Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine 2013 Buyer's Guide | Page 12

DRIVING PROFITABILITY When I started in franchising more than 14 years ago, the “normal” at that time was to open a location, work it, and be successful. Today, there is a higher expectation–that you’re going to come in and be a multi-unit owner right from the start whether you are an existing franchisee of another brand or a new franchisee. And with that, come some challenges. SEAN FALK 2013 Conference Chairman Owner, WolFTeaM LLC President, Nachogang LLC, Marine Most franchise systems have franchisees who have already figured out how to operate the business model they have in place. Franchisors have operations manuals, site selection committees that help you find a good location, and marketing campaigns that help you be successful. The one thing they don’t have is a process to teach and train you about multi-unit ownership. The Multi-Unit Franchising Conference fills this void. This conference is completely focused on multiunit franchisees. That’s why attending each year is so important to me. In today’s competitive business environment, our margins continue to get squeezed from every direction. Wages continue to inflate, commodities continue to soar, and utility costs fluctuate wildly. The focus of the 2013 convention is “Driving Profitability”. As a group, we recognize the challenges we are facing every day as franchise business owners. Together, we have the resources to develop strategies that will continue to drive profit to your bottom line! The networking at this event is incredible. The peer-to-peer contact with other multi-unit franchisees is invaluable. You will receive so much–both resources and education–you can’t possibly learn on your own. And the content the conference has to offer is premium; no other conference in the nation covers this type and range of content. The Advisory Board, composed of multi-unit franchisees, develops programming that will be valuable to multi-unit operators from all industries and sizes because we have all levels of franchisees here. At the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, there is the knowledge base for wherever you are in the spectrum of ownership. As a result, year-over-year attendance at the conference has been expanding, even during the deep recession we just came through. I am really looking forward to seeing all of you at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, March 27-29, so we can learn great things together.