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Utah Business

Neal and Alexis Courtney acquired Cookie Cutters in 2014 when it had less than 30 locations. Recently it opened up its 100th location. How did they do it? Franchising

Franchising: The Ultimate Investment

There are abundant opportunities throughout the business world that will offer ways to make your business successful, but to me, the best option to grow your business is through franchising. Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to invest in and own your own business, or you are a current business owner looking to grow your brand, franchising is a great option for both parties.

For franchisees, investing in a franchise location is a great option because you have immediate access to proven systems, vast networks, and innovation streams. For franchisors, it offers the opportunity for rapid growth, allows you to enhance your systems, and provides you with the ability to firmly establish yourself in the marketplace. 

Benefits For Franchises

The Infrastructure Is Already in-place

One of the hardest parts of getting a business started is figuring out your internal systems and processes. When signing a franchise development deal, you are buying into the franchise’s proven system. Having that infrastructure already in place to help you establish your business is key because it provides you with access to training, strategy development, and business assistance.

You Gain A Network of experienced business professionals

Purchasing a franchise location not only provides you and your staff with access to training and business support, but it also gives you the opportunity to learn from other business professionals. The ability to learn best practices from both the franchisor and other franchisees is a great opportunity to grow your business knowledge and develop new, more effective business strategies.  

You Can Leverage your money

Maybe you have always wanted to own your own business but have minimal business experience. Franchising allows you to leverage your money by purchasing a location of a brand that already has a proven record of success. In doing so, you can use your investment as a way to propel yourself past the difficulties of starting a business from scratch and can implement the systems already in place. 

Benefits For Franchisors

Rapid Growth

Another great factor of franchising is the opportunity for growth. Cookie Cutters established sustainable growth through the use of multi-unit development deals. This not only helped grow the Cookie Cutters brand quickly, but it also allowed our multi-unit franchisees to expand its portfolio size and firmly establish their presence in a specific market area. 

Target market flexibility

Everybody wants a store in a major city, but there are plenty of opportunities in secondary markets that can yield great results, especially if you are able to get into those areas before your competition. Secondary markets tend to not be as competitive and they provide the opportunity for your brand to establish a place in the market quickly. By franchising, you have the ability to establish yourself in a major market and a secondary market, allowing you to reap the benefits of both areas.  

Access to capital

By selling franchises, the cost of expansion rests on the franchisee instead of you. The franchisee is paying for the right to use your brand equity, systems, and trademark. This allows the franchise to grow, while not having to apply for loans or use much of your own capital to expand your business, allowing you to focus on further business development measures, system enhancement, etc.

Franchising is one of the business world’s most useful tools for both franchisees and franchisors. It provides franchisees with the flexibility of owning their own business and managing their own staff but doesn’t leave them completely exposed to some of the problems that come with starting a business from scratch. Franchising provides franchisors with the ability to rapidly grow their business while minimizing their capital investment risk and eliminating their need to directly manage the staff of franchise locations. It can be a great investment for both franchisees and franchisors.

Neal Courtney is the CEO and franchisor of Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids, along with his partner Alexis Courtney, COO. The duo acquired the brand in 2014 after serving as multi-unit franchisees for 10 years.