How to Build a Multi-Unit Franchising Empire

Make the jump from one franchise unit to a multi-unit empire.

- Jason Daley

OPENING THAT FIRST FRANCHISE STORE is hard work. It takes nerves, perseverance and resilience, and months of working all day, every day. Eventually, a thriving and sustainable small business is created. And then, you face a question you may never have thought you were ready to consider: Should you operate two stores? And then, what about three? What about 103, like Domino's pizza franchisee Michael Orcutt? In the franchising world, there's no limit to your ambition—but you have to grow smartly.

"I think a lot of people come into franchising and buy a single unit because they want a job," says Lorne Fisher, the founder of Fish Consulting, which specializes in franchise marketing. "If they get one unit and x amount of income, they're happy. But enterprise-building franchisees must have the skills to manage multiple units at once and also run a back office. You're dealing with lots or moving parts, and it's not for someone just getting into franchising to pay the bills. It requires a radically different mindset than single-unit franchisees:

Do you have what it takes?

Growing for the Right Reasons

Experienced multi-unit franchisees all say the same thing: Before you expand, you need to think hard about why you're doing it. "Do you have clarity on why you want to become a multi-unit owner? Is it to make money? To diversify your holdings?" says Aziz Hashim, a veteran multi-unit owner with 26 restaurants and a general partner at NRD Holdings, a private equity firm that invests in franchises. "There are ways to grow beyond buying a higher unit count. If you are able to double the volume of your current unit, that is pure profit. Would you rather have so units that make money-or too, of which SO are stagnant and SO lose money?"