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Background:

In 2016, The Simple Greek, a national chain of 35+ fast-casual Greek restaurants

began franchising. Over the next two years, the corporate leadership team

personnel turned over several times.  Franchise owners were not accustomed

to consistent management and operating standards. Therefore, the concept

was operating in a “wild west” mode where the loudest and most demanding

franchisees received the lion’s share of corporate’s time and attention.

 

Problem:

As this fast-casual Greek franchise system began to grow, it became impossible

to handle local store marketing for 35+ individual franchisees. Existing franchise

owners were used to heavy-duty, hands-on attention from the previous marketing

team.  Even worse, as soon as the marketing team stopped executing for the

franchise owners, their local store marketing would cease and then, store sales

would decline. The franchisor was not financially able to provide a bottomless

pit of individualized local store marketing support for franchise owners. There had to be a better way.

 

Solution:

Lynn Hoban made a firm and conscious decision to stop the madness.  Franchise owners were given notice that in 60 days, all local store marketing would need to be handled locally by the franchise owners and, at their own expense, as indicated in their franchise agreement. Ideas on how franchisees could access marketing support locally were provided.  Then, the corporate marketing team, led by Lynn Hoban, got to work on building the Marketing Portal. This online resource was stocked with customizable marketing assets including social media images and copy, flyer templates, bounce back coupons and much, much more.  Step-by-step local store marketing “how-to” guides, turnkey local store marketing sales-building programs and all-new food photography were also made available.

 

Results:

At first, franchise owners who were used to having their local store marketing handled by corporate did not like the change. But after some time, coaching and convincing, they soon realized the benefits of the Marketing Portal which included:

 

• Customizable marketing tools and resources were now accessible online to all franchise owners, 24/7.

• Ad Fund dollars were now benefitting all franchise owners instead of just those who were the loudest and most demanding.

• Franchise owners gained the confidence to plan and execute their own local store marketing programs.

• Corporate was no longer incurring local store marketing expenses that should have been paid for by the franchisees.

 

Effective marketing for any enterprise starts with leveraging technology to improve efficiency and reduce costs. If you would like to spend less to get more for your organization, contact Lynn Hoban at Lynn@LynnHobanMarketing.com to find out more.

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