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Village Coffee Welcomes New Owners in Fayetteville, NC

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Richie Irizarry and Jose Quinones-Guzman are both military Veterans who had a dream of owning their own coffee business. Their vision is to serve the military community in the Fayetteville, NC area to serve the Fort Bragg Military community. They like the sense of community and it is important to them. The newest location for Village Coffee opened in February 2015.

The interior design of their Village Coffee business includes a conference room, a room for moms, and a play room for their kids. Richie and Jose liked the fact that Village Coffee provided the flexibility to allow them to participate in the design of their own store. Richie and Jose have succeeded in creating a great staff and team and have impressively hit their break even in the third month of business.

The two Veterans are happy with their new start and business ownership of Village Coffee and look forward to continuously serving the military community in Fayetteville by representing a successful coffee brand.

 

About Village Coffee:

Village Coffee was founded by Tommy Lowery who was looking to create a business that was as much about Community as it was about Coffee.

The inspiration for the name was the Village Square that used to be the central gathering place in most small towns across America. The Village Square was a place where neighbors would gather to socialize, exchange ideas, debate current issues or just be together. While few towns still have lively Village Squares, Village Coffee shops are filling the void providing a warm friendly gathering spot where neighbors, friends, business associates and family can enjoy great drinks, food and pleasant company.

Just as we are dedicated to building a community of the best “Villagers” in the country, we are looking for people who are dedicated to both operational excellence while building a strong community of employees, customers and neighbors.

To become a Village Coffee business owner, request for more information to be in contact with a business development manager today! http://www.franchisebuy.com/franchise/Village-Coffee-Business-Opportunity

Getting The Most Out of Your Franchise Search

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Becoming a franchisee is a big decision. The easiest way to avoid kicking yourself for selecting the wrong concept is to do your research and request information on multiple franchises from a franchise directory or portal. You’ll see a big pay-off.

 

You can search based on your criteria

Only have a certain amount of available investment capital? Interested in staying in a particular state, region or country? Want to work in a particular industry? Franchise directories and portals let you search hundreds of available opportunities according to what’s most important to you. Not sure what you’re interested in yet? You can always browse the directory or portal’s list of available concepts for inspiration.

 

You Can Submit For Multiple Concepts Without Visiting Multiple Websites

Franchise directories and portals also let you submit for multiple concepts at once, a critical part of finding the right franchise. Many of them suggest related concepts based on those you’ve viewed, cutting down on additional legwork. The more you know the better you’ll be able to select your perfect franchise fit.

 

Treasure Troves of Information

Updated regularly, franchise directories and portals are valuable information resources. Often, they’ll have articles on franchises, small business news articles and helpful hints for franchisees. In addition, newly established franchises will be listed as soon as they’re ready to expand, a fantastic way for entrepreneurs to find new and exciting business ventures.

 

Your Direct Link to Franchise Development Teams

When you submit for information from a directory or portal, your information goes directly to the franchise development teams that interest you. On the rare occasion you don’t receive information or a phone call from a franchise development team member the directory or portal you used will be happy to contact them for you. Directories and portals generally have good relationships with the franchises they list on their websites. When you speak with the directory or portal, suggest a time of day you’re normally available to talk if you’re interested in speaking with a franchise development team member directly.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to find the best franchise? We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below. 

Franchise Profile: Dickey’s Barbecue

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Have you been to your local Dickey’s BBQ? Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants have been serving up some of the most mouthwatering, lip smacking, great tasting barbecue since 1941. Today, Dickey’s are opening up all over North America.

Dickey’s Philosophy

It’s simple: they want to find the right Owner/Operator first. Second, they use their site selection model to find the right location. Then they assist every step of the way in building a great restaurant and setting their operators up for success.

Dickey’s has evolved over the years, changing the public’s perception of barbecue and taking the category mainstream. The Dickey’s restaurant concept is authentic, inviting and well planned. They aim for 1,800 sq. ft. end-cap or free standing locations to maximize the profitability of our stores.

Perks

Each new Dickey’s Owner/Operator will have full advantage of the decades of experience, improvements and upgrades, attention to detail and the high quality standards established and maintained by the Dickey family. The Dickey’s franchise program features:

  • Site location assistance
  • Floor plan design and layout
  • Thorough training in management, operations and marketing
  • Field support and group purchasing power
  • Protected territories
  • Comprehensive accounting procedures
  • Turn key assistance
  • The knowledge and experience to help you succeed

 

Interested in learning more? Check it out here!

 

How to Deal with Change in Your Business

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Whether you are a current franchisee, a future franchisee, or even just a fan of our blog, chances are that you have experienced major changes in your workplace. Changes can cause great anxiety, especially if you are forced to adjust the way you have always approached a situation. Changes in process are often the best way to enhance productivity in business, yet the transition can prove to be troublesome.

I wanted to take this week’s post to discuss dealing with change and the growth contained in the process of change. Most of us operate under the illusion that life remains constant, but in reality, it is always changing. Your business, if it’s growing, is always changing, too.

Based on a study by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), the number one issue facing senior leadership today is “dealing with complex challenges.” Furthermore, studies say that the number one most important competency in shortest supply today is dealing with change. The CCL defines challenges as problems that:

  1. Lack a clearly defined solution
  2. Remain beyond an individual’s or single group’s ability to overcome
  3. Have significant strategic, cultural, environmental, and marketplace impact
  4. Create a paradox of reflection and action
  5. Render traditional solutions ineffective
  6. Demand flexibility and agility as challenges shift seemingly overnight

Being open to change and the lessons within change is no small task. Positive change requires letting go of old patterns and taking a fresh approach. In business, and in life, we must go beyond our preconceived ideas. We have to embrace, rather than resist, the change.

Change in an organization calls for a great deal of communication, specifically from the leaders in the group. What are some important lessons that you have learned about change from your business? Leave comments below!

The Millennial Generation & What They Want From Your Brand

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I have been reading recently about a hot topic in marketing and advertising – targeting the Millennial generation. Who is the Millennial generation, you may ask? While there has been some debate over when the generation starts and stops, generally, it is considered those born between 1977 and 1995. Larger than the baby boomers’ 76 million, there are an estimated 80 million Millennials in this group of 18 to 34 year olds.

So from a marketing perspective, how do we target this generation of people ranging from college students to young parents? First off, most Millennials are technology dependent. There are several tips that Susan Glosby from FIT4MOM offered in this past month’s issue of Franchising World magazine offers some advice.

1. Offer ease of access to your information

Most Millennials use their smartphones and other similar electronic devices to access webpages. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and is easy to read for those accessing info via a smartphone. Additionally, make sure you have all the information people are seeking on your site – contact information, sales information, costs of goods – if they can’t find it quickly, they may take their business elsewhere.

2. A sense of involvement and purpose

Millennials are said to care about the purpose and identity of the brands they support more than generations of the past. What does your brand do to make the world a better place? This generation wants to know. Do you promote local volunteering with your franchisees and employees? Do you help educate your community? Do you donate to certain causes as a company? They want to know those things, and are more likely to be a repeat customer if your ideals are in line with their own.

3. Peer value

Use social media to provide peer endorsements! Millennials have the sense that when using technology, they are never truly alone – their peers are always with them. Having Instagram tags, a Facebook page, a twitter account, allows this generation to easily do some of the advertising for you among their friends.

Hyperlocal Marketing Technology and How It Can Help You

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There has been a lot of talk recently in the marketing world about a new concept: hyperlocal marketing technology. Hyperlocal marketing uses the GPS feature and a mobile app on your smartphone to send targeted messages from a nearby franchise. The marketing is hyperlocal because the messages are for a small, specific area. This specific area can be specified through setting virtual perimeters around a specific location, an action referred to as “geofenching”.

Geofencing technology allows businesses to track when customers enter a defined area nearby their location through the GPS software on a person’s smartphone.

This technology means big things for a franchise.

Say you’re a Papa Murphy’s franchise in the Charleston,SC area. You can set up specific perimeters around your location so that when someone enters your virtual “fence”, you can send that discounted pizza coupon directly to them via their mobile phone. As they are within say one mile of your business, they will receive an alert on their phone with the pizza coupon and, hopefully, stop in at your shop. The key here is that these are also customers who have opted-in to receive offers; therefore, you are reaching a market of people who are already interested in special deals and offers.

The rapid growth of smartphone technology has delivered an entirely new platform to marketers. Businesses are now reaching customers in ways never thought possible in the past. How can this be translated to your business?

What are your opinions on hyperlocal marketing? Do you think that this could lead to an overflow of information to customers, causing them to become disenchanted, or is it an effective marketing tool that has an ever-growing presence in our future?

Technology and Franchising: The Future in Google Glass

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Franchising World, the International Franchise Association’s official magazine, published a really interesting article this month about Google Glass and the role it will play in franchising in the future.

As many know, Glass is the latest in technology innovation: a sleek (albeit slightly dorky looking) pair of glasses that acts like a smart phone. You can take phone calls, read and send emails or text messages, search the internet, translate simple phrases, receive turn-by-turn directions, take pictures, record videos, post updates to social media sites, automatically track your flight status or other events, and even make video calls. When you place the device on your head, a small display hovers just in front of your right eye (not in front of it, so you can still see normally.) There is a small touchpad on the side of the glasses’ frame that allows you to navigate its computing platform.

If all of that isn’t enough, technology analysts are now looking at the way that this device could eventually change hyperlocal marketing as we know it. What are some of the ways that they might change the franchising industry? Here are some of the speculations Ken Colburn has:

1. Training. The device could reduce the cost of creating video training libraries. With the ability to record high-definition videos from the first person perspective, training videos no longer need to be filmed by an expensive videographer. First-person training videos could capture point-of-sale interactions. Just by having seasoned employees wear Glass for a couple of hours, you could have a bunch of great, real footage for new employees. Trainees could also wear the glasses during their first few shifts, with the manual or reminders available literally right in front of their eyes.

 

2. Field Support. Glass makes it easy to gather information, complete with time and date stamps. Field support teams could quite easily document their visits with photographs, videos and verbal notes that can be backed up to Google’s cloud resources. The possibilities are almost endless.

 

3. Marketing.  Here’s where the money is at. Apps on Glass can alert users on local points of interest based on their location. For example, an app called Field Trip currently makes a sound every time you walk past a historical site. This technology could help franchises bring advertisements and coupons closer than ever.

 

While Glass is nowhere near its prime yet, as the technology evolves, I can expect we will see big things. The device’s technology offers a whole new platform for franchises to utilize. What do you think is in its future?

Leave thoughts below!

Community Outreach: What is your business doing for your community?

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Recent studies are showing that volunteer rates in America are on the rise. A 2012 study by the U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service found that two-out-of-three citizens serve their communities today and those numbers are increasing each year. Sociologists believe we are seeing a shift in many parts of the country where people are returning to focusing on their smaller communities, through supporting local goods and services, as well their local nonprofits.

Why is this important to national franchises? Any smart business should follow sociological trends. Therefore, national franchise systems are challenged to create a local presence in their community. People want their neighbor Doug running the shop down the road, contributing to the local economy, and therefore national franchises should encourage their independent locations to run as such. The way to do this is through community outreach.

Community outreach shows the public that you ARE a part of the community. While you may be part of a large national company, you are living, working, and investing in the individual communities you serve. By franchise systems partnering with local charities, they show the community that they care about the individual communities they operate within.

“Building a Company Culture for Community Outreach” a recent article in Franchising World, by Robert A. Funk, gives guidelines for how to go about making community relations an important part of your business’s culture. Here are a few I especially liked:

1)      Communicate Core Values

First and foremost, you have to set direction, with both a mission and a vision. Market yourself as a philanthropic company, and use social media to show what you’re doing for your local charities.

 

2)      Financial Contributions

At the corporate level, franchises can supply grants to community projects, as well as local initiatives and programs that support their charitable mission.

 

3)      Engage Your Customers

People want to purchase from a business that is sincere and authentic about giving. Franchises can ask customers to directly donate to the cause, making them feel just as much a part of the giving as the franchise itself.

Franchises & The Law: How Liable is a Franchise for Actions of Franchisees’ Employees?

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Patterson v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC, the California case that involves a sexual harassment claim by a franchisee’s employee once again raises the question whether a franchisor can be deemed a franchisee’s “employer” for certain purposes. Patterson, a Domino’s employee claimed that her assistant manager both sexually harassed and sexually assaulted her. When filing suit, Patterson listed both the franchisee and Domino’s liable for her sexual harassment. The reasoning behind this was that both the franchisee AND Domino’s were the supervisor’s “employers”, and therefore made them vicariously liable for his actions.

The appellate court was faced with a challenge: how liable is a franchise for the actions of individual franchisees’ employees? The appellate court stated that the “franchisors interest in the reputation of its entire system allows it to exercise certain controls over the enterprise without running the risk of transforming its independent contractor franchisee into an agent.” However, the court went on to explain that although this is generally true, because of this substantial control over franchisee’s local operation as well as management-employee, the franchisor can be subject to vicarious liability. The franchisee’s testimony stressed this issue of control, as he said that he had to abide by the hiring and firing rules given by the Domino’s area representative. California’s court decided that Domino’s actually can be liable for sexual harassment of a franchisee’s employee. (2012 Cal. App. LEXIS 753)

What does this mean for franchisees? Franchisees can certainly have a specific disclaimer for employment relationships to help protect them from liability. It could also be a reminder for franchisors everywhere to review their operations manuals and determine standards for what a franchisor actually has control, and therefore potential liability, over. I can only imagine that this case, along with several others in the past few years in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Florida, has made franchises more cognizant about sexual harassment laws and regulations.

What do you think about the ruling of this case? How much liability should a franchisor hold? Does a franchisor’s right to set standards for franchisees’ employees’ appearance and its involvement in hiring and firing decisions make them reliable for sexual harassment cases? Leave your opinions below!

Franchise Profile: Decor&You

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Decor&You offers exciting opportunities in the growing $200 billion dollar home furnishings industry.

 

The Decorating Industry is Booming

Being a Decor&You® franchisee is all about having a passion for building a team, motivating and helping others to achieve success. Decor&You offers the opportunity for you to apply your skills building a decorating firm in the 200 billion dollar home furnishings industry.

 

Decor&You® Creates Unique Value

Decor&You works to simplify how people achieve comfort, style and value in their homes and businesses. Clients open their doors to their DecorPlan™ that leads to a uniquely individual environment. Their commercial clients love the benefits of occupying interior spaces that emphasize brand personality and character. Decor&You’s decorators capture and reflect brand values in each DecorPlan they create for the offices, restaurants, waiting rooms and hotel rooms their commercial clients own or lease.

 

Like their clients, Decor&You franchise owners are attracted to this business searching for a space they love, too – in this case, a rewarding profession and an empowering life. They discover the DecorPlan System: a successful, proven business model for achieving beautiful, fully-decorated interiors. They learn the business in their dynamic Professional Education Program. They find a culture of performance enhancement through their system tools designed for a quick ramp up. They can also look forward to “hands-on” management, which comes with a high level of attentive service that is increasingly rare in the American business landscape.