How to Begin as a Franchisee

If you own a small park or FEC, you might be wondering how you can improve your business and create a loyal brand like the more experienced and well-known family entertainment businesses. As a small business owner, it can be difficult to create an image that will bring in the number of guests that the larger parks and FECs do.?

Chances are, you know your business is capable of doing so much more but you're not sure about how to build up that customer base and steady traffic coming in. In this case, you might be thinking about franchising. This is an excellent opportunity for smaller family entertainment businesses to expand their customer base and reap the benefits and rewards of franchising with a more popular company.?

How To Choose a Franchise?

If you're serious about owning a franchise that can turn your business around and make it everything you dreamed it could be, you may want to consult with an industry professional. Making sure that a franchise is a good fit for you is vital for the success of the venture.?

The good news is that you do not have to have any experience to run a franchise. It can be run very easily on limited skill and expertise. Ideally, you want to focus on franchises that already have a large following and can boost your business right away but also follow up with long-term success.

You will find that most franchisors prefer to partner with a corporation or LLC. If you want to own a franchise you may want to consider it. But becoming a Corp. or LLC. is really a good move on a few different levels. If this is your company, you want to separate your personal money and assets from your business liabilities.?

Financing

It's smart to get financing in place when you begin the process of becoming a franchisee. This is an investment in your business and you should look at it as exactly that. You can work on getting pre-qualified while you are researching the idea and still in the exploration phase. As long as you know that this is an opportunity you want to invest in.??

“It takes money to make money."? This is very true! When you break down all of the financial aspects of becoming a franchisee, it is a much more affordable way to create a brand and get an immediate return on its popularity by becoming a franchisee rather than starting a brand from scratch and trying to get it going. There is so much trial-and-error to this process. A lot of small business owners give up, and get out of the business before they can actually realize their full potential.?

Knowing that you are going to have to invest in owning a successful brand is a very realistic perspective. Even if you find yourself with limited access to finances, you can still find commercial business loan specialists that have a lot of experience helping those business owners with limited assets and funds. In these cases, having a good credit score can help you immensely because you can be viewed as a lower risk to finance companies.

Reaching Out?

When you are finally ready to reach out to a well-known and experienced family entertainment industry professional, you can start making your dreams of becoming a successful family entertainment business a reality.

No matter where you are located, you too can enjoy an exciting and financially rewarding career as a small family entertainment business owner!

I am proud to say that Boomers Parks is now offering consulting services for other family entertainment center owners and can provide management service agreements for operators, developers, and hotel owners.? By the summer of 2023, Boomers Parks will be able to franchise our Boomers brand.? If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to have a conversation.? We look forward to speaking with you.?

Have you read an article I’ve published here on LinkedIn and want to talk about the topic a little more? If you’d like to book a call with me regarding the Family Entertainment Industry or Private Equity, please feel free. I enjoy connecting & collaborating with others in the same professional space.

Tim Murphy is CEO of APX Operating Company, dba Boomers Parks, under the ownership of Cerberus private equity ($60B assets). Boomers Parks owns six family entertainment centers and two water parks with locations in California, Florida, and New Jersey.

As CEO of Boomers Parks since 2020, Tim took these eight parks from bankruptcy to profitability in just a year – in the middle of a global pandemic. When Boomers acquired these parks, they were operating at a $10 million loss. Tim transformed the customer experience and added new revenue streams to generate a 180% increase in revenue in 2021 and on a similar trajectory in 2022.

Tim launched his 35+ year career at Walt Disney World and has since served more than 150 entertainment, restaurant, and food & beverage brands across more than 10,000 locations in C-suite and senior positions.

Additionally, Tim is a Board Director with Coney Park & Happy City - Family Entertainment & Amusement Parks, part of The Carlyle Group ($276B assets), a private equity firm that operates 150+ family entertainment centers and amusement parks in Latin America.?

Tim has worked with top-tier entertainment and restaurant brands including Disney, Rebounderz Trampoline Parks, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, etc.), Red Lobster, Jimmy John’s, Applebee’s, Sonny’s Bar-B-Q, Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, Hardee’s, Golden Corral, and Firehouse Subs.

Tim has overseen more than 35 purchase transactions involving over 1,200 restaurants, stores, and park locations.? With extensive experience in buying and selling businesses, handling negotiations with buyers and sellers, and creating strategic partnerships to build strong brands, Tim has facilitated deals ranging from $11 million to $350 million+.

Tim is a member of International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (IAAPA), California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA), Florida Attractions Association (FAA), American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA), National Restaurant Association (NRA), California Restaurant Association (CRA), World Waterpark Association (WWA) and International Franchising Association (IFA). He is a licensed commercial real estate broker in the State of Florida. Tim earned a BS/BA in Accounting from the University of Central Florida and an MBA in Finance from Orlando College.