A Complete Guide to Running a Multi-Unit Enterprise

"The key to our success is not just about creating great single stores, but about creating a great multi-unit company that can scale and evolve." - Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks

Running a business is challenging enough, but managing multiple locations under one corporate umbrella is a whole new level of complexity. A Multi-Unit Enterprise (MUE) refers to a business model where one company operates several locations or units, often spread across different geographies. These enterprises are commonly found in sectors like retail, food, hospitality, and healthcare. MUEs can be structured as franchised business models, corporate-owned chains, or a hybrid.

If you're running a multi-unit enterprise, you know how integral these setups are to the economy. They don't just offer market reach but also create job opportunities, significantly contributing to economic growth and making products and services more accessible to consumers.

Challenges for Multi-Unit Enterprises

Even if you’re a relatively small enterprise, managing more than a handful of locations would make you want to start looking for doppelgangers. Let’s explore some of the specific challenges that MUEs face every day and how to deal with them head-on:

Operational Complexity

Running a multi-unit enterprise means ensuring that every location operates? like clockwork, which can be daunting. How do you keep the quality and customer experience consistent across all units while each has its unique needs?

• Coordination and Communication: Imagine you’re running a coffee chain. Ensuring every cup of coffee tastes the same, whether it’s served in a busy city or a quiet town, is a challenge. Hence, seamless communication is essential. By automating processes and integrating communication tools, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page, maintaining brand consistency across all locations.
• Standardization vs. Customization: Balancing consistency with the need to adapt to local markets can be tricky. Successful brands offer universal favorites, even while catering to local or seasonal preferences.?

Resource Allocation

Resource management is the key to efficiency and profitability. Two complexities that multi-unit enterprises always have to contend with are:

• Financial Management: To make money, you need to allocate your budget well. Real-time insights and automated spend analysis can help you allocate resources efficiently.
• Inventory and Supply Chain Management: Preventing overstocking and stockouts requires meticulous coordination and planning. Centralized procurement and real-time tracking make supply chain management across multiple locations easier and more efficient.

Technology Integration

The foundation for cohesive operations lies in technology:

• Unified Systems: Integrating systems for POS, inventory management, store operations, procurement, and customer experience is essential for cohesive operations. Solutions that connect with each other ensure you can get a comprehensive store-to-HQ view of your business to inform decision-making.
• Data Management: Accurate data synchronization across all units is a must. Effective data management tools ensure all data is live, enabling strategic decision-making based on real-time insights.

Regulatory Compliance

Navigating the regulatory landscape is complex but necessary for avoiding potentially costly fines and legal issues:

• Multi-jurisdictional Compliance: Navigating various local, state, and federal regulations are important and ongoing needs. A compliance management system helps monitor and ensure compliance across all locations, reducing the risk of violations, non-compliance, and fines.

Human Resources Management

Managing your most valuable asset – your people – can be the difference between sustainability and shuttering a store. The MUE’s ability to effectively attract, hire, retain, and train employees across multiple locations, sometimes across countries and continents, will directly impact profitable growth:

• Talent Acquisition and Retention: Recruiting and retaining skilled employees across various locations is challenging. Streamlining HR processes from onboarding to verification, performance, and exits is vital to ensure that your talent pipeline is robust and there are no leakages in payroll.
• Training and Development: Consistent training is key to maintaining service standards and company culture. Tools and material for training and development that are consistently updated to meet changing needs ensure employees can receive the same high-quality training, regardless of location.

Opportunities with a Multi-Unit Structure

Despite the challenges, operating multiple locations is an avenue for profitable growth:

Scalability

Scaling efficiently is the single biggest driver for profitability in MUEs.

• Economies of Scale: Leveraging bulk purchasing and centralized administration reduces costs. Scalable tools ensure that systems working for 100 employees can also support 1,000, helping your business grow efficiently.
• Growth: Whether expanding through franchisees or company-owned stores, consider strategies like targeted marketing, selecting prime locations, and ensuring consistent quality to grow your market reach efficiently and effectively.

Market Penetration

Expanding your market reach enables sustained growth and supports achieving a strong brand presence across multiple locations:

• Brand Recognition: Strengthening your brand identity across multiple locations requires consistent branding and marketing efforts. Implementing a unified brand strategy ensures that your brand message is uniform across all locations.
• Localized Marketing: Tailoring marketing strategies to local preferences while maintaining a cohesive brand message is crucial. Flexible brand guidelines enable local marketing teams to adjust messaging and marketing efforts to fit local markets without losing overall brand identity.

Revenue Diversification

Diversifying income streams reduces risk and increases stability.

• Multiple Revenue Streams: Generating income from various locations reduces dependency on a single market or region.
• Risk Mitigation: Diversifying your geographical presence acts as a buffer against regional economic downturns. A sound location strategy mitigates risks associated with regional concentration.

Operational Efficiency

Streamlining operations enhances productivity and reduces costs:

• Centralized Management: Streamlining administrative processes and decision-making improves efficiency. Tools for centralized management help oversee operations more effectively, reducing administrative costs and improving overall efficiency.
• Optimized Supply Chain: Enhancing supply chain efficiencies through centralized procurement and distribution centers ensures smooth operations.

Innovation and Agility

Staying agile and innovative is an essential driver for growth and competitiveness:

• Technology Adoption: Rapidly deploying new technologies across all units keeps you competitive. Options like no-code platforms allow for quick implementation and iteration cycles, ensuring your tech gives you a competitive edge.
• Responsive Adaptation: Quickly adapting to market trends and consumer demands is crucial. Flexible operational structures enable swift responses to market changes, ensuring you remain relevant and competitive.

Software for Multi-Unit Enterprises

The right software and tools can unlock massive efficiency and productivity gains across the value chain for a multi-unit enterprise (MUE).?

Inventory Management

Effective management of inventory and inventory related processes enables MUEs to operate at maximum efficiency across multiple locations:

• Monitor stock levels and predict demand at the store and location levels.
• Use data analytics to prevent overstocking and understocking.
• Leverage QR codes and scanning for accurate inventory tracking.

Lease Management Software

If you are a MUE, there is one process that gets zero executive requests for data or visibility. Yet, that single process often contributes to lost revenue. I’m talking about lease management and administration for all your outlets and warehouses. Using lease management software will help you avoid payment delays and unexpected store shutdowns or utility disconnections:

• Utilize contract management modules to track lease agreements and renewals.
• Renew and negotiate lease contracts better and on time.
• Automate payment of lease and utility bills.
• Generate journal entries in compliance with IFRS 16 or ASC 842.

Store Opening/Closing Checklist Software

Store opening and closing procedures are critical for maintaining operational consistency and security:

• Develop and enforce standardized checklists to ensure consistent operations.
• Track ongoing compliance to SOPs to improve accountability and customer experience at outlets.
• Enable staff to complete checklists on mobile devices, ensuring convenience and flexibility.

Franchise Management Software

Managing a franchise network involves unique challenges, from ensuring brand consistency to supporting franchisees:

• Maintain a centralized database of franchise information, including contact details, agreements, and performance metrics.
• Ensure brand standards are followed across all locations by providing franchisees with access to standardized marketing materials, product information, and operational guidelines.
• Offer online training modules to keep franchisees and staff informed and compliant.
• Track KPIs for each franchise location to identify areas for improvement and provide support.
• Facilitate communication between franchisors and franchisees through integrated messaging platforms.
• Equip franchisees with the right store level software, such as CRM and Checklists, to eliminate friction to securely store and share data.

No-code Automation Software

While all MUEs will have an ERP, the ERP does not support the speed and flexibility needed to remain competitive. Enterprises then run off-ERP processes, which cascades into a ton of manual processes and data maintenance. To some extent, this is inevitable. However, there are better ways to build software quickly and adopt them, while ensuring they integrate with your ERP, Point of Sale, and other existing software. This is where No-code automation software enters the picture.

No-code software can help MUEs automate repetitive tasks, minimize errors, and reduce manual effort. With no-code software, almost all your processes, however complex, can be converted into a tailored application across the retail enterprise. This ensures cohesive operations and real-time data flow from stores to HQ:

• Automate workflows to enhance operational efficiency.
• Integrate with existing systems to reduce manual data entry errors.
• Develop and develop custom applications rapidly without needing developers.
• Modify applications easily to meet changing business processes.
• Enable collaboration between different teams and individuals at the point of interaction.

Conclusion

Managing multiple locations comes with its own set of challenges, but with the right tools and strategies, these challenges can become opportunities. Emerging technologies like AI, IoT, and blockchain will continue enabling digital transformation of Multi-Unit Enterprise (MUE) operations.

MUEs that have their eye on the ball will find ways to enhance efficiency, ensure footprint-wide compliance, and improve their customer experience.?

Platforms like Hubler can be pivotal for this transformation, offering solutions that simplify complex processes and drive business growth.

Reach out if you are a Multi-Unit Enterprise and gaps in your ERP are preventing you from operating at the maximum possible efficiency.