If you want your franchise business to be a rebel and a leader at the same time, don’t play by the rules.

By John Neitzel

For decades, the franchise business model, built on the concept of replication and repetition, has opened the door for thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs to take charge of their destinies and become their own boss. As the former president of T.G.I. Friday’s for nearly three decades, I am proud to have helped numerous people do just that, by adhering to the guidelines and uniform policies consistent with the standard franchising model. 

But now, as the president of social-casual bar and eatery, Bar Louie, I am finding tremendous success in casting aside the cookie-cutter approach of the traditional franchise model to pave the way for what we like to call the un-franchise. By providing our franchisees with freedom of expression while maintaining a consistent franchise strategy, we have been able to grow as a collection, not a chain.  

For companies looking to expand their footprint, maintaining a local feel and customizing each location to its specific market is key. We think of ourselves as an experience, and a local one at that. Everything we do facilitates our dedication to becoming the neighborhood watering hole. It is the responsibility of our franchisees to develop their locations as the go-to establishments in their communities, to build that brand loyalty and recognition. Our guests enjoy the authenticity, and our franchisees relish having the control.  

With more than 100 restaurants across the country, we feel we have perfected the consistency of a national brand while still having a local feel and appeal at every location. So much so, that despite our national footprint, our competitors are local, independent businesses. 

While freedom of expression should be top priority, guardrails and general guidelines must be implemented to ensure the culture and key elements of the brand remain intact as the company grows. These elements include:

Core Philosophy

While creating your plan to give your franchise system freedom while still staying within the guardrails of company policy, you have to establish your own core philosophy. The Bar Louie brand considers everyone from employees to the management team to be “Louie.”  If someone asks “Who is Louie?” the response is “I am.” Our team members strive to be of service, to support and to sell. But nothing we do comes at the expense of our guest experience. All of our employees possess the qualities to embrace the brand, so in turn, they embrace the guest.
 
In constant pursuit of simplicity, we strive to be the best and have fun doing it. We own our performance within our own four walls and think first before acting. We work to develop the people around us, and thrive in an environment where there is freedom within a framework. 

Guest Experience

Nothing you do should ever overshadow the guest or client experience. Unlike larger chains, we make a point to spend more money on things that the guest experiences than what they touch. We call this MALT — music, atmosphere, lighting and temperature. This is what we consider the secret to creating the Bar Louie experience. This strategy ensures our guests recognize our style and feel, but nothing is ever identical. We pull from industries such as fashion, technology and music, instead of the restaurant industry like larger chains. In addition, we repurpose old buildings, reusing old parts and finishes so nothing ever feels cookie cutter, and we maintain the local feel. No two locations are ever alike, but each has a modern, relaxed vibe expressing the brand’s identity.
 
In this fashion companies can step outside the mold, utilizing other avenues as resources or for ideas. This will truly set you apart from your competitors, who may all be following the same models, and potentially blending into each other. Stand apart by focusing on the guest, and what matters to the brand, and you will get noticed. 

Constant Innovation

Bar Louie’s innovation is usually in relation to our menu items, but if your franchise system is not a restaurant, you can still let your franchisees innovate consistently their locations and your system overall. No matter the industry you are in, you must foster open communication with your franchisees. Let them know that if something is working well in their market, they can share it with others franchisees in their region.
 
Our commitment to becoming the local gathering place means we need to pay closer attention to our menu. Consumers expect more innovation and change at local, neighborhood establishments. To meet and exceed expectations, we introduce new menu items every eight weeks using seasonal products and local fare. We are always open to ideas of which special menu items will work at a franchisee’s location, and we try to help develop the idea.

Investment and Flexibility

Coming out of a recession, no one has built much for the past five years. Yet now, everyone is looking for space. This means learning to work with existing layouts will be cost effective and save time that would otherwise be spent on renovations. If you allow your franchisees to develop their businesses in an existing space using what is there already as opposed to having strict square footage guidelines, it greatly opens up their options. At Bar Louie, the investment is half or a third of a typical chain, but the ROI is the same annually. This is in large part thanks to one of biggest differentiators: we can convert any existing space into a Bar Louie. The flexibility of the business model means our franchisees do not need specific layouts, drastically reducing build-out costs and time because they can work with existing spaces. For this reason, our locations can also range vastly in size, from 4,500 to 11,000 square feet.

Finding the Right Franchisees

Just as there is no cookie cutter location, there is no cookie-cutter franchisee. A company’s objective should determine if a potential franchisee is a good fit. For companies looking to build on a unique culture, franchisees should be excited for the opportunity to customize. Someone who wants to expand quickly through a replication and repetition rollout approach will not deliver the guest experience that customers should come to expect from the brand.
 
If you want your franchise business to be a rebel and a leader at the same time, don’t play by the rules. Before you make system-wide decisions, ask yourself, “would a chain would do it this way?” If the answer is “yes,” it means you have missed your mark. This is the time to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to do something else or do it differently.

John Neitzel is president of Bar Louie. Find him at fransocial.franchise.org.

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