how-to-master-franchise

Franchise, the next level

This blog is for franchise candidates, to give them an idea about the daily work of a franchisor and for potential franchisors with or without an interest of taking their franchise concept international.

• How master franchise works

• How to master franchise

Franchising your own business is not the same as running your own “location”.  Managing your own franchise network in your own country is not the same as running a master franchise network (international franchise network).

Straetus started as debt collection company and with a unique concept it was an instant success. Therefor, it was transformed into a franchise concept. Opening one location after one another, we realized that we needed to concentrate more on franchise. So we decided to take a step back from the debt collection field and concentrate on the franchise business.

We learned more from our own business mode, while looking at it from a distance. We realized that franchise is like a well described and clear concept. This is a part of a franchise offer in general.

Straetus is a Dutch company and because we only have a population of 17mio people.. we had to do business internationally. Thinking of our first transition from running our own location into a franchise business model… And what about quality/quantity, the royaltees, long term/ short term.. stay out pricing? We had to make many decisions.

So, we decided to sell the dutch market to a “master franchiser”. And start all over again, with only one Master Franchiser. Now, we needed to find more master franchisers. Our goal is to roll out an international franchise network, with a Master Franchiser at the steering wheel in each country. We run the network with Master franchisers and our master franchisers run their franchise network from their office.

To get this going, it really asked everything from us. It’s a 24/7. Every country is different. We learned about legislation, tax, cultural differences, and much more.

• How to get master franchise

Currently, Straetus is active in the US, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Romania, Israel, Russia, South Africa and Namibia. In addition to that, we have negotiations going in other EU countries. Currently, defining a commence date, is not an easy task.

We want to keep on growing, but meanwhile we have a company that is active around the globe. Our company never sleeps. That is exciting, but it asks a lot from our organisation. If we hadn’t sold the dutch franchise licenses to the current master franchiser, we would not be able to manage all of this.

Every franchisor will say the same. Be clear and persistence in the candidate’s profile. Choose for quality and not for quantity. Quantity will cost you money.

The same applies to master franchise candidates as well. We have chosen our master franchise partners carefully, but also this is not a guaranty. Even if there is a match with a new Master Franchiser,

So, developing a franchise network with Master Franchisers is an ideal way to expand quickly. But it will need 100% of you focus and attention. And as a franchisor, you work much closer with your master franchisers because they need much more support and they, of course, are a part of the “local” development team. You need their involvement. For us their input is crucial, because we don’t know how business works in another country, but we do know which questions to ask to get the right answer.

We like to meet other franchisors to share experience and exchange know-how. Are you a franchisor and planning to start selling franchises internationally? Feel free to reach out if you feel we can help.