DON T WANT A FOOD COURT FRANCHISE?

Transcription

1 DON T WANT A FOOD COURT FRANCHISE? NO PROBLEM! Check Out Our Non-Traditional Opportunities Prepared by:

2 Dessert franchises are evolving every day. When you think of a Great American Cookies franchise, you probably think of a food court or a mall, but this is changing as we speak! More of our franchise owners are asking for different opportunities, and we are doing everything we can to deliver! GREAT AMERICAN COOKIES ENTER: NON-TRADITIONAL FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES In an effort to help our franchise owners move away from the food court model, we have developed our nontraditional franchise opportunities. These are franchises located in areas that are not necessarily anchored by a shopping center or big box store. That s right! Owning a Great American Cookies franchise does NOT mean that you are stuck in a food court! Let this ebook guide you through the unique offerings of non-traditional locations, including the benefits of investing in a location outside of a mall. We will also detail a few examples of non-traditional Great American Cookies locations, including why they work and what customers they attract. Finally, this ebook has information about Global Franchise Group our parent company and secret to our business and the help you will receive when you start your franchise. 2

3 A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY The great thing about investing in a non-traditional opportunity is that each one is different! No two locations are the same, making each Great American Cookies a unique and diverse place. Because you will be the owner of a non-traditional franchise, you have the freedom to make decisions that enhance your unique location. You can run special discounts relevant to your location and have promotions that relate directly to your target customer, enhancing traffic even further. In addition, non-traditional locations attract customers differently than shopping center locations. These opportunities attract customers who are traveling, commuting, seeking entertainment, or attending seasonal events as opposed to the generic shopper. BENEFITS OF NON-TRADITIONAL LOCATIONS As we are shifting our focus to emphasize non-traditional locations, we have learned that these unique 3

4 opportunities have their own set of benefits. In particular, the locations of non-traditional stores are uniquely suited to attract certain groups of people. Additionally, these locations are easy to scale with other franchise locations. LOCATIONS CHOSEN SPECIFICALLY FOR TRAFFIC Because a non-traditional franchise is not located in a mall or shopping center, where foot traffic is a big part of attracting customers, you need to be sure your location is well suited to bringing in new customers. High traffic areas can come in a variety of forms. Some non-traditional stores are located where there is a lot of foot traffic like a boardwalk, big box retailer, or train station. Others are located where commuter traffic and cars are dense like a convenience store or community center. In addition, a Great American Cookies franchise outside of a mall attracts a different sort of customer. Rather than the generic shopper, a non-traditional franchise attracts a targeted group of people based on its location. The kind of customer you attract depends on where your franchise is located, but some examples include: Travelers Commuters Students Entertainment seekers Being deliberate in choosing your location is the key to a thriving non-traditional location. EASY TO SCALE WITH MULTIPLE UNITS At Great American Cookies, we make owning multiple franchise units easy and non-traditional opportunities are certainly no exception. These franchise locations can scale with multiple franchises with ease because they come in all different shapes and sizes. Here are a few examples of different locations and combinations: Mall food court + food truck in high traffic areas on the weekend Military base + airport + food truck Football stadium concessions (seasonal) + cafeteria at the local college Ski resort + entrance to an office building 4

5 Part of the Great American Cookies model includes making multiunit ownership easy for our franchisees. We offer Area Development Agreements to franchisees who want to open two or more stores, allowing you to lock in your territory and minimize competition. Non-traditional opportunities can make owning multiple units even easier. EXAMPLES OF NON-TRADITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES A non-traditional Great American Cookies franchise can come in many forms in a variety of places. Some examples of non-traditional opportunities: Military bases Airports Beaches & Boardwalks College campuses Stadiums Train Stations Transportation hubs Resorts Casinos Large office spaces Office buildings Convenience stores Travel plazas Big box retailers Community meeting places Theme parks Ski resorts Want More Details? You Got It! Below are some in-depth examples of how a non-traditional opportunity might work. 5

6 STADIUM A Great American Cookies franchise in a stadium offers a unique opportunity to earn money during specific times. Often busiest during peak seasonal times or evenings, stadiums can be an excellent source of revenue. doubles as a large scale concert venue as well as a sports arena will generate more revenue as you will be able to peddle your cookies to concert goers and sports fans on more days during the year. Locating your Great American Cookies franchise in a stadium works because stadiums attract high concentrations of people in a short amount of time. Stadium opportunities vary, like all nontraditional locations, and they can prove to be worthwhile. Some stadium opportunities are better than others. For example, a stadium that An additional opportunity at a stadium can involve a food truck or a cookie cart out in the parking lot. This can work particularly well on college and high school campuses during sporting events. A truck or cart will require a brick and mortar location where you can prepare your delicious cookies before transporting them in order to maintain the high quality of Great American Cookies s food. 46

7 Customers seeking entertainment from a sporting event, concert, or performance are often seeking an immersive experience, which includes pleasing their taste buds. These customers are out in couples or groups, looking to make the day or evening complete with delicious concessions. A cookie is the perfect concession for any event at a stadium because it is a portable, easy to eat snack. Often stadium attendees will punctuate their visits with a meal out, either before or after the event; that means that a snack e.g. cookie, pretzels, corndogs can fill your customers hunger in between meals. The same principles that make a stadium Great American Cookies franchise work can extend to other opportunities like amusement parks and ski resorts. AIRPORT Airports see high volumes of foot traffic on a frequent basis. Travelers often times are between hubs and are looking for something quick and easy to eat. Great American Cookies is an ideal treat for passengers from one side of the world to another. 7

8 Unique among non-traditional opportunities, an airport franchise mimics the qualities of a mall food court Great American Cookies: heavy foot traffic and a targeted group of people. Great American Cookies grab and go snacks are convenient for the average airport traveler. Customers at an airport franchise will likely have their hands full of luggage, purses, books, children, and more. The convenience of cookie makes it easy for a customer to grab and go, or to take a break from the hustle of travel and enjoy a snack. An added benefit of an airport location is the thousands of impressions customers get as they walk by your store. An airport franchise will have several thousand people walking past each day. Some of the biggest airports boast as many as 250,000 people walking through their terminals every day 1 ; these are all potential customers for your franchise. MILITARY BASE The hundreds or thousands of people who travel through military bases each day make this an opportunity worth exploring. In a lot of ways, a military base makes up its own city. Hundreds or even thousands of people commute on to bases each day for work, and even more people live on the base itself. Bases often have basic amenities for commuters and residents alike, including grocery stores, gas stations, coffee shops, and more. Joining in this community can help you take advantage of the high concentration of people living and working on military bases. Approximately 48% of Americans skip a meal in favor of a treat at least three times a week 2, and the people who frequent military bases are no exception. Commuters and residents on a military base are undoubtedly seeking a delicious dessert. A military base often has restricted access, so your franchise will be targeting a specific group of people. This laser focus on the military community gives you a unique opportunity to cater to their specific needs. Indeed, a Great American Cookies franchise on a military base can run special promotions that are relevant to military personnel. Rather than a generic military discount, your franchise could have a Private Praline Crunch mix, the Colonel Cookies and Cream and more! Sources: 8

9 When you are the owner, the sky is the limit. CONVENIENCE STORE Hundreds of people pass through convenience stores each day. Most cities have dozens of convenience stores, so if you open a Great American Cookies you can have your pick of locations. As the name suggests, convenience stores offer convenient snacks and treats to their customers. Offering cookies in a convenience store setting draws customers to that store and gives your Great American Cookies unique customers. Similar to airports, convenience stores want to be able to offer their customers snacks that they can grab and go, or eat quickly. In addition, convenience stores draw loyal customers. Surveys have found that 70% of daily convenience store customers go to the same store every day. 1 This creates real potential for a Great American Cookies franchise. Convenience stores are great for people running late night errands, traveling families filling up on gas and road trip snacks, truck drivers, morning commuters, and more. It is often said in the convenience store industry that 80% of a store s business comes from 20% of its customers. 2 According to research, parents are 58% more likely than non-parents to purchase snacks in a convenience store after buying gas. These people are buying special snacks for their children, and what do kids like better than cookies? TRAVEL CENTER Most often situated next to a major freeway or road, travel centers combine the amenities of a rest stop, a convenience store, and a hotel. Depending on the location, hundreds or Virtually everyone visits a convenience store at some point in their life. Sources: 9

10 thousands of people drive by each day. A travel center works in many of the same ways that convenience stores do: they attract loyal customers and hungry travelers looking for something to eat right away. An opportunity in a travel center enables your franchise to meet the food needs of traveling families and individuals. Travel center customers are primarily truck drivers. These customers are looking for a place to fuel their trucks and their bodies; a truck driver can enjoy a shower, take a nap, and get a meal or a treat at a travel center. sometimes go out of their way to get there. COLLEGE CAMPUS College students are busy and stressed, often eating on the go. Even a small school has thousands of students on campus each day, studying and walking past key food locations. The sheer number of opportunities on a college campus are what make this opportunity so exciting. We already mentioned that opening in or near a stadium or sports arena on campus can be incredibly lucrative, but that is just one option. Like convenience store customers, travel center customers often play favorites. Truck drivers that drive the same route often know the centers that have the food and snacks that they love, so they will College campuses nearly always have a handful of places where students can buy and eat food. Library cafes, food courts, shops in various buildings around campus, and cafeterias are 10

11 opportunities that a Great American Cookies could fit in. Many universities lease out these spaces in order to generate revenue. College students are a notoriously hungry group. We already mentioned that people are substituting snacks for meals more than ever, but we need to add that millennials eat snacks instead of meals nearly twice as often as any other generation. Millennials are college students now, making the college campus an ideal opportunity for a Great American Cookies. that walk through a large office building each day may crave a non-caffeinated pick-me-up in the afternoon or a treat right before they go home. RESORT People who are on vacation are looking for chances to treat themselves, so setting up an cookie shop on a resort s grounds can be a great opportunity. LARGE OFFICE BUILDING An office building can be an exciting opportunity for a Great American Cookies, provided enough people come through the doors each day. A large office building that houses several companies, or even one large company that employs a large number of people, sees a lot of traffic throughout the day. Some office buildings have cafeterias or food courts, in which a Great American Cookies would fit nicely. Others have one or two spots for restaurants coffee shops or treat restaurants work well here. A Great American Cookies can meet the snacking needs of working people, during lunchtime and throughout the day. The several hundred people Hotels and resorts offer their guests innumerable amenities ranging from room service to poolside drinks to in-house coffee shops. Increasingly, resorts are including one or two spots for treat companies to operate. A resort is a smart choice because the people staying there are almost always doing so for a vacation, as opposed to business travel. Resorts that include fun amenities like pools or video game arcades attract families, especially parents with children. 11

12 GLOBAL FRANCHISE GROUP S ASSISTANCE Choosing the right location will make or break a non-traditional franchise opportunity. It is imperative to select a location with high traffic that can attract customers to your franchise organically. REAL ESTATE TEAM Location selection is the most critical decision you will make as a franchise owner. Call upon the Global Franchise Group Real Estate Team for assistance with your research, negotiation, and questions. RESEARCH SUITABLE LOCATIONS When you apply to open a nontraditional franchise, the Real Estate Team will require that you have a few ideas of locations where you want to locate your Great American Cookies store. From there, the Real Estate Team can help you complete research on your location. The Real Estate Team can help you research your area and identify other potential locations for your franchise. Perhaps your city has a college stadium or a concert venue that have the potential to earn a lot of money for a Great American Cookies franchise. The Real Estate Team is trained in finding such locations and helping you decide which is the right one for you. Before you open your franchise, you will want to get to know the kind of customers you are attracting, how many there are, and what their spending habits include. Getting to know your customers can help you make decisions about marketing and advertising. Non-traditional stores generally see great volumes of foot traffic, but the locations are less available than at traditional malls. The timeline to find a non-traditional location could take longer than a traditional Great American Cookies due to their limited available locations. These locations are highly sought-after by other franchise owners so be diligent when seeking out these locations. LEASE ASSISTANCE The Real Estate Team has combined decades of experience in evaluating potential sites. The Real Estate Team can assist you in your negotiations of 12

13 lease terms and letters of intent with your landlord. In fact, most landlords have heard of Great American Cookies and are extremely amendable to coming to an agreement with you. ANSWER QUESTIONS It is impossible to predict all the ways that the Real Estate Team can help you with your franchise. Our experienced support team can answer any questions you may have about choosing the right site for your non-traditional franchise. COBRANDED LOCATIONS As you are looking at a non-traditional location, also consider a location that is cobranded with one of Global Franchise Group s other brands. Cobranded locations offer two streams of revenue. With a high demand for space and a small amount of availability, cobranded stores allow you the opportunity to reach a larger audience. The Real Estate Team can help you find the perfect location and combination if you decide to go with a cobranded option. 13

14 Get Started Now! As you can see, dessert franchises can fit in anywhere, not just in the food court at the mall. Visit us at to learn about investing in a non-traditional franchise opportunity in your town! Glenridge Connector, Suite 850, Atlanta GA franchiseinfo@gfgmanagement.com This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. An offer can be made only by the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). The terms of your contract will govern your franchise relationship. Don t rely on the FDD alone to understand your contract. Read your entire contract carefully. Show your contract and the FDD to an advisor, like a lawyer or an accountant. Currently, the following states regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you are a resident of or want to locate a franchise in one of these states, we will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your state. Franchise offerings are made by the Franchise Disclosure Document only. For New York: This advertisement is not an offering. An offering can only be made by a prospectus filed first with the Department of Law of the State of New York. Such filing does not constitute approval by the Department of Law. For Minnesota: MN File No. F-6175