Joining a young franchise network is a real opportunity that many investors are reluctant to grasp when embarking on entrepreneurship. Considered to be safer, more profitable and stronger in reputation, older networks reassure but sometimes impose constraints, of which the most recent are exempt. Joining a young franchise can also make it possible to participate actively in the development of a network, a driving role that the most ambitious will appreciate at its true value!
What are the benefits?
Joining a recent franchise is not without advantages and can especially allow to occupy a particular place in the network to be built. The first franchisees have indeed a driving role and represent the first actors of the franchise, after the franchisor. The downside of the medal is nevertheless to be taken into account: participating in the front line to launch a network, it is to profit from a privileged relationship with the franchisor but also take the risk of wiping the plaster.
As a general rule, a young network applies preferential rates for its first franchisees. Investors may therefore be assured of access to more accessible financial conditions, including lower entry fees.
To these financial advantages, one can also add the possibility of choosing more freely its zone of implantation, the available zones being obviously more numerous.
How to choose your network?
Opting for a recent franchise is certainly a riskier bet but also represents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, provided you know how to choose it!
Check the age of the concept
Before starting, it seems important to differentiate between young franchises that offer a 100% innovative concept and young franchises that are in reality only the declination of concepts already exploited by groups that have long evolved outside the framework of franchise. If the second option seems safer, the former is not without interest, especially if the concept has been carefully considered.
Study in detail the pre-contractual information document (PID)
The DIP is a document provided by the franchisor and on which you will need to find essential information about the brand, its owners and its history, the available funds, any existing franchisees, duration of contracts, renewal conditions or etc. Information on network facilitation and logistics should also be included. They are particularly important because it is the effectiveness of this team that depends the assistance of future franchisees.
Meet the franchisor and visit the pilot unit
An interview with the franchisor is one of the steps that must be taken when entering a franchise, regardless of how long the franchisor is. As part of a recent franchise, the visit of the pilot unit is more than a convenience, it is a real passage obligatory. This pilot unit belongs to the franchise and allowed to launch the concept and the various tests associated with it. Its functioning and its results are thus part of the information that gives a first insight into the profitability of a sign.
