I attended the 2022 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference. This is what I learned
Apr 13, 2022
(Part 1 of the 2022 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference)
Either if you are new to our blog, or a current reader, you must know that as the founder of The American Franchise Academy it is my mission to share knowledge, tips, best practices, and information to help you be successful in your business. With this in mind, in this blog post and within the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some insights from the 2022 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, which happened from March 29 to April 1st.
I did this last year and we got great feedback from our followers and clients, so I’m repeating the formula once again because this year's conference was amazing. It was full of great best practices, knowledge, information, and inspiration from highly successful multi-unit franchisees.
The best part: even if you didn’t attend (which I strongly recommend you do in 2023 to experience the whole conference and the networking), you’ll get the highlights of the event so you can improve yourself and your business.
What can you expect from this coverage?
If you aspire to be a multi-unit franchisee and you would like to learn from the people that are making it big every day, these blog posts are for you. If you already are a franchisee but you're struggling with your business, you can’t miss the takeaways that I’ll be sharing within the next few weeks. Among other topics, I’ll write about:
- Great best practices from very successful multi-unit franchisees.
- Specific tactics and things you can do to solve operational challenges and boost your revenue.
- Updates, statistics, opportunities, and business direction from FRANdata, the utmost organization of information in the franchising industry.
Do you want to increase your sales? Follow these 4 steps.
You'll get a lot of value out of this video series and blog posts. But again, it's not going to be the same as if you had been there yourself. I hope that, as you listen and read all this information, you get inspired and decide to go next year. I’d love to see you there so we can connect!
Opening session remarks
The Multi-Unit Franchising Conference opened with a general session with four MUMBOs (Multi-Unit Multi-brand franchisees).
The first one was Michael Kulp, franchisee of KFC, Taco Bell, and Jersey Mike's Subs, who reminded us how franchisees have an opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of so many people.
Many franchisees see the model only as a way to make money. But the reality is that as a franchise business owner you not only get to reach your financial independence, but you can influence the lives of your employees, customers, community, and even vendors. That's the beautiful thing about franchising.
Then came Cheryl Robinson, President of Supercuts. She talked about employee and employee staffing (don’t miss this hot topic in the video series!) and how, in her perspective, the task of engaging employees is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have. What she meant by that is we must pay special attention to this particular element to reduce turnover and succeed in this staffing crisis.
View this video to learn how to reduce turnover in your franchise.
She also gave a best practice tip: you need to be transparent with your team members. They may not be telling you, but they want to know what's going on and they are eager to feel part of your organization. One of the best ways in which you can do that is by sharing open information with them, because the more that you share, the more they feel part of it. That, by the way, is a way to fuel employee engagement.
The third MUMBO that took the stage was Guillermo Perales, CEO/President of Sun Holdings. He has the second largest multi-unit organization in the country, with 1,400 units from brands like Arby's, Burger King, Popeyes, GNC, and T-Mobile, among others. You can imagine the level of experience, knowledge, and challenge overcoming that this franchisee has gone through!
Guillermo shared a little bit about his journey, reminding us that while he does have more than a thousand units today, he started with just one that he was able to buy thanks to an SBA loan. He assured us that he went from that to owning an enterprise with over 10 different brands by being persistent, focusing on an objective of growth and development with success, and never giving up.
Guillermo is not different from any of you. You can do it too, you just have to be committed and persistent at it until you make it!
This is just a little taste of what's coming. Don’t miss the video series on our YouTube Channel and subscribe to our newsletter so you follow the takeaways I’ll be sharing on our blog.
And don’t forget to follow us on our other social media, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to get valuable information on how to become an even more successful business owner.
Reflections:
- What would you like to learn from top-performing franchisees?
- How are you positively impacting the lives of your employees, customers, community, and even vendors?
- In what way are you fueling your employee engagement?
- How persistent and committed are you to your franchise business growth?
WATCH THIS VBLOG on YouTube HERE.
