The Batlord

So picky that only people who've put in a rare amount of time and saved up a rare amount of money for someone working that job are allowed to become franchisees? How many McDonald's do you think there'd be if they were that strict? Maybe her company would rather have someone with a net worth and background that more strongly suggested this was just their first of many franchises.

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jwb

I don't think net worth is necessary to run a successful franchise as much as experience is. It's uncommon for first time applicants to get a restaurant as well - though obviously some first time applicants are better than others.

And I don't know how similar the process even is for McDonald's, it's likely chick fila is pickier than they are.

jwb

Also re: rare amount of money.... 10-20k isn't peanuts but it's doable for someone like my sister. They also require a bachelor's which can run you more than 20k easily. The rationale I've heard it's basically meant to select for people who are more willing to make a significant investment in the franchise. As in someone who is willing to have some skin in the game. And yeah that amount of money certainly weeds people out but in this case that didn't seem to be the limiting factor it was supposedly experience.

The Batlord

A franchise owner can just hire people to work there. They don 't need to run it themselves. And how many years does your sister have running that restaurant? Cause if you need more than that then you're not going to be giving franchises to anyone but long-term fastfood workers who have saved 10k-20k, which seems a poor business model if you're hoping to expand.

Also I just Googled "how much to start up a McDonald's" and it said $1.3-$2.3 million dollars with the franchise cost itself being only 45k of that. I know she doesn't work at McDonald's and my cursory Googling isn't hard evidence but maybe she's just too broke to own a fast-food joint.

https://www.investopedia.com/article...on%20or%20more.

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jwb

I don't see how that makes sense. They have a financial requirement as I said but that comes after you get the franchise. And it's in the ballpark I said. That's what they told her. Why would they have a financial requirement but lie about how big it is and pretend to reject people for different reasons when people seem 'too broke.' As opposed to just having a straight forward financial requirement, which they're within their right to do.

It sounds like you started with that premise and tried to reason your way back to it to me. I will admit it's possible I'm wrong about the exact amount and I'm misremembering what she told me, but the point is she didn't make it far enough for that to matter anyway. She made it towards the end of the selection process, but you don't cross the money bridge til you're selected.

jwb

Also I don't know for a fact they specifically need to have tons of fast food experience but basically what she has going for her is a few years management experience.... Which really isn't that much compared to being an operator. Maybe someone with experience running another kind of business wouldn't need as much experience with the company, though I wonder if there's a certain requirement. You think someone who's never worked any fast food place but maybe has money from day trading would be given a restaurant?

The Batlord

Nah I just Googled it cause $10k-$20k seemed really cheap to startup a business even if it was a franchise.

And you already said you don't really know how it works, so how would you know their franchise process and what they tell people? Maybe they lure you in with the franchise fee and only mention the full scope of expenses later and your sister never got to that point cause they knew she didn't have enough money anyway, maybe they did tell her and politely laughed her out of the meeting and she was too embarrassed to tell y'all the truth, maybe you didn't get the whole story cause you didn't ask her a whole bunch of questions or you're working off 2nd hand information, maybe who ****ing knows.

But don't you think 20k is a bit of a low number to set up a whole freaking business? Cause I'm pretty sure they don't just give you a pre-existing store when you buy a franchise. Like you're paying for a whole new store. I'm pretty sure you can't even buy a mobile home for 20k.

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The Batlord

I was just looking stuff up and unlike almost everybody else Chik Fil A only charges 10k and seems to pay for everything else but they also own the store and everything in it, charge 15% royalty and take 50% of gross profits, will only let you have one store, and are harder to get approved by than Harvard. Maybe it's one of them deals but that sounds like it defeats the purpose of owning a fast food franchise. Shrug.

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jwb

Yeah that's my point it's not something that you are going to get super wealthy off but you can make a comfortable 6 figure income...

The Batlord

Are you willing to name her company cause I'm curious now. I was unaware of such drastically different deals. Not saying they're not necessarily worth taking but this does illustrate the massive difference in opportunities for the working and owning class. Yeah you can have a business for cheap but you own nothing and we get more than half of everything. Like if you own nothing then what kind of wealth can you pass on to your descendents? Hopefully you can put your kids through college but you seemingly get none of the other benefits of building generational wealth that you would get if you actually owned the business. At least that's what it sounds like right off the bat to me.

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