With the end of the year approaching rapidly, many of you will be working on strategies for 2007. Although indications are that there will be a slight slow-down in the economy, we believe that franchisors have every reason to remain bullish. There is growing awareness that franchising is the way to go and much untapped potential remains.
Indeed, 2007 will turn into a bumper year for franchising and some of our articles will tell you why. We also bring you the latest industry news and conclude today's newsletter with a reprint of some of the questions posed by our readers in course of last month, complete with our experts' answers.
According to recent press reports, cabinet has asked the Department of Trade and Industry to simplify the proposed black economic empowerment codes of good practice. This was set in motion with the appointment of an inter-departmental task team which, it is hoped, will advance this task. Already, Mandisi Mphalwa, the minister of trade and industry, has said that the dti is reducing the numbers of indicators on the scorecard to ease compliance. He also stressed, however, that the basic principles as set out earlier will remain unchanged. Read more…
The International Franchise Association (IFA), the oldest and largest franchise association with over 1 100 franchisor members, has challenged a decision reached by a Kentucky court which found a franchisor liable for the misconduct of an employee of one of its franchisees. Assuming the position of “Friend of the court”, the IFA argued, nor unreasonably, that, seeing that the franchisor has no control over the actions of its franchisees' employees, it cannot be held vicariously liable. Read more…
Retsol, the franchise management company which operates 100 Ola Milky Lane outlets and 28 Juicy Lucy stores, has acquired a 50% stake in Chicken King. Read more…
Following a listing on the AltX in June 2006, Taste Holdings reported improved results for the 6 months ending August 2006, including an increase in revenue of 40% to R15 million and an increase in attributable earnings of 77% to R4,2 million.
Taste operates 98 Scooters and 43 Maxi's restaurants; according to group CEO Carlos Gonzaga, new store openings are ahead of schedule and further aggressive expansion is on the cards.
If you work with recipes or other sensitive information, screen job applicants carefully and keep a tab on what your employees are up to, especially if they show excessive enthusiasm for their work and are reluctant to go home when their shift ends. Read more…
Q. I am the General Manager of a company in the service business. Our brand is highly respected and business is positively booming. We maintain branches in the larger centres and operate through independent contractors in smaller towns. I am not happy with service levels and would like to set up a network of franchisees. How do I go about that? More importantly, how do I convince my Board of Directors that this is the best course of action?
Read the answer to this question, as well as more questions and answers
This completes today's newsletter. However, our panel of experts is standing by to answer any franchise-related questions you may have. The service is supported by some of the leading lights on the South African franchise scene including Eric Parker, Eugene Honey, Trudi van Niekerk, Anita Du Toit and Lynn Mendonça. Best of all, it is absolutely free. Write to experts@whichfranchise.co.za and we'll respond promptly, usually within 24 hours.
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Michael Broughton, director of The Consumer Council of South Africa's Crime Prevention Programme, announced a new initiative aimed at alerting retailers timeously of heightened risk. SMS technology will be used to notify store managers and security personnel of possible attacks, including descriptions of suspicious individuals and vehicles observed in the area.
Upon receipt of such a message, store staff and security personnel in the vicinity can be placed on high alert. Moreover, cash can immediately be secured in drop safes, thus reducing the attractiveness of the target.
This snippet could be of interest to franchisors seeking new locations for their expansion drives.
If the number of building plans passed is an indication of things to come then East London is set to experience a boom period.
Over the past two years, the city showed an economic growth rate of 5,7% per annum. This has resulted in traditional centres like Vincent, the CBD, Beacon Bay and Devereux Avenue approaching saturation point. Future expansion is expected to shift to Buffalo City where the value of building projects recently completed or currently in the pipeline has doubled over the past 4 years.
Telkom has announced that the area prefix, for example 011 for Johannesburg , must be used even if the call is made to a number in the same area.
At the same time, the prefix for international calls changes from 09 to 00. This is important because it means that companies using automatic dialling and/or wishing to block the use of certain extensions for making international calls will have to re-programme their equipment.
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