The franchise business model provides a wealth of opportunities for the right entrepreneur to build up their portfolio and create a thriving network of businesses.
If you’ve found success with one franchise, why stop there?
Can I Own Multiple Franchises?
Yes, you can own more than one franchise. The exact extent to which you can expand your franchise's reach will depend on the parameters set by your franchisor, but opening several franchises is quite common and is known as multi-unit franchising.
What is Multi-Unit Franchising?
A multi-store franchise agreement gives franchisees the permission to operate more than one store. This is ideal for franchise owners who have succeeded with one location and would like to scale up, achieving greater financial success and increased reach.
If you are in the position to open multiple franchises, you will likely take more of a back seat when it comes to the day-to-day running of a store. Instead, you may hand daily operations over to a trusted manager while you focus on the strategy behind building up a multi-store network.
Single-Store Vs Multi-Store Franchise Agreements
Multi-store franchises are more challenging to run than a single store. Many franchisors will only offer it to franchisees who have a proven track record and sufficient experience.
At Esquires Coffee, we offer a range of opportunities to suit you. Whether you start with a single store and work towards a multi-store franchise or jump straight in with ideas for a multi-unit network, we provide ongoing support and resources for all of our franchisees, ensuring each coffee franchise goes from strength to strength.
The Benefits of Owning Multiple Franchises
Running several franchises can be advantageous for a number of reasons.
Financial Opportunities
The most obvious reason to invest in a multi-store agreement is the opportunity for increased financial success. While a multi-store franchise agreement may require a higher investment to start with, you’re also setting yourself up for increased profits as you tap into a wider market.
Spreading your efforts across multiple locations can provide more consistent cash flow than if you were relying on just one.
Economies of Scale
As you scale up, you will be able to negotiate better deals with suppliers and spread some costs across your units. With centralised management, your locations can share resources and benefit from bulk purchasing power.
Increased Efficiency
Additionally, if you’ve already established one store, you’ll have the right skills and knowledge to do so again with increased efficiency and proficiency. Good operational efficiency will mean you can easily replicate the things that’ve made your first store successful.
Increased Brand Presence
With more locations comes the chance for increased brand recognition and customer trust. If each of your stores is consistently good and provides customers with what they need, your brand name will hold greater weight for them, and they’ll be more likely to visit other locations.
Risk Mitigation
Multi-store franchising allows franchisees to diversify their portfolio and mitigate risk if a particular location starts underperforming. Losses from one location can be offset by the success of units in other areas, helping you face economic uncertainties more effectively.
Better Employee Experience
As you continue to leverage your own experience across stores, you can also better support employees. You can share training expertise between stores, helping to build the skills of everyone involved in your network. With a larger number of franchises under your management, you can also more easily share advancement opportunities across different stores with your best employees.
Things to Consider Before Investing in a Multi-Store Franchising
While there’s lots to be gained from developing a multi-store franchise empire, doing so is not without its challenges. To succeed in this area, you must consider a couple of things.
First, do you have enough working capital to sustain multiple businesses? You will need significant investment to get your stores off the ground, so you should have a good idea of all the costs involved – i.e. the franchise fees involved for multiple stores, royalties and any other ongoing costs.
Another key consideration is whether you have the right skills and expertise to manage more than one store. You’ll need to have solid leadership and communication skills as you spend time working with each location. You will also have to know when to step back and delegate when appropriate, as you won’t be able to be involved in everything happening at all your stores.
Managing multiple franchises will also be a big time commitment, especially to start with. So, you must be prepared to put in the work and lead your teams by example.
Expanding to a Regional Franchise License
A multi-store agreement could also be your stepping stone to a regional or master franchise license. This would give you exclusivity to develop a whole territory, further consolidating your accomplishments across several stores.
We are currently only offering master franchise licences in Scotland. If you are interested in developing a series of coffee franchises in the region or are considering investing in a multi-unit coffee shop franchise, please fill in our application, and our franchising team will be in touch!
