locations. As the business grows, running everything becomes impossible.

By franchising, you delegate the operations in a select market to an ambitious, responsible franchise partner eager to run their own business and participate in a thriving brand. You will quickly find that opening new locations becomes much easier when you no longer have to personally oversee every detail and utilize your own capital or additional leverage to expand. The new franchise partners will also have the benefit of using your proven business model, your brand name, and your support, meaning they can get the location up and running much faster and with less risk, and a much higher chance for success.

Build Your Brand Name Faster

With your business expanding rapidly to new markets, more and more people will become familiar with your brand. Franchising offers the opportunity to grow your brand utilizing the capital and sweat equity of your franchisee partners, meaning speed to market and expansion can happen as fast as you can find quality franchisees to represent your brand. The more franchisees in the system, the more brand awareness you build, growing at a regional level and building to a nationally-recognized name. This speed to market and consistency in brand appearance and execution builds a loyal and stable customer base, helping you achieve your goals as the entrepreneur and brand owner.

High-Quality Management

Franchisees are not employees, they are independent business owners. Purchasing a franchise is a big investment, one not many people are willing to make unless they are committed to building a business of which they can be proud. By carefully selecting who you choose to partner with, you can be sure that you will put your brand in the hands of competent and prideful business partners that will best represent your brand in their market. Having to rely on your business model to fund their lifestyle means you get a higher quality of management in each individually owned and operated location.

Low Capital Expenditure

To become a franchisee, potential candidates must pay an initial franchise fee as well as placing as much as 20-30% of the entire investment down in cash and collateralizing a loan for the remainder. The investment required of the franchisor usually covers initial training and support, real estate, and any travel for the franchisor’s employees, among other expenses, as well as the long-run expenditure of building sound infrastructure, support and brand building for the franchise. The franchisee’s capital covers most, if not all, of the expansion costs for the franchisor. This low capital expenditure model is what allows a franchisor to grow fast using little to no leverage or their own capital.

Royalties

Royalties represent the on-going fees paid by the franchisee for the rights to utilize your trademark, business model and support to help them in running their independently owned and operated business. Franchisees typically sign a 5, 10 or 20 year franchise agreement. That means for the franchisor, that while you limit what you can earn from each store to that royalty percentage of sales or flat fee, you also receive an annuity stream from that franchisee for an extended period of time. This allows a franchisee to get into an established business and license a brand for less, while providing the franchisor with a shared revenue model that provides payment to them over time for the rights to the use of that business. A strong franchisor that can successfully start and grow a franchised business with profitable franchisees can create a substantial cash flow business based on this annuity stream.