Q What’s a franchise resale?

A franchise resale is the description we give to the process when an incumbent franchisee decides to exit their business and pass it on to someone else. As the franchising sector has grown over the past few decades, more and more existing units become available for various reasons, enabling the franchisee to move on to bigger and better things or, of
course, retire.The process can be complicated, as many parties are potentially involved, not least the franchisor, because they must approve the deal and the incoming franchisee just as they would for a greenfield outlet.The biggest advantage for the buyer is that, providing research is done properly, they will know exactly what they are buying and will have the trading history of the actual outlet on which to base the ongoing business plan. Depending on the reason an existing unit has become available, it may be possible to improve its performance simply by bringing new enthusiasm and energy to the operation, and there will be an existing customer base with which to work. If the previous franchisee has ‘failed’, it may well have been that they were not personally suited to that particular business and the incoming one will hopefully be better recruited using the lessons learned.