Running a business is something that a lot of people within the United States aspire to do. Whether it’s running a small business or hoping to grow a company into a massive enterprise, being a business owner is a dream of many entrepreneurs within the U.S. One way of building your own business is to start a franchise. The idea of franchising is based on a marketing concept that can be adopted by an organization or an entrepreneur as a strategy for business expansion. When this takes place, a franchisor licenses the know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its business model, brand, and rights to sell its branded products and services to the franchisee.
Examples of franchisees can be found within many neighborhoods across the country. Some of the most well-known franchise locations include McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, The UPS Store, RE/MAX, Great Clips, and Taco Bell. During 2019 alone, there were 773,603 franchise establishments spread throughout the United States. The most commonly franchised services include automotive repair services, environmental services, retail, fast food, clothing stores, and children’s services. With these many industries available, let’s dig into five franchise startup ideas that might benefit you to look into starting.
1. Fast Food
People like to eat. That’s something which won’t change anytime soon. With that said, why not try to establish your franchise within a field which often experiences constant growth? As the coronavirus forced people to increase their fast food options, customers have been more apt to use drive thru’s. Fast food franchises are known as “quick-service restaurants” (QSR) and act as the lynchpin of the entire franchise model. Locations like these have acted as the guiding light for the franchise model for decades.
When first seeking franchising opportunities, work with a franchise financing organization to seek out lending for your new business. As a new franchisee, it helps to also receive direction with financial-related questions from such organizations. They can steer you on the right path when it comes to answering questions about SBA loans, equipment financing, startup costs, and establishing a business line of credit.
The fast-food franchising arena is one that can bring a constant stream of money. Some of the most well-known franchise brands include places like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Dunkin Donuts, and Sonic Drive-In. The fast-food industry is but one example of a franchise startup idea that you might want to invest in.
2. Health & Fitness
Another business that’s booming for franchisees is the health & fitness industry. As Americans try their best to stay fit and healthy, the demand for workout locations is high. These are places where people all across the United States can go to stay fit, through a variety of workout and exercise options. At a host of gyms, people can find opportunities to do cardio activities, lift weights, take yoga classes, and maybe even swim within a gym pool.
The health and fitness industry can bring businesses approximately $31 billion annually and is expected to grow by 5-10 percent over the next 6 years. During 2019, there were more than 100 health and fitness franchises, with more expected over the coming years. As you try to gather all the information about opening your own business into custom business folders, remember these reasons why opening a health and fitness franchise might work. Customized folders, pens, and other items can also help improve brand presence once your franchise opens.
First, you have a low and flexible entry point with entering the industry. The standard cost for opening up a location like this is only $15,000, making it a bit easy for business owners to open work out facilities. Secondly, a health and fitness franchise can provide you with multiple revenue sources. These can include hosting wellness classes, selling branded products, providing weight loss programs, and even coaching services. These are but two of the many reasons why opening a health & fitness location would work.
3. Retail stores.
Retail stores are a great investment opportunity for those seeking to find success as a franchisee. People still like to shop if they have the money, even within a COVID-19 stricken economy. During 2019, the total global retail sales were projected to reach $26.29 trillion, and $27.73 trillion by 2020. You can be making money soon by establishing your own Chicos franchise location and running a Barefoot Dreams sale for customers. Definitely keep the door open for retail as a viable and money-making franchise choice.
4. Childcare
Taking care of children is also another lucrative franchise field to get into. Combining your childcare experience, along with an entrepreneurial mindset, establishing a childcare franchise can be a good step to take to build your new business. The cost of opening a daycare franchise can be somewhat costly, though. The typical cost for someone who leases the location of a childcare business falls between $700K-$1.5 million. If you purchase the real estate, the cost is between $3.5-$4.5 million.
The returns for opening a daycare franchise, though, can be huge for a franchise owner. Daycare businesses tend to have high gross margins, which can average around 96 percent. This makes it easy for daycare owners like you to grow their daycare businesses after proper scaling. Daycares provide such services to create learning and social opportunities to help fast-track a child’s development. While also doing this, they are expanding the skills of a child before they enter grade school.
5. Senior Care
There’s an extreme need for senior care services, as our Baby Boomer generation continues to age into their senior years. It seems that a host of franchises are stepping up to meet this need. Senior home care franchises continued to grow at an average rate of 9.1% annually. There are now more than 60 franchise senior care brands, which all combine to total over 6,800 business locations, while also employing 350,000 people. If this is a field that you’re interested in breaking into, once you complete the important steps like making sure your business is in business tax compliance, then take the next step towards building your senior care franchise location.
