Ben Magnano ⋅ Frazier Healthcare

Hi Jin: I asked a friend who has a number of Yum brand franchises and here was his answer:

www.akfcf.com - KFC franchise assoc.

www.franmac.com - Taco Bell franchise assoc.

He can go to these web-sites and find out when our Conventions are on a regional and national basis.

He should also be able to Google that info for any other concept, i.e. search:

Wendy's Franchise Association, Burger King, etc.

Hopefully that's helpful.

Best,
Ben

Reid Lohr ⋅ Greenville, SC The EDI Group ⋅ 25 years experience

Jim,
I believe I may be a bit late to the dialogue - but I am new to ACP so here it goes. Owning any business is tough - and a food concept may well be the toughest. But it also can reap significant rewards - both financially and personally. The key is finding the right food concept and franchisor. Not always the easiest thing to do - especially since the franchisor and the franchisee need to be a good match. When there is a good match, it is generally a winning proposition - when not, it is tough.
Though new to ACP, I have been working with small & medium businesses for many years - both start-ups and those considering expansion.
If still interested, please feel free to send me a note and we can chat - it would be my pleasure.
best in your decision-making.
reid

Doug Hill ⋅ Kearneysville, WV PC Construction ⋅ 20 years experience

I would love to start a business, but fortunately I am well aware that I have no business sense. I will tell you of 3 people I know started two franchises and one went into his own restaurant business. The first was a Dairy Queen. It went well located at he junction of two state highways. He didn't pay his taxes ($52K) for the first year and was forced to sell the franchise to the owner of a Dairy Queen located 30 miles away that was doing great. The second started a Domino's Pizza. Great location and a small city limits for delivery. I worked in the sporting Goods store next door and in the spirit of a good franchise owner he offered me 2 free pizzas on opening day for helping him move equipment in. Startup cost was fairly low. Opening day I went over for the pizzas. There was a line out the door and pizza delivery drivers carrying columns of pizzas for delivery. Inside there were so many orders everyone with a pulse was making pizzas. I got handed two pizzas (no choice). I looked at the chaos and said, "Successful it appears." He was grinning ear to ear. He sold the business after 10 years and retired. The last was the saddest. My friend dreamed of opening his own restaurant featuring his fried chicken plate. I helped him paint the place and designed the menu and logo, All for the price of a special plate dinner. He folded in a month when his sister-in-law with the business degree didn't put the profit in the bank account and pay the loan, but instead spent it on who knows what. She checked herself into a mental health facility. Seems she had a gambling problem. I don't think I need to explain the lesson learned here. So I watched 3 potentially huge business/franchise ideas and only one worked out. Mismanagement was the killer. But you have the benefit of management skills from the military. Just go in with your eyes wide open. And I forgot the E-6 that took the 45K early separation and got out with no benefits. She sank that money into a franchise of Slim Fast vending machines. Crash and burn. As one of our great leaders in Desert Storm said, "There are no silver bullets, there is only hard work." Good Luck!

Jin Kang ⋅ Cypress, CA U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 6 years served

Thank you all for the advice but to be clear, I'm not looking to become a franchisee. I'm looking to establish relationships with franchisees who owns their properties. If you know of anyone willing give me the opportunity to win their business, please have them contact me. Again, thank you for the support.

Michael Del Vecchio ⋅ Killingworth, CT U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 3 years served

Hi Mr. Kang,

I recommend that you check out http://www.frannet.com/ - they will do a "preferences survey" with you, assist in choosing a suitable franchise match. Also contact local SBA office (check out online SBA.gov) - they have special programs for veterans - at one point 7-11 had a nice program for vets. There are reduced fee/no fee programs for veterans.

Be careful here, go slow and read everything.

Reed Benet ⋅ Birmingham, MI U.S. Marine Corps, Captain ⋅ 4 years served

If you still want to go into franchising even after Rick Dowling's advice...

Check out http://www.vetfran.com, the Vet Franchising Committee of the International Franchising Association. They will highlight franchisors that give breaks and discounts to vets.

Also, as a commercial RE broker, Sergeant Kang, note that the VA Loan explicilty allows for you to use your no-money-down up to a $417-721K (exact max amount is dependent on the county) VA Loan Guaranty to be a resident landlord in up to a 2-5 unit income producing property with one commercial unit. All major residential lenders are making these loans it, but minimally so. See http://www.ginniemae.gov/doing_business_with_ginniemae/issuer_resources/approved_issuers_document_custodians/Pages/single_family.aspx for a list of the 378 of them. As further explained below, technically "single family" properties are 1-4 unit, while "multi-family" are 5+.

The Guaranty protects the lender against any first 25% of loss on their loan to you, so you look to the bank as if you made a 25% cash down payment. Note the commercial unit's floor area cannot exceed 25% of the combined floor area of the residential units.

So you can pay yourself rent, if the franchise business isn't just about making their franchise fee off of you AND owning the real estate so you pay them rent.

Also note that this no-money-down pays for the bricks-and-mortar while the 100% guaranteed to the lender SBA 7a loan can support your business and the similarly guaranteed SBA 504 loan can support your furniture and fixtures -- and SBA lenders like franchise businesses because they are less likely to fail.

Note that the 504 can be used for owner occupied commercial property, but not mixed-use with residential.

BTW, to give you context of my knowledge, I'm working on a Zillow.com for vets to promote/explain this opportunity and then help us find the existing or build-to-suit properties in the 2-4 unit residential or 2-5 unit with one commercial space. Also note that as per the regs, but I know of no precedents, two vets can combine their VA Loan for 2-6 unit residential or 3-7 unit with one commercial unit properties. There are 3.8M 2-4 unit and 1.4M 5-7 unit properties out there, but presently no place to get to a comprehensive listing of them.

And for all of this, although there is no organized way to find these investors yet, and it is my aim to rectify this, you can get non-vet and/or non-resident co-owners of the property.

Your VA lending power will be limited by appraisal, your financial wherewithal, and/or typically much more conservative than the regs bank "overlays."

Finally note that as per the regs 75% (or more with a good explanation) of your market rate income from the rental property can count towards your underwritten income. And not all franchisors will allow for two or more franchisee owners per store (e.g. McDonalds no, Taco Bell yes?).

You or anybody similarly interested in all this can email me at reedmbenet @ gmail.com. And I welcome any love it or hate it feedback on my Zillow.com for military vets promoting/educating on the VA Loan and 2-7 unit property opportunity website efforts.

Semper Fi!

Rick Dowling ⋅ Buffalo Gap, TX Capital of Texas ⋅ 40 years experience

With most fast food franchises, you will become part of the labor force as opposed to ownership, working long hours beside a constantly-changing, high-turnover batch of unskilled, unprincipled, entitlement demanding "workers." A friend runs two stores for her son (who burned-out the first year) She never has time off, and when she is not physically at one of the stores, her phone is constantly going off with little issues at one store or the other. My advice is to leverage into an existing business or start your own with as little risk/ investment as possible. Have a good accountant and attorney. Do not cut corners.

Todd Schaffer ⋅ Cypress, TX U.S. Navy, Petty Officer First Class ⋅ 20 years served

I attended the Franchise Expo South in Houston earlier this year. There was a lot of good information including a free seminar for veterans only.
See link below.
http://www.franchiseexpo.com/

Thomas Steele ⋅ Riverside, CA Steele Financial Group ⋅ 48 years experience

You may wish to begin with a (1) List of the TOP franchise operations and (2) seek some guidance on how to connect with them directly using your personal and military skills sets. This could be a double double... a firm teaches you the franchise operations as an employee/executive and income while you're learning.

Frederick Welk ⋅ Meriden, CT Community Economic Development Fund ⋅ 33 years experience

Contact the International Franchise Association franchise.org. They hold regional franchise expos where franchisors exhibit and prospects come to kick the tires of the concepts. It would be easier to network with the franchisor reps there and perhaps they could refer you to their active clients who have real estate needs in the areas where they have deals in the works.

If I were you I would also reach out to the real estate departments or reps of the franchisors large and small where you think they are active in the areas you are working and where their concept makes sense for your property. Lots of calling but no substitute for easy connections without travel expense.

ICSC is THE organization for real estate deal making between chain stores and developers. The annual association membership is (intentionally) very high. They host regional dealmaking conferences in addition to a big national convention.

Jeremy Serwer ⋅ Woodstock, CT The Serwer Company, LLC ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello Jin --

While I can't speak to franchise industry expos -- or ones specific to fast food -- there is a shopping center (and freestanding real estate) industry group that could help: the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Their website is ICSC.org, and I do know that some of the fast food franchisors have booths at both the May convention in Las Vegas and the New York City convention in December.

ICSC doesn't specialize in fast food (they're all retailers and retail property owners), they a large and well developed industry association and should be able to get you to any next step specific to fast food franchising.

Good luck!

Jeremy Serwer