If you’ve been following The Franchising Centre’s Facebook or LinkedIn profiles lately, you will have surely seen that Farrah Rose, our Head of Development, is back on the road doing what she does best: meeting and talking with some of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of International Franchising. Before the pandemic, she was our very own Carmen Sandiego with nearly every day being a new destination around the world. Farrah’s travel experience has taken in almost every possible international market you can think of, including a number of emerging markets where she has played a pivo ..read more

Whether you’re an experienced investor looking for the next big thing for their portfolio, or someone looking to launch their own business empire in earnest, there’s never been a tougher time to know exactly how to make your next move. It’s all too easy to be paralyzed by all the uncertainty in the economy – you know no-one has ever succeeded in business by not taking risks, but you’re struggling to find the right concept to invest your hard-earned money in. So, do you wait until something turns up, or do you get out there and find your next opportunity? There’s no such thing as a 100% guarant ..read more

More and more businesses are quite rightly considering the opportunities and benefits offered by franchising when planning their future development. Indeed, any business which operates through branches should at least look at franchising as one of the potential strategies for growth. By Dugan Aylen, Director and Co-Owner at The Franchising Centre, Europe’s largest franchise consultancy. However, the process of turning a business into a franchise begins long before the first advertisements are placed for potential franchisees. The people who run the business, whether they are main board direct ..read more

At The Franchising Centre, we’ve worked with more than 800 companies, franchisors and business owners over the last 25 years and have seen it all when it comes to political strife and economic difficulties, and how the franchise sector is affected. Whether you’re an independent business looking to franchise; an existing franchisor seeking franchisees; or someone looking to invest in a franchise, it may seem like an easy decision to put a hold on plans for growth, both personal and business in times like these. Our advice to all those that finds themselves caught in this dilemma is to do your ..read more

Although this article is mainly from a context of franchise recruitment, the general themes and discussion points can be applied across many other areas, whether it be team meetings, management meetings, board meetings, franchisee support, etc. To Zoom or Not To Zoom, That is the Question… Shakespeare will have to forgive my reworking of his famous phrase, but it just seems to sum up the content of this article perfectly! Other well known brands will also have to forgive me, but ‘Zoom Meeting’ has entered into the common English phrasebook to define a virtual meeting, just like the brand Hoov ..read more

As the UK economy suffers from more uncertainty, what kind of business leader are you planning to be over the next year or two? Alan Wilkinson, our Head of Franchise Development, was lucky enough to attend a talk recently by Mark Berrisford-Smith, Head of Economics for HSBC UK. He had a very interesting take on what the UK is currently going through. While we are now officially in a recession, Mark made it very clear that this is a recession like no other – but not for the reasons you might think. The press hits us with one bad news story after another these days, but Mark told us that, compa ..read more

To celebrate 25 years of providing an incredible range of services designed to guide businesses on their franchising journey, The Franchising Centre is inviting the best and brightest in the industry to join them for a food and drinks reception on Friday 7th October. Autumn is a fantastic time for franchising. Franchisors are looking at their plans for the next year, and potential franchisees are more active than ever in looking for their next big opportunity. Not to mention, we all have the fantastic National Franchise Exhibition at Birmingham NEC coming in just 2 weeks! As usual, The Fran ..read more

In a recent article featured in Elite Franchising Magazine, our very own Dugan Aylen talks about how cutting your spend on marketing channels that seem to be underperforming can be a false economy in today’s changing climate. Before making any hasty decisions, Dug tells us, it is important to develop a more detailed understanding of where your leads are coming from so that you can determine the most effective channels for driving conversions. This has to run deeper than just looking at lead performance from a single site or portal, as no single marketing strategy exists in isolation. They a ..read more

The last two and half decades have been an incredible journey in the world of franchising. We’ve seen it grow into one of the UK’s most dynamic sectors, with around 1000 different UK brands embracing the benefits of franchising and using it to sustainably and effectively expand their businesses. Franchising has proven to be an incredibly robust approach to business growth which has withstood all the ups and downs of the economy, and even a global pandemic! You can read more about the role we’ve played over the years helping businesses just like yours in our latest article in Global Franchise ..read more

Farrah Rose hosted the third webinar of Multi-Unit Month, and our guests spoke all about the state of diversity in the franchising industry, as well as their own personal stories. The panel detailed their journey into the world of franchising, and spoke on how their backgrounds sometimes left them at a disadvantage. But, the drive to become successful was too powerful and is why today, our panelists are successful executives and multi-unit franchisees. This webinar is unmissable for any female or minority would-be franchisee to see what is possible, and that the franchising industry is welcomi ..read more