Although people will always need to eat, and food chains are likely to be around for a while, the food franchising industry is saturated. When it comes to picking the right franchising opportunity for you, food is often the first industry that comes to mind, however that doesn’t always mean it’s the best fit!
Being a part of a food franchise, often means that there will be other locations within minutes of yours. On top of competing with your own franchise company, you will also be competing with other local, near by, chains and restaurants. Not to mention, there are so many choices!
Pizzeria?
Fast food?
Coffee?
Ice cream?
Bakery?
Restaurants?
Deli?
According to Statista.com, it was estimated that there were 152,970 quick service restaurant franchise establishments in the U.S. in 2013. When it comes to the trades industry, the market is still wide open, as it was estimated that there were only 61,804 commercial and residential services franchise establishments in the U.S. in 2013. The U.S. census reported that limited-service restaurants (fast food restaurants) had the highest number of franchise establishments with paid employees, followed by gas stations with convenience stores, and full-service restaurants.
Fast food establishments often increase their rate of new storefront establishments to keep total sales growing and increase incomes, yet while doing this they may actually be hurting the performance of the existing stores. Sales of existing stores could be seeing decline, while, at the same time, the projected opening revenue of the new storefronts also aren’t being met. Too much saturation often can have the opposite effect with negative results.
Being a part of a service based industry allows for you to service a much larger territory, and means that there is less competition, within close range. Being a part of a niche service industry is even less common, making your competition even smaller. Many service contractors provide multiple services, and/or subcontract out for jobs. The Brothers that just do Gutters are an extremely niche contractor, focusing all of our time on gutter services in order to provide the best possible service for each client. How many gutter-only contracting franchises do you know of?