Louisville Courier-Journal:

Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Works is looking for franchisees to open stores in the Louisville area.

The chain, which has more than 200 corporate-owned locations, specializes in warm sandwiches and milkshakes. Stores also feature live local music.

“Qualified, married couples and life partner teams who are sincere about integrating Potbelly into the fabric of Louisville’s communities are ideal franchisee candidates,” the company said in a prepared statement, adding that each store would employ about 25.

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Palestine Herald Press:

Sport Clips, the nation’s leading men’s and boys’ hair-care franchise, will soon open a store in Palestine. The store, to be located at 419 Old Elkhart Rd. (next to Wal-Mart Supercenter), will be the newest addition to the franchisee’s three existing stores in the Tyler area.

“Everyone needs a haircut, and we’ve been true to our mission of creating a championship haircut experience for men and boys in an exciting sports environment. That’s why the Sport Clips concept continues to grow here in East Texas and across the country,” said Brad Anderson, Sport Clips’ team leader/franchisee for the Palestine and Tyler locations.

“We’re hassle-free, family friendly, and provide a quality service,” he said.

Sport Clips currently has more than 650 store locations in the United States, with plans to hit 700 later this year.

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Fibre2fashion.com:

Driving a revival in the country’s apparel business after a tough year is a slew of regional brands mushrooming in smaller cities and towns across the country that are now attracting the attention of private equity players. Brands such as Liverpool Retail India’s Barcelona, Vir Retail’s John Hill and Nahar Group’s Cotton County that sell outfits at less than one-third the price of national brands are opening stores faster than the cautious national brands.

These brands operate in the Rs.150-600 price band, working on low margins and fast stock turnover.

Their marketing efforts are mostly localised and they woo new consumers into the organised sector through discounted offers like ‘buy one, get three’.

“National brands retail at a mark up of around three times, which is channelised into branding. We pass this on to the customer while retaining net margins of 8-10%,” says Kailash Gupta, MD of Ahmedabad-based Liverpool Retail India. While national players focus on per-store profitability and saturate metros before targeting tier II and tier III cities, these regional brands bet on scale and dress up smaller cities with Westernised brand names. More.

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Financial Mail:

Fruit & Veg City is the latest retailer to partner with a fuel business to run a garage at its forecourt shops.

The company has struck an alliance with US oil major Chevron, which was looking to exit the convenience retail business. “Chevron wanted to concentrate on fuel,” says Fruit & Veg City MD Brian Coppin. “And it wanted a retail partner who would grow its convenience channel for it.”

Chevron’s 188 Star Mart shops will be rebranded Freshstop. The product range – which was really just “cokes, smokes and chips”, says Coppin – will be revamped, and will include, unsurprisingly, more fresh produce. “We have the infrastructure, and the expertise – we’ve done the hard yards on fresh.”

Eight stores have been converted, and Coppin expects that 20 will be open by Christmas, and 150 within three years.

Turnover in the first eight stores is up by 50%-60%.

Continue reading this post.

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dBusinessNews Los Angeles:

Fiesta Auto Insurance has the policy entrepreneurs need to insure their financial future: a dynamic franchise investment with multiple revenue streams that serve the needs of millions of consumers in America.

The nation’s only insurance and tax preparation franchise is driving aggressive growth nationwide as it combines two highly attractive business models under one roof. Quadrupling its presence to more than 80 units sold during the past 10 months, Fiesta Auto Insurance is turning heads in the franchise investment community amid a down economy.

“We are opening the door for investors to remain profitable year round because of the wide range of insurance and tax services we provide,” said John Rost, founder and CEO of Fiesta Auto Insurance. “By merging insurance and tax preparation services, our franchise owners gain a tremendous competitive advantage, allowing them to connect with their customers multiple times throughout the year and build personal relationships with everyone who walks through the door.”

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Financial Times:

Fisk educational centres began the year expecting to open 50 franchises in Brazil. So far, they’ve opened 72. They expect to reach 80 by December.

“We started the year very strongly, with double the number we expected looking to open new entities,” says Cristian Ambros, director of the Richard H Fisk Foundation, owner of Centro de Ensino Fisk.

“Demand in the first half of the year was well above what we expected and it has stayed high in the second half. People are looking to franchises as a safe port in a storm. It’s been a great year for us.”

It has been a great year for the franchise sector. Annual growth is expected to hit a decade-high 13 to 14 per cent, according to Marcus Rizzo, director of Rizzo Franchise, a trade consultancy group.

The increase would consolidate Brazil’s position as the fourth biggest franchise market in the world, behind the US, Canada and South Korea, Mr Rizzo says.

The reasons are many and go far beyond Brazil’s relatively solid economic performance. The country might have missed the worst of the crisis, but the global meltdown persuaded many that franchises are a secure prospect.

Read on…

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Rediff:

Meet Ashutosh Upadhyay and Snehesh Mitra, two IIT-ians who founded EasySquareFeet.com to offer hassle-free solutions for home-hunters.

Their mission is to make real estate services market transparent, efficient, reliable and truly professional. They believe that the real estate brokerage industry in India is fragmented, localised and inefficient. So they have come up with a solution that will make your search for a dream home or house on rental easier and effective.

People who are looking to buy, sell or take a house on rent can place a request by making a call, or just post a request on the website (easysquarefeet.com). They will get an immediate response from the team. Instead of listing a large number of properties in the database, the customers are shown houses after understanding their requirements.

Photographs are shown to them on the Web site or mailed to them. After they shortlist the properties they would like to see, they are accompanied to the site. “The service is very personalised, making sure that the customer gets the best deal for his money,” says Ashutosh.

The company focuses on service quality and information credibility. A fascination for social entrepreneurship, creating opportunities for others, handling bigger challenges and building a strong and reliable service prompted Ashutosh who joined hands Snehesh with to start this real estate servicing venture.

“Property rentals and prices have risen a bit and stabilised. We expect them to remain stable over the next few months,” says Ashutosh. Here’s how the two are planning to make their mark in the booming real estate sector.

Tell us more about how you became an entrepreneur? Read on…

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FranchiseUpdate:

Why would both a franchise capital finance company and the CEO of a retail franchise brand sign on as franchisees of a new concept?

That’s what Siegel Financial Group and Gabriel Bottazzi, CEO and founder of Bijoux Terner, have done. They are among the six franchisees who have signed on with RetroTax. Part of the reason, both say, is that it’s a great concept. RetroTax, as the name implies, finds tax credits for both franchisors and franchisees–and gets paid as a percentage of what they find.

Another part is relationships, namely, Stan Friedman and the tax credit administration experts at the parent company, Indianapolis-based ACI/RetroTax. The “company store” in Indianapolis is 12 years old, and Friedman’s relationship with the principals goes back to 1994.

Friedman–who in the past two decades has held senior executive positions with Maggie Moo’s, Wing Zone, Blimpie International, WSI Internet, and Cendant–became a partner and president of the newly formed ACI Franchising, LLC, franchisor of RetroTax, in late 2007. He is clearly excited about the opportunity the concept offers to small businesses.

“Lots of companies are struggling to keep their doors open. We can go back three years and get back taxes they’ve paid,” says Friedman. “In many cases you can uncover five and six figures. They get cash back. And when you get a percentage of that, it’s beautiful for you, too.” Full article.

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Send2Press:

PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans, established 31 years ago and returned to local New Orleans ownership 16 months ago, is announcing significant expansion. Scott, Steve and Paul Ballard along with Thomas Richards, Brett Pearson, and Mark Higdon acquired the corporate operations of PJ’s Coffee in June 2008 from Atlanta-based Raving Brands. At that time, there were 44 corporate and franchised stores. Today there are 63 locations with 12 more scheduled to open over the next 6 months. The new stores are a combination of franchisee-owned and corporate operations.

PJ’s CEO Scott Ballard says the company is focused on more than just the number of coffee shops they can count. “While we continue to expand across the country, we are committed to remaining a New Orleans company,” says Ballard. “When we acquired the business last year, corporate operations consisted of fewer than 10 employees. Today we have a growing corporate staff of 28 focusing on roasting, franchising, quality control, and retail products. Together we are building and expanding the PJ’s Coffee brand,” adds Ballard.

PJ’s Coffee notes that it is now experiencing steady revenue increases following a period of eight to 10 months when revenues were flat. While so many other industries are experiencing difficulties, the coffee business seems to be holding its own. The company has finalized nearly 20 franchise agreements in the past 18 months, another sign that entrepreneurs believe in the PJ’s brand.

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Chain Leader:

Seattle’s Best Coffee today announced that its first Houston-area franchise opened for business in the lobby level of Williams Tower by the Galleria. The kiosk is the first of 10 Seattle’s Best Coffee franchise locations planned to be opened during the next five years by Hi Rise Amenities, Inc., a Houston owned and operated foodservice company. The 196 sq. ft. kiosk is a fully branded Seattle’s Best Coffee cafe serving the brand’s proprietary espresso beverages. It replaces an existing kiosk that served Seattle’s Best Coffee through a foodservice contract.

“Hi Rise Amenities was the first franchisee to sign with Seattle’s Best Coffee since we announced the expansion of our franchising program last February,” said Marie Gill, director of Franchising, Seattle’s Best Coffee. “Their proven track record of success of operating multiple units and passion for our brand made them an ideal franchise partner.”

Hi Rise Amenities kiosks at One Allen Center, Three Allen Center, First City Tower, Fulbright Tower and 600 Jefferson will become Seattle’s Best Coffee cafes and the company will also open a larger, flagship cafe, filling 1,100 square feet, in downtown’s Two Shell Plaza later this year.

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