Franchise FAQ

can you sell your franchise

by Dolores Kshlerin Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Most franchise agreements contain strict limitations on the franchisee's ability to sell their franchised business. Fundamentally this makes sense, as the franchisor needs to make sure that it has final say over who gets to do business under its name and using its proprietary system and methodologies.

How to get financing to buy a franchise?

What is the Best Way to Buy a Franchise?

  • 401 (k) Business Financing. Even better, ROBS allows you to finance your business without debt, early withdrawal fees or tax penalties.
  • Small Business Administration Loan (SBA Loan) An SBA loan is a government-backed loan aimed at helping American entrepreneurs fund their businesses.
  • Other Ways to Fund Your Franchise. ...

How to successfully franchise your business?

  • Present Your Business to Potential Franchisees. After identifying your goals, you may now sell your franchise business model to your prospective franchisees.
  • Provide Hands-On Training. If you have a vision for your franchise business, your franchisees must share the same objectives with you.
  • Work On the Ground. ...
  • Implement The Organizational Culture. ...

How to raise money for a franchise?

  • Begin at the beginning. Before you choose a franchise to partner with, before you even begin to shop for your ideal franchise, it’s a good idea to determine your current ...
  • Try talking to the franchisor before seeking funds elsewhere. ...
  • Getting funding is an exercise in risk management and tolerance. ...
  • Some food for thought. ...
  • You can do this. ...

How to increase sales in a franchise?

  • In-Store Advertising. Although it may seem simple, you can use your own stores to broadcast your business. ...
  • Networking. Typically, when people think of networking, many think of finding a job. ...
  • Internet Marketing. One of the largest and most powerful franchise marketing tools is the Internet. ...

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Can you sell back a franchise?

Getting Approval for a Franchise Sale Selling the business back to the franchisor can be a good option, but only if the franchisor is willing to repurchase the business. Furthermore, the franchisor may not be willing to pay an amount that will be sufficient to make you whole.

Can you sell a franchised business?

Selling an operating franchise has a higher success rate than selling an independent business because most buyers place a high value on the support provided by the franchisors. Unlike franchises, most independent businesses lack the infrastructure and systems that make a business attractive to buyers.

How do I sell my franchising?

Whether you are ready to sell or you are just considering it, here are our top tips for selling an existing franchise:List your franchise for sale on FranchiseFlippers.com. ... List your franchise on other online business listing websites. ... Reach out to fellow franchise owners in your franchise system personally.More items...

How much do you sell a franchise for?

Franchises are often valued based on a multiple of revenue, cash flow, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). As the name implies, the EBITDA method adds back some expenses to the earnings total, and a franchise can be valued at 4 to 5 times EBITDA.

Can I sell my McDonald's franchise?

McDonald's requires that the buyer of an existing restaurant pay a minimum of 25% cash as a down payment, and the balance must be financed for no more than seven years. Each franchise applicant must have at least $500,000 in liquid assets in order to apply.

Can a franchisee sell their franchise?

In either case, the franchisee's right to sell the franchise will be governed by the transfer provisions in their franchise agreement. Most franchise agreements contain strict limitations on the franchisee's ability to sell their franchised business.

How long does it take to sell a franchise?

The franchise purchasing process — from the search to the purchase — will take three to four months. Typically, it will take another two to six months before you open your doors to customers.

How do franchise owners get paid?

How do franchise owners get paid? Franchise owners can pay themselves a salary or depending on their business entity, they may be able to take a draw from their accumulated equity.

Can you walk away from a franchise?

Under most state laws, however, a franchisee who walks away from his franchise may be successfully sued by his franchisor for abandonment. Further, under many state laws, a franchisee who walks away from his franchise may forfeit some or all of the claims that he may have had against his franchisor.

How much do franchise owners make a year?

about 80,000 dollarsAccording to a survey done by Franchise Business Review involving 28,500 franchise owners, the average pre-tax annual income of franchise owners is about 80,000 dollars.

What is the average franchise fee?

between $25,000 to $50,000Franchise fees are typically between $25,000 to $50,000 on average. 2) Startup Costs: These are the expenses you'll incur to get your new business open and operating. Initial investment costs vary widely from franchise to franchise.

How do you sell a failing franchise?

CONSIDER SELLING THE BUSINESS Often the best answer to a franchise that is not succeeding is for the franchisee to sell the business to a third party who becomes the new franchisee for that territory. This allows the failing franchisee to terminate its obligations under the franchise agreement and under any lease.

How do you sell a failing franchise?

CONSIDER SELLING THE BUSINESS Often the best answer to a franchise that is not succeeding is for the franchisee to sell the business to a third party who becomes the new franchisee for that territory. This allows the failing franchisee to terminate its obligations under the franchise agreement and under any lease.

How long does it take to sell a franchise?

The franchise purchasing process — from the search to the purchase — will take three to four months. Typically, it will take another two to six months before you open your doors to customers.

What happens when a franchisor sells?

Therefore where a franchisor sells or assigns its interest the franchisee will be required to continue operating under the terms of the franchise agreement. Just as franchisees will continue to be bound by the terms of the franchise agreement, the third party will be required to meet its obligations as a franchisor.

Is sale of franchise a capital gain?

1253, which provides that a taxpayer gets capital gains treatment when it sells a franchise unless it has a continuing interest in the franchise after the sale.

Selling an existing franchise

For franchisees who are ready to sell their established businesses, here’s a piece of good news: According to a study conducted at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Rinker School of Business, franchise resale prices are higher than those of non-franchise businesses.

Step 1: Prepare Your Franchise for Sale

Start by contacting your franchisor. There is no reason to keep the sale confidential from your franchisor who is accustomed to their franchisees exiting at some point. Ask if they can help you with a resale or transfer. Find out the extent of assistance they offer. The process varies significantly from franchise to franchise.

Step 2: Market Your Franchise for Sale

Most business brokers use online portals and their own proprietary databases to market businesses for sale. If your franchisor does not aggressively market the sale of your business, a business broker can do this for you.

Step 3 – Negotiate and Close the Deal

Once you’ve found a buyer who is interested in both your business and the franchise model, you can negotiate a price and begin with the closing process.

Selling your franchise opportunity

Every franchisor knows that the success of a franchise system is dependent on franchisee success. So simply selling a franchise is not enough. It really comes down to awarding a franchise to the right person. For franchisors who want to grow their brands with quality candidates, here are three simple ways.

Step 1 – Work with Quality Franchise Brokers

Working with quality franchise brokers is an effective and popular way for franchisors to find ideal candidates. In fact, franchise referral consultants (a.k.a brokers) have been found as the top source for lead conversions.

Step 2 – Exhibit at Trade Shows

Exhibiting at trade shows is a great way for franchisors to get in front of potential candidates face-to-face. Trade shows allow franchisors to market their brands to a large number of qualified prospects at one time. This in-person opportunity gives both parties a chance to get to know each other in a casual setting.

First Things First

In preparation for advertising your franchise for resale online, there are a few steps you should take to prepare for the sale.

Why Advertise on Franchise Resales

You want to advertise the sale of your franchise on as many online portals as you can to ensure the right buyer finds your listing.

Why would a franchise owner want to sell their business?

There are two main reasons why a seller would want to sell their franchise business. Either the business is very valuable and they want to cash out or they simply aren’t running the business well and they want to get out before they lose everything. Since there’s a steady flow of buyers who want to purchase franchise businesses, ...

How long does it take to sell a franchise?

Most sales involving franchise businesses can take anywhere from 2 to 3 months to be completed. This is good because you’ll want to use this time to prepare your budget for leaving the business.

Why are franchisors important?

The reason these rules exist is because the corporate office wants to maintain their company image and they don’t want a franchisee to tarnish that with a business model that is different than their own. Franchisors are always involved in every big decision that a franchise business makes, including the sale of the business. Since franchisors must approve when someone starts a franchise business, they also have to approve the buyer who is purchasing the franchise business from the seller. Like with the original owner of the franchise, the franchisors want to make sure the new buyer is capable of running their proprietary business model and implementing their methodologies into it the same way the seller did before.

What do you need to do before selling a franchise?

Before the sale of a franchise business, the buyer must sign a franchise agreement created by the franchisor. This is the same agreement that the seller had to sign when they first started the franchise business. In addition, the current franchisee (seller) must settle all debts and payment defaults related to their franchise business ...

What happens after a franchise is sold?

After the sale of a franchise business, the franchisee will still have some obligations left after the transfer of the business has been made. A lot of these obligations must do with what businesses or jobs they can and cannot take after the completion of the sale.

What do franchisees do?

So, what a lot of franchisees do is build up their franchise business to the most profitable and successful that it can be and then they sell their franchise business to another buyer. Then, the franchisees move on to another franchise business and try to make that successful so they can do the same thing there.

How long after selling a franchise can you start a competing business?

Most franchise agreements have non-solicitation provisions and non-competition agreements which outline that franchisees cannot start a competing business for the next 2-3 years after they sell their franchise business.

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Rules and Restrictions

  • The important thing to understand about franchise businesses is that they all must abide by the rules and standards set forth by the franchisors. The reason these rules exist is because the corporate office wants to maintain their company image and they don’t want a franchisee to tarnish that with a business model that is different than their own. Franchisors are always involv…
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Benefits

  • The main benefit of selling a franchise business is that you’ll likely have a lot of interested buyers already available to choose from. Since franchises are usually attached to companies with great reputations, buyers are always eager to purchase them because they figure it will be easy to make them successful and profitable businesses. Often times, franchise businesses are in central loc…
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Tips For The Sale

  1. Studies have shown that franchise owners tend to get higher prices for their franchise businesses when they sell them early on. Newer listings will motivate potential buyers into grabbing a hold of...
  2. Before you go ahead and hire a broker to list your franchise for sale, get an appraisal on the value of your business first. That way, you’ll know the right selling price to ask for. This is not …
  1. Studies have shown that franchise owners tend to get higher prices for their franchise businesses when they sell them early on. Newer listings will motivate potential buyers into grabbing a hold of...
  2. Before you go ahead and hire a broker to list your franchise for sale, get an appraisal on the value of your business first. That way, you’ll know the right selling price to ask for. This is not on...
  3. Another very important thing to remember is to not neglect the operation of your business. Even though it is for sale on the market, that doesn’t mean you can just forget about it and only focus on...
  4. Of course, you should keep the franchisor in the loop about what is going on with your sale. Y…

Post-Sale Obligations

  • After the sale of a franchise business, the franchisee will still have some obligations left after the transfer of the business has been made. A lot of these obligations must do with what businesses or jobs they can and cannot take after the completion of the sale. Most franchise agreements have non-solicitation provisions and non-competition agreements which outline that franchisee…
See more on exitadviser.com

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