# Papa johns franchise



## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

Hi all

just looking to do something new, been lllooking into buying a starting up a franchise store.

At the moment I'm earning no interest on my savings and already have a couple of rental properties so I don't want to go the property route.

However, from what I've seen and witnessed Domino's and Papa Johns franchises seem to do very well.

Do any if you guys have any experiance or views on setting up a store, the nearest to my town is 5 miles away.

Thanks


----------



## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

Alpina-d3 said:


> Hi all
> 
> just looking to do something new, been lllooking into buying a starting up a franchise store.
> 
> ...


Be very, very careful with a franchise. I lost a lot of money on one and to be frank, I wouldnt advise anyone in their right mind to take one on.

For a start there are undoubted successes especially in your big high street names such as doms, pizza hut and the like.

I spoke to a lot of franchisees before I bought mine and they all said 'yep come in, the water is lovely' but once I'd signed up and was on the inside, those same people were more open and honest and said they were looking for a way out.

The franchise agreement is pretty watertight. You'll be lucky to get out once signed up.

The master franchisor will often only allow you to buy from their preferred supplier. I found out that I could buy cheaper from other sources than the preferred supplier but want allowed to. So, I was frequently unable to compete on price and was buying stuf at almost the same price others were selling at.

You have to pay a percentage of your turnover or profit each month to the frnachisor.

Franching is often sold as working for yourself under the umbrella of a name. But the fact is, the franchisor will be on to you like an employee if you arent producing the figures and paying him his 'required' commission every month.

The BFA will heavily back the franchisor is any dispute.

I most certainly wouldnt do it again.

Regarding a shop, be careful with the lease. Make sure there's an exit clause for you at 3 years so you can get out of the lease if the business fails or you decide not to continue.

Rents can be horrendous on even the quietest of high streets. Electricity for a business is horrendous and if you think domestic leccie is expensive......!

I can only speak for my local council but have to say no wonder so many shops are closed around me. The red tape makes your life a misery. You have to account for how you dispose of all your rubbish and must either use an approved contractor or the council themselves to remove it. At a cost of course! There's no taking it to the local tip yourself unless its a tip for commercial waste.

My advice, unless you are used to retail, stay well away. It took me about 5 years to get on an even keel again and clear the debts. Just my opinion though.


----------



## justina3 (Jan 11, 2008)

the pizza stores are not doing very well down my neck of the woods anyway asda is hammering them with fresh pizza made in front of you at a tenth of the price in todays money tight times its a no brainer. 

I only know a dominos manager but he says all the other similar outlets are feeling the same.


----------



## jcp (Oct 2, 2010)

I had a door to door soft drinks franchise when i was younger , total waste of money , all you do is work hard and give all your profits away on bills . Too many overheads and you must only buy from your supplier , even if you can get it cheaper else where . It depends on the area where the shop will be , in a posh area , they have nice houses and cars but no cash , the best area is a council scheme , there not so shy of spending there hard earned cash . Id stay away from the franchise the now cause retail is really struggling the now , people dont have enough spare cash to enjoy treats . Why dont you look at something like a autosmart franchise . Good luck in what you decide to do :thumb:


----------



## lofty (Jun 19, 2007)

I think a Domino's would do well in Washington,I looked into them a couple of years ago,but at nearly £300K it was a bit rich for me.I stuck with property and have done quite well recently,there are some cheap houses for sale at the moment.


----------



## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

There is a dominos in Washington, stopped going there as it's really bad quality. Prefer papas's on the valley.

Yep there are some cheap properties around but the rental Market is saturated as to many people have jumped on the bandwagon.


----------



## David (Apr 6, 2006)

i have a customer who owns 5 dominoes stores

he does very well - but hes managed to get them into areas where they shouldnt fail - outside uni student halls, centre of towns etc

me and my dad looked into franchising a filter franchise for waste oil - it looked an amazing proposition, we basically couldnt fail, but as soon as we went down to their HQ (900 mile round trip i'll add at our expense) we soon realised we were basically working for them, paying them a fortune for the privledge and if anything went wrong you were penalised heavily, the price for items we could get elsewhere were about double the price but we had to buy from them solely or face legal action as a breach of contract etc.

be careful - very careful


----------



## P4ULT (Apr 6, 2007)

David said:


> i have a customer who owns 5 dominoes stores
> 
> he does very well - but hes managed to get them into areas where they shouldnt fail - outside uni student halls, centre of towns etc
> 
> ...


was this filta fry by any chance


----------



## greenwagon (Dec 31, 2008)

Yes be very careful with Francise agreements 
Some times your better building up your own buisness as long as you have the skills 

Fast food ,sandwich and takeaways are the best to go into 
I know of a coffee shop which takes 10k per day and a Chinese takeaway 2k every day 
I know a lad who sells ice cream on a barrow at £40 per day rental fee and makes a grand a week profit ,hence he is not going to university now and just wants to work 6 months of the year and party the winter months 
Retail is not worth it to be honest 
Tesco ,asda and Internet and high rents and buisness rates are killing it that's before you Start on H&S and staff recruitment and problems that can cause with HR issues


----------



## lofty (Jun 19, 2007)

Alpina-d3 said:


> There is a dominos in Washington, stopped going there as it's really bad quality. Prefer papas's on the valley.
> 
> Yep there are some cheap properties around but the rental Market is saturated as to many people have jumped on the bandwagon.


I didn't realise there was one in Washington.
I've got a couple of rental properties that have had tenants continuously for over 3 years,I think it all depends where you buy.I have bought 3 houses in the last 18 months which I have developed and sold on, I've found it a good way of making a decent return at the moment.


----------



## Sue J (Jan 26, 2006)

Hi 
Have worked for a franchise for 18 years and my husband was a franchisee for 6 years, so have a bit of experience. 

1.	Decide what type of franchise you are interested in – do you want a management franchise, where you recruit and manage staff or do you want to work on your own. Whichever route you decide is for you, please don’t think you’ll be able to invest the money and then be very hands off from day 1. Setting up a franchise is just like setting up any other business. It takes an awful lot of hard work and time in the first few years. If you are thinking about this as a lifestyle choice then tread carefully and do your research well. 
2.	The benefit of operating a franchise is that you profit from their brand, experience, support and knowhow. The downside is that they will have rules, guidelines and targets that you will need to adhere to. Think hard about how this makes you feel. If you are used to working for yourself then it can be very difficult complying with rules that someone else has laid down. 
3.	Make an initial enquiry about the franchises that you are interested in. I don’t know how far you have got with the process, or what the recruitment policy is with Domino’s or Papa John’s but we use profiling to help us select the right franchisees for our business, before we even get to interview stage. At present, we decline to proceed with 3 in 5 applicants at initial application stage. There is little point in you doing much more if you don’t fit within their selection criteria. We’d reject another 2 in 5 of those that make it through to interview stage. 
4.	Ask your bank for information. Every large bank has a franchise division, which will be very familiar with the large franchises. They will know how many succeed and fail and what controls the franchisor has in place to monitor the financial progress of it’s franchisees. 
5.	Do lots of research. Ask to spend days with existing franchisees to see what their work is really like. Speak to as many franchisees as possible – ideally the franchisor will be very open and give you a long list. Ask the franchisor about how they support franchisees, what they expect from franchisees, how they train them, targets etc. Ask the franchisees the same questions too. Just a word here – occasionally you can find that local franchisees may be a little negative and not very forthcoming. They can see you as competition if they have been servicing customers in your catchment area. Ask what % of franchisees under 3 years old are on or over target. Go through the cashflow forecast carefully and question anything that seems unrealistic. Likewise make sure you go through the contract carefully, so you know what your obligations will be. Ask how they support franchisees in difficulty too. Sometimes something will happen and you need an extra hand. 
6.	Make sure you are very happy with the financials. I’ve no idea of the capital investment and returns from a Dominos or Papa John, but they will be substantial.

Hope this gives you food for thought.


----------



## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

hi

thanks for the advice, Surprisingly my dad and I have just had planning permission passed to demolish a derelict building and build 12 Flats near to where we live, so looks like i'll be skint again for a while.

thanks for the advice though


----------



## peanut1 (Dec 29, 2009)

Property is definately the way to go at the moment although i would say to anyone looking to buy, give it 3 months before bidding!! Quieter times and all that!!


----------



## Sue J (Jan 26, 2006)

Alpina-d3 said:


> hi
> 
> thanks for the advice, Surprisingly my dad and I have just had planning permission passed to demolish a derelict building and build 12 Flats near to where we live, so looks like i'll be skint again for a while.
> 
> thanks for the advice though


Sounds to me like you've found your niche in life and should stick at it. Good luck


----------



## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

Sue J said:


> Sounds to me like you've found your niche in life and should stick at it. Good luck


Not really, prefer to still work full-time as an engineer.

The rental's that me and my wife have are just to supplement our incomes as she's taking a career break (toddler) we've realised that the banks give you nothing for savings after they take away their bank costs.

the development that my dad and I are starting is to keep him active as he is now semi-retired (56 yrs old)


----------



## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

I've often wondered about the property route both buying to renovate and sell-on and buy to let. Out of interest Alpina-d3, do you own your letting property or is it on a buy-to-let type mortgage if you don't mind me asking as if its the latter I've always wondered if there is much left for you at the end of the month?


----------



## Alpina-d3 (Mar 16, 2011)

The let properties are owned, I'd reccomend RBS for the mortgage as they were very helpful. You don't always have to take out a buy to let mortgage 

but like I always say, it's 90% down to luck, ie the letting agency finding a good tenant that will sign up a yearly contract to rent your house.

I always try to be competitive when I price the rental expected, ie. If other landlords are wanting £550 for a 2 bed semi, I'll price mine at £495-525 if the tenant signs a up for a long term lease.


----------



## David (Apr 6, 2006)

P4ULT said:


> was this filta fry by any chance


correct Paul, any experiences?


----------

