DailyFranchiseNews.com

Just Leave the Ollys in LA, Please

As if Floridians didn’t have enough ways to get tanned, a well-known player is poised to enter into the bronzing brouhaha.

The Jacksonville Business Journal reported LA Sunset Tan is bringing Hollywood-style tanning to Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando. The luxury-tanning salon made famous last year by its own realty TV show about the tanning salon business on E! Entertainment Network is making Florida the first phase of a 500-unit national expansion plan that will be caught on tape during the second and third seasons of the show.

"Florida's looking to be a huge market for us," said company co-founder and CEO Devin Haman.

The success of the show on E! sparked a national expansion plan to grow from five locations in Southern California and one in Las Vegas to more than 500 locations around the nation and internationally over the next five years, Haman said. The company has already signed up an area representative that will be responsible for the hiring of franchisees to open 30 salons in the Miami area. Haman said the plan is to move up the east coast by finding area reps in Orlando, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville this year in order to have several stores open in time for filming of the second and third seasons. Haman said filming may take place in other Florida markets, including Jacksonville. Dennis Fuller, the director of franchising for Texas and the east, said he expects to sign a franchisee in Jacksonville in the next 60 days and that the first location in Jacksonville, which will also be the second or third location in the state, could be open in four or five months. Fuller expects to develop six or seven locations in Jacksonville over the next five years.

LA Sunset Tan services tanning bed sessions, sunless auto-bronzer, custom air-brushing and in-home services. Single tanning sessions range from $20 to $150 depending on the service and last about up to nine days. The company just launched an indoor tanning salon product line, clothing and swimwear lines and is preparing to launch an outdoor tanning products line.

Five Guys Adds Three New Locations in MD

It’s not easy finding a man who not only knows how to cook but actually enjoys it. Seeking five such gents could once have been considered a lost cause…but not anymore.

The Annapolis Capital reported Virginia-based Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries has plans to open three new restaurants in Anne Arundel County by this summer. Jeff Rubino, Five Guys' district manager for Maryland and Delaware, said the company plans to add at least 10 more franchises in Anne Arundel County over the next two years.

"We think it's a great area to expand," he said. "In every new market we go into, we've been winning best burgers and best fries awards."

Founded as a family owned business in 1986, Five Guys is known for its custom-made burgers and simple menu. The chain began franchising at the end of 2002. Now, the company has 253 locations nationwide and expects to open about 200 more this year, said Molly Catalano, director of communications and public relations for Five Guys. The firm expects to open 1,500 units across the country over the next eight to 10 years, she said.

Gold’s Gym to Bulk Up Presence in Cincy

Grab your spandex and a spotter, Cincinnati. It’s time to get buff.

The Cincinnati Inquirer reported Gold's Gym International is working to re-enter the Greater Cincinnati market with a new franchising team that would be charged with opening 10 to 15 local gyms in the next few years.

Gold's closest locations to Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky now are in Indianapolis. It has no locations in Ohio or Kentucky. For now, Gold's is operating on an 18-to-29 month plan to begin launching its local franchise. Individual gym franchises run between $2 million and $3 million to get off the ground, and no new gyms are likely here until 2009, said Keith Albright, Gold’s senior vice president of franchising. "But, if we get lucky, it's certainly conceivable that we could open a gym this year. In order for that to happen we'd have to find one or more independent gym operators who are willing to convert to the franchise," he continued.

Gold's Gym International has 475 franchised and 64 company-owned fitness centers across the nation. It also has 135 locations in 23 countries, and upwards of 150 gyms that currently in the process of opening some time the next 18 to 24 months.

VP of Sanderson & Associates gives birth to a toddler

For those following the drama, VP Courtney Thomas of Sanderson & Associates, the premier PR firm specializing in franchising, gave birth to Carter Matthew at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25th by C-section after trying hard to push those shoulders and head out on her own. 10lbs.10oz. Carter is adorable and healthy with rosy cheeks. Sanderson & Associates president Rhonda Sanderson says, “Of course he’s adorable and healthy looking, he looks like he’s 3 months old!” Rhonda was the proud winner of the office pool predicting baby Carter would be 10.5oz—even besting the finest doctors at Prentice Women’s Hospital at Northwestern University who were calling it at 8lbs. 6oz. Courtney and Daddy Dave are doing fine too and can receive congrats at Cbokor@yahoo.com.

Free Franchise!

A franchise for free? Couldn’t be…except it is.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported Ice Cold Air, an auto repair services company with 19 locations in West Central Florida, plans to give away a franchise to help a would-be entrepreneur in today's economy. The company "will offer the training and assistance to get the franchisee up on their feet," said Robin Hughes, president of Ice Cold Air. The company said it also will waive the standard $40,000 franchise fee.

"We are looking for someone who wants to promote themselves from an employee to a business owner," Hughes said. The winner will be announced April 16. "We picked tax day because that will be the last day the winner will have to file taxes as an employee," Hughes said. The franchise location will also be chosen at that time. The company is conducting the contest on its website and is asking entrants to submit a 200- to 500-word essay outlining why they should be the next franchise owner of an Ice Cold Air Auto Repair Center.

Good luck, all!

Dale and Thomas Pops into Franchising

Attention popcorn enthusiasts: Dale and Thomas Popcorn is bringing its kernels to a city near you.

Fox Business reported the Englewood, New Jersey-based company has launched a new and innovative franchise program in select areas of the Northeast. This move signals a new phase of expansion for Dale and Thomas to further share its chef-crafted, gourmet popcorn with its friends and loyal customers throughout the country. Through its network of company owned and operated popcorn centers, and after testing multiple formats, Dale and Thomas has quickly built the country's leading brand of gourmet popcorn. Led by industry veterans from both the food and retail industry, Dale and Thomas has developed a formula for easily duplicating the experience while maintaining the highest quality popcorn and commitment to customer service. Dale and Thomas will be taking franchise applications immediately and has planned rollouts of the new centers beginning in mid 2008.

"We are enthusiastic and eager to launch our new franchise program," says Terry Pritikin, chief retail officer of Dale and Thomas Popcorn. "Since opening our Times Square location three years ago, we've learned a great deal about our stores, our products, and our customers, not only through evaluating the service and merchandise in Dale and Thomas company-owned stores, but through our relationship with our two existing franchise locations. We have taken the best from our research and have created an exciting new paradigm of franchising, with our ready-to-pop franchise program."

He’s Gonna Pump (Clap!) You Up

Few business owners would like clients with little money, that throw tantrums and have no jobs. Fortunately, Frank Papillo isn’t like most business owners.

The News Journal reported Papillo’s customers aren’t as bad as they sound – they’re kids – and his business, Pump It Up, provides parents with another alternative when seeking fun yet safe ways to entertain their children.  At Papillo's Pump It Up party venue, they can actually get a little exercise -- slyly disguised as fun -- as they slide, squirm and squeeze their way through a series of gargantuan inflated "play structures."

Papillo is counting on the growing demand for child-friendly entertainment options to sustain his enterprise, based on a franchise model with 170-some locations around the country. In recent years, Delaware has gained a growing assortment of child-related businesses, from cooking academies to child spas -- such businesses made up just 3 percent of U.S. franchises in 2005, but have posted growth of about 36 percent since 2003, according to the International Franchise Association.

At Pump It Up, the parties are private, and all groups are kept separate, preventing cross-party squabbles and other forms of kiddie chaos. Targeted customers range from Little League teams to day cares, with a primary age group of 6-10.

There's at least one other group that might favor Pump It Up -- gym teachers. "It's great that people on the outside are looking to promote physical activity," said Sandy Kupchick, a high school phys-ed instructor and president of the Delaware Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She noted that schools also have discovered ways of making exercise seem like play, employing such diversions as mountain biking trails, fun slides and even dance-centric video games. "Now, we have to give them the 'wow' factor," she said.

Caffeinating the Masses

Sorry, Triad residents. Soon you’ll have no excuse to be less than bright-eyed and bushytailed when arriving at work in the morning. 

The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area reported Dunkin' Donuts has signed multi-unit development agreements with several franchisee groups in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh and six new units could be added in 2008. The first location is planned for Durham and will be open for business by March. The development agreements are part of the company's national growth strategy to expand in existing markets while moving into new ones.

"To fulfill our national expansion goals, Dunkin' Donuts is looking for multi-unit franchisees like in Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro with a strong organization and the ability to manage multiple units effectively and successfully," said Lynette McKee, vice president of franchising. "We also look for prior restaurant operations and real-estate development experience."

This Business Matters

For many business owners, dealing with paperwork, scheduling and staffing are the last tasks they want to deal with. Jim Brown can attest to that: after owning his own home repair and remodeling business didn't turn out the way he hoped, he found a company that let him focus on the aspects of the business he did enjoy.

The Denver Post reported that for the past year, Brown has worked as a field supervisor for a north Denver franchise of Handyman Matters, a rapidly growing home repair business based in Lakewood with 130 locations across the country and in Europe.  John Neunez is in his second year with the company after having worked largely on his own for two decades. Not only was the competition intense, but he didn't enjoy being on call constantly and dealing with paperwork.

"I can focus on what I enjoy doing," he said. Both Brown and Neunez work for Curt Wolff, a north metro area franchisee of Handyman Matters. "They may be good craftsmen but not necessarily good businessmen," Wolff said of former entrepreneurs turned employees.

About two-thirds of the supervisors and workers employed by Handyman Matters franchisees were once in business for themselves, estimates Andy Bell, the company's founder and president.  As a housing slump causes more people to fix their existing homes as an alternative to buying new, more independent contractors will probably join Brown and Neunez. Employment among the specialty trade contractors in Colorado has been declining each month since April and since May for new building construction. Despite that, demand for repairs and remodels remains strong, Wolff said.

Americans are expected to spend more than $170 billion in fix-ups and remodels this year. The chief reason: Of the 125 million houses in the U.S., three out of four were built before 1990, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More of those repairs are going through franchise repair services that give workers background checks and focus on customer service.

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Business

It may be a dirty job but that’s just the way Dale and Penny Marin like it.

The Orange County Register reported the Rancho Santa Margarita couple recently opened Clean A Can, a mobile trash can cleaning service to meet the needs of health and environmentally conscious consumer who find it difficult, unpleasant and time consuming to perform this necessary task. Each month, a mobile trash can cleaning vehicle comes to our customers' homes and cleans their trash cans right on the street after the cans have been emptied by the waste hauler. The cans are cleaned, sanitized and deodorized right at the curb in an ecologically friendly manner. All the cleaning supplies contained within the truck, meaning nothing is dumped into the street leading to the storm drains and into the ocean.

“Because everything is self-contained using a state-of-the-art pumping and filtration system with biodegradable cleaning products, we use less than a gallon of water to clean a trash can. By not attempting to clean their cans themselves, customers are also helping the environment,” said Dale. “We saw a need for this in Orange County. In Europe, having trash cans cleaned is a standard practice. We were fed up with foul smelling trash cans that were an eyesore and a ‘nose sore.’ We also were amazed to find that not only could we provide a solution that is needed and desired, but by doing this we could help the environment and allow a way for our customers to do so as well.”

The Marins said it took them about six months to get their business up and running. The advantage, they said, was that the franchisor has spent a number of years developing the technology to provide this service. The Marins contacted them at the time they were just starting to offer their first franchises. After about $200,000 in start-up costs, the Marins were up and running and are expecting to have $145,000 in revenues in 2008.