Business format franchising lends itself well to families wanting to go into business together, although they must all be pulling in the same direction and be competent enough for a family-run franchise to be a success.
With everything at stake if both of the main breadwinners in the family are involved, it is essential that the business does not fail and the vast majority of research into this issue has said that franchises have a much better chance of survival in the first few years of operation than independent businesses.
The security of an established business structure and logo will help families to build up a client base quickly and they can take advantage of the franchiser’s marketing strategies. Another important factor is that each family member should receive comprehensive training from a franchiser so that they know exactly how to function in their role.
Having family members as staff can be very useful if the franchise is run in the correct way. They will be fiercely committed to making the business succeed, as they all have a stake in the profits or losses made. This means that there is more likely to be an attitude among family franchises that no job is too small or tedious, with no-one thinking that a task is beneath them. If everyone helps out with administrative, sales and organisational tasks then the business will be much more productive.
The strengths and weaknesses of each family member will be well known and so their best roles can be sorted out in a short time. In addition, family members are sensitive to one another’s personal needs, as sometimes they will affect how a person works and if a family is close enough to work together, it stands to reason that it would be easier to talk about issues with each other rather than to a regular boss or colleague.
However, personal issues between family members must not hamper the working environment and so any problems must be cleared up before taking on the franchise. It is important that every member of the team has a clear, defined role for them to work to so that the business can function like any other and whoever is in charge must be firm with their co-workers and discipline them when appropriate in order to maintain standards.
Family franchisees must also recognise that while bringing younger members of the family into the franchise will keep it going in the same way when the older members retire, they will first need to be approved by the franchiser.
Therefore, parents or aunties and uncles must be confident that the younger members have what it takes to continue the progress of the business.