By Eve Adamson

Consider the humble hamburger stand. It sells hamburgers, and it has value. Then consider the McDonald's across the street.

"A McDonald's sells a lot more hamburgers and is worth a lot more money," said Jim Whitman, franchise development coordinator for Chillicothe, Ohio-based Petland. "Why? Because it is connected with a brand, it has an identity and it has an operating system that creates efficiency. The substantial profit is based on know-how."

This, in a nutshell, describes the allure of the franchise.

Franchising isn't for everyone. Some people are more suited for life behind the neighborhood hamburger stand than at the helm of a McDonald's. For others, however, franchising provides the advantages they need to succeed.

"In order to be competitive in today's marketplace, you have to have the edge," said Patricia Clark, founder and president of the soon-to-be-franchised Gulliver's Doggy Daycare in Williston, Vt. "I think franchising gives you that edge. It seems to me to be the best use of assets and people."

Deciding whether franchising will provide the best vehicle for your business plan depends on many factors.

Before you decide to take the franchise plunge, take a closer look at this growing sector and ask yourself: Do I fit this profile?

Here are a few things you need to know before deciding.

Kathy Ploudre, left, of Bark Busters in Littleton, Colo., works with a client.

How Franchising Works
Opening a franchise resembles opening any other business in some ways, but in other ways the franchise process is unique.

Potential pet-store owners can choose from many different franchise models, from general pet stores with or without livestock to specialty shops like high-end pet boutiques and aquatic-supply stores. Service franchises include everything from dog training and dog daycare to pet grooming and pet photography.

Every franchise has its own system, and not all franchises work the same way, so potential franchisees should do some initial research to determine which types best suit their passions and financial resources.

Deciding to purchase a franchise is just the beginning.

Franchises have reputations to maintain and that reputation hinges on the success of franchisees, Whitman said.

"We go through a process that helps people identify whether they have the aptitude and the stamina to launch our franchise," he said. "For every 100 people we talk to, we complete a transaction with just one of them because 99 of them are either not qualified financially or lack the skills or background they need to be suited to this business. You cannot grow a company if you put people into your business model that cannot execute it at a high level."

When franchises evaluate potential owners, they look for certain qualities. In many cases, those with no experience fit the franchise model best.

"The people we look for don't need any dog-training experience, and actually we prefer they don't," said Andrew Brooke, chief executive officer of Bark Busters Home Dog Training in Englewood, Colo. "We prefer somebody who wants to follow a proven system rather than wanting to do it their own way."

That describes Alf and Jeannie Gizzo of Evergreen, Colo., who wanted to trade their corporate lives for a more rewarding career working with animals, but who had absolutely no dog training experience.
 
"We needed a franchisor who could train us, so Bark Busters was perfect," Alf Gizzo said. "If a person has a lot of experience, they probablywouldn't want to do a franchise, but for us, it worked well."

 
Glen Wentworth left his job as a pastor so he and his family could move back home to Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Wentworth was a self-proclaimed "fish and reptile geek" but knew nothing about running a pet store. That made him a good candidate for a Petland franchise.

"Because of my lack of experience in retail, I decided I was willing to pay for someone else's animal husbandry expertise," he said. "I talked with a lot of independents and saw people making mistakes I didn't want to duplicate. The outstanding training program was one of the key factors that made us say yes."

Wentworth is preparing to open a second Petland in Pensacola in 2006.

Franchisees must also be willing to adopt the proven franchise model in its entirety.
 
"If someone doesn't want to go along with the proven method, preferring to use their own resources, they wouldn't be a good franchise candidate," Clark said. "I want to make sure that if it has the Gulliver's name, it has to reflect our vision."

Brooke feels the same way about Bark Busters.

"As a franchise, we don't want other systems filtering into ours and diluting it," he said. "People who come in fresh are perfect for us. We have people who used to work at Target and the Xerox, and they do great."

A passion for the work also makes a potential franchisee desirable.

"A lot of people we talk to got into franchises and now they want to get out," Jeannie Gizzo said. "They hate getting out of bed on Monday morning. But this franchise has given us something so rewarding and enjoyable, we can't wait to get out of bed. We get positive feedback every day."

Another motivator: The Gizzos grossed six figures in their first year of business.

The perfect franchisee also has to step up and choose a franchise right for them.
 
"Investigate as much as you can, what you are doing and where you are going," said Darcy Howen, who owns a Petland franchise in Rockford, Ill. "Talk to other franchisees. Are the stores profitable, and to what extent? Ask a lot of questions, like what requirements the franchise has, how their system works, how long they have been around, what their track record is. If you approach a franchise with all your financial and mental ducks in a row and a mind for wanting to do this, you have a much better chance of success."

Being part of a franchise gives a retailer greater clout with distributors and manufacturers.

The Franchise Advantage
While some people balk at the notion of a franchise fee "the initial cost of the franchise license and the percentage of income the franchise claims" the alternative can be even more costly.
"The beauty of the franchise is that people buy a brand and a system," Brooke said. "With a franchise, you pay a fraction of what it would cost to do it on your own."

Whitman agreed.
"Trial and error is expensive and exhausting, and a good franchise can help you to skip  all that," he said. "If I have a method that can help somebody do $400 per square foot when they would only do $200 per square foot on their own, why wouldn't they share a little bit of that with the franchise for that valuable know-how? That is at the core of what franchising does."

Franchise owners benefit from a recognized brand name, but may benefit even more from the knowledge and experience already established and incorporated into a franchise"s system. That knowledge also translates into a proven system for distinguishing a pet store in a market dominated by mass market, discount and grocery stores.

"Just look at a Kroger or a Safeway across the street from a Whole Foods or a Wild Oats," Whitman said. "Both sell groceries, but there is room for both because they are clearly differentiated. A franchise can help a pet-store owner differentiate in a meaningful way."
 
Franchises also offer resources people might not be able to afford when starting a new business. Bark Busters Home Dog Training works with a national public relations firm, and franchise owners have access to that resource.

"We get national exposure and we can get franchisees on television, giving them national and local publicity," Brooke said.

Clark bones up on new training methods, canine health issues and the best ways to solve behavioral problems information Gulliver's Doggy Daycare franchisees can use without having to find it themselves.

"We handle more dogs than most because of the system we've figured out over the years," Clark said. "There is a lot to the system, and many potential problems, but our experiences can jumpstart someone wanting to go into this business, saving them time and money."

"If you do it on your own, you are on your own," said Michael Sondag, president of Lil Pals Pet Photography in Memphis, Tenn. "If you do it with a franchise, you've got someone behind you that has already been though the hoops and encountered all the problems and worked through them."
While every franchise has its own concept and method, many allow franchisees plenty of opportunity to tailor their businesses to their own communities and run things in a way that works for them.

When Howen stepped up to buy the Petland franchise where he worked as manager, he loved the feeling of ownership coupled with the franchise's resources.
 
"You have the autonomy as an owner to pick the methods that work for you, but you also benefit from greater buying power, an amazing training system and the clout of the brand in the industry," he said. "There isn't a distributor or manufacturer I couldn't go to that wouldn't take care of me in some way. If I was just "Darcy's Pet Shop," I wouldn't have nearly the same clout."

Franchisees also benefit from the knowledge of fellow franchisees.

"The training and support we have through 150 nationwide franchises, all connected through the Internet, really save the day sometimes," Jeannie Gizzo said. "The support system in our case encompasses everything from building the business and keeping it running to the best way of dealing with particularly difficult training issues. We can post a question and franchisees all over the country can give us their input."

One of the best things about franchising is that nobody has to  reinvent the wheel, Clark said.

"When people work together, they can go farther than each person individually going through the same process," she said.

Whitman agreed.
"Franchising is simply the selling of know-how and the selling of a brand that identifies the person that has the brand with that know-how," he said. "With the right person, that is a formula for success."

Eve Adamson is an award-winning freelance writer and the author of more than 40 books.