"I'll go check on things and prepare some fruit platters and snacks for Mr. Chen. I'll head to the reception room in five or ten minutes."
Looking in the direction the receptionist had left, a hint of inner conflict quietly appeared on Xu An's face.
Franchise stores are jeopardizing the brand's credibility and influence. If even one store experiences a food safety or hygiene issue, it will damage the entire brand's image.
Furthermore, franchisees have a high degree of freedom, making it difficult to regulate them like company employees. Even with comprehensive operational guidance from headquarters, they may still choose to operate their stores according to their own ideas.
Of course, the franchise business model must have its unique advantages, otherwise most catering companies on the market would not choose this business model.
Franchise stores can expand rapidly at extremely low costs. By transferring a portion of the profits to franchisees, business risks are reduced. As stores expand, brand awareness and influence can increase rapidly, and more market share can be captured.
"Boss, boss, boss!"
"Huh? Ah!" Xu An snapped out of his thoughts and saw Lu Shengnan standing at the office door. He immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
"I just heard from the receptionist that someone came to our store wanting to franchise with our brand. Boss, were you worried about that just now?" Lu Shengnan said as she returned to her seat, entered her password, and turned on her computer.
"Yes, I'm a bit conflicted about whether to choose the franchise business model." Xu An didn't need to hide his concerns from his trusted lieutenant: "Franchise development is indeed fast, but there are significant hidden dangers. Monitoring needs to be very strict, but excessive monitoring power can easily breed corruption."
“But…” Lu Shengnan interrupted Xu An before he could finish speaking, “But boss, how is the franchise model different from our current cooperation with the various disabled persons’ federations in Haiyang Province?”
"Is there anything different?" Xu An repeated, his tone full of doubt.
“Yes, isn’t our cooperation with the Disabled Persons’ Federation essentially the same as a franchise business model?” Lu Shengnan nodded and said, “Didn’t we even set up a special management team specifically to handle matters related to the Disabled Persons’ Federation members’ pickup, sales, and training?”
Seeing that Xu An was about to retort, Lu Shengnan changed the subject and suddenly smiled, "As long as the proportion of franchise stores is controlled within a suitable range, it should be fine, right?"
After saying that, Lu Shengnan turned the computer screen on her office toward Xu An, and a document with black background and white text appeared in front of Xu An's eyes - "Analysis of Xu's Catering Business Model".
"I simulated both development models. A single directly operated store can naturally earn the highest profits, but its brand awareness and influence are hard to match those of a franchise store."
When tastes are similar, brand awareness and influence are a company's greatest competitive advantage. To some extent, brand awareness is the spearhead for capturing market share!
Braised food products are not uncommon in the catering market, and ahead of us are well-known brands such as Jue Wei, Zhou Hei Ya, and Jiu Jiu Ya. If we want to develop and become as successful as or even surpass them, we cannot bypass them; this is the only path we can take!
In fact, Lu Shengnan's words were absolutely correct, and they represent the best path and direction for Xu's Braised Food to grow and develop.
But for some reason, Xu An was somewhat resistant to entrusting the future of the store entirely to franchisees of varying quality.
The prosperity of one is the prosperity of all, and the loss of one is the loss of all. Consumers don't distinguish between directly operated stores and franchised stores; they only know that the brand has a problem.
Lu Shengnan saw the struggle and resentment on Xu An's face, and immediately clicked the mouse. A new document appeared on the computer screen, and she said in a soft and seductive voice:
"However, boss, this isn't a choice between two options, is it? Directly operated stores and franchised stores can coexist, can't they?"
Damn! He's getting stuck on a minor detail again!
Xu An cursed inwardly. Yes, this wasn't a multiple-choice question with only one correct answer! Directly operated stores and franchised stores could coexist!
"Taking Qihe District of Shanghai as an example, Qihe District has three large shopping malls and seven well-established food streets. These ten commercial areas can accommodate fifteen Xu's braised food stalls and twenty Xu's lemon tea stalls at the same time."
We can adopt a triangle strategy, where one directly operated store connects to two franchised stores, or two directly operated stores connect to one franchised store, with mutual constraints, mutual supervision, and mutual cooperation.
After Lu Shengnan explained the entire plan in detail, Xu An applauded generously. Just as he was about to offer his full praise, his gaze fell on the receptionist standing at the door, and he immediately remembered that someone was waiting for him in the meeting room.
Watching Xu An's hurried departure, a smile spilled from Lu Shengnan's lips, spread across her face, and leaped into her eyes.
It's truly a feeling of satisfaction and pride to have your project sincerely recognized! It gives you a sense of connection and interdependence with the company and its business.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr. Chen. Something came up and I had to wait a bit." Xu An opened the door to the reception room, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Without exchanging pleasantries, he went straight to the point: "Mr. Chen, which brand of our company are you interested in joining as a franchisee?"
With Lu Shengnan's planning as a foundation, the conversation between Xu An and Chen Feng went quite smoothly. The only hiccup was that Chen Feng hoped to reserve some space in Xu's Lemon Tea franchise stores to sell crispy potato chips.
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