Franchise Advice


Striking out on your own


To what extent should a franchisee be allowed to ‘do their own thing’ when it comes to making a change in the products sold under the franchise? Manzoor Ishani advises


H


ere is a snippet of a conversation I had with a client who is the franchisor of a fast food operation. “Hello George, I was driving past one of your


franchised units the other day in Torquay and noticed that you have added ribs to the menu.” “Oh really? That’s interesting,” replies


48 | Businessfranchise.com | February 2014


George. “We looked into it as a menu item as it seemed like a good idea. As it happens, I have been meaning to come in and see you about this little difficulty I have been having with some of my franchisees. We have been toying with the idea of a menu change for some time. We pride ourselves on being a little different from other fast food outlets and when the idea of putting spare ribs on the menu was first


muted by a franchisee, we took it seriously and looked into it. We experimented with a number of sauces and did a mini test-run in one of our outlets. The upshot of it was that it was a total failure. Don’t misunderstand me, there was nothing wrong with the product – it was first rate – but sales very quickly dropped off. The fact of the matter is that the product is not user friendly. The problem with ribs is that they are not easy


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