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ProperCoochie posted:May I ask how Subway got so huge? I know they're like one of the top 5 biggest fast food places in the world, but just how did they pop up everywhere? Especially in a place like NYC where there is a kick-rear end deli every other block. Imagine you're looking to open a fast-food franchise because you want to own a business and hate coming up with ideas: quote:Most McDonald’s owner/operators have entered the corporation by purchasing an existing restaurant. To open a McDonald’s franchise, however, requires a total investment of $1-$2.2 million, with liquid capital available of $750,000. The franchise fee is $45,000. quote:The capital required to open a Subway franchise is $80,000 and the Subway franchise fee is $15,000 with a total investment of $116,000. Some other fun facts: The first subway was opened by two guys who only learned how to make sandwiches on opening day. Also it was called "Pete's Submarines" but was changed for sounding too much like pizza-marines.
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Aug 31, 2016 21:33
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man teaching yourself to make sandwiches, that's pretty impressive
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Aug 31, 2016 21:35
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Yeah, who the heck would have predicted in 1992 that malls would be dead and dying by the 2010s.
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Aug 31, 2016 21:39
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Subway also really, really pushes aggressive franchise expansion. Most food companies will look at your franchise request and then run some numbers to make sure your location a) won't cannibalize the profits from an existing store and b) can reasonably support itself in the area. Subway doesn't give half a gently caress because then they can tout themselves as the fastest growing healthy food chain in America/the World. Starbucks somehow has the magical ability of opening stores across the street from each other and still doing decent business, for what it's worth.
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Aug 31, 2016 21:45
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Krispy Kareem posted:Sears wouldn't have maintained a money losing online business for as long as Amazon had to. At some point they would have just thrown up their hands and closed it, because they already had a profitable retail presence. Kind of like how Wal-Mart.com spent 15 years trying to sell everything from appliances to mp3's and still hasn't figured it out. It's not a priority as long as they're making money elsewhere and by the time it is a priority it's too late. I'm quoting this because it's a solid explanation for 90% of the companies in this thread. These big behemoth companies simply don't have the focus and fortitude to hold out long enough to break into a new industry or update their business to keep up with the times, and even if they do the shareholders will call for blood because it's not happening fast enough.
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Aug 31, 2016 21:50
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FilthyImp posted:Subway also really, really pushes aggressive franchise expansion. there's like 10 subways in less than a 0.2 mi radius  there's also a shitton of starbucks in like <1 mi radius, many within just a couple blocks of each other lol 
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Aug 31, 2016 21:57
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1500quidporsche posted:I'm quoting this because it's a solid explanation for 90% of the companies in this thread. These big behemoth companies simply don't have the focus and fortitude to hold out long enough to break into a new industry or update their business to keep up with the times, and even if they do the shareholders will call for blood because it's not happening fast enough. I'd say this is a good point. I'm sure there were people at Sears in the 90s who really wanted to do it but would have been eaten alive since it would have upset shareholders.
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Aug 31, 2016 22:11
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has anyone, in the 90 pages of this thread, said Something Awful?
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Aug 31, 2016 22:20
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ROFLburger posted:has anyone, in the 90 pages of this thread, said Something Awful? this is some good irony
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Aug 31, 2016 22:27
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Jastiger posted:I'd say this is a good point. I'm sure there were people at Sears in the 90s who really wanted to do it but would have been eaten alive since it would have upset shareholders. Sounds like they would have had to execute in the 90s. They would have had to start getting out from the corner they had painted themselves into in the 80s at least.
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Aug 31, 2016 22:36
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Doesnt Subway make you buy all your supplies (meat and stuff) directly from them? That way theyre making money off you no matter what.
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Aug 31, 2016 22:38
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there are companies even today that think the internet is just some bullshit or someting getting some of them to send over a properly formatted product database to facilitate online sales is like pulling teeth. No I don't want your 300 page catalog, no I don't want to pay someone to put in every product line by line by hand. Just give me an API to your poo poo and that way we know when something is discontinued and poo poo when it happens. Hell just give me a correctly formatted Excel spreadsheet ffs they can't even do that. Been getting a 'we're working on it hang on' from one of these companies for about 7 months now and it's also the same one that tells none of their vendors when they get a new product so half the time someone calls me looking for it and I have to double check and add it to our system on the fly. They could just email over an updated product list when something is changed but nope lol they don't even have one to update. Moridin920 has a new favorite as of 22:43 on Aug 31, 2016 |
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Aug 31, 2016 22:39
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JB50 posted:Doesnt Subway make you buy all your supplies (meat and stuff) directly from them? That way theyre making money off you no matter what. All of them do in order to keep the food consistent. The Subway sandwich you buy in Fresno should taste and look the same as the one sold in Jacksonville. You might be thinking about McDonalds. They not only make you buy cups, ingredients, and supplies from them, they also own the land your restaurant was built on so they collect rent.
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Aug 31, 2016 22:55
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stinch posted:Sounds like they would have had to execute in the 90s. They would have had to start getting out from the corner they had painted themselves into in the 80s at least. Ehh I dunno about that. They probably could have done it in the 90s. A lot of other big companies did. Hell, Target and Wal-Mart have done so to some extent. Same for companies like LL Bean, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and even auto dealers. Its all about being willing to pivot and Sears clearly wasn't willing to do so.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:01
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For a while didn't Target and Toys R Us run their online stores through Amazon instead of trying to set up their own independent online stores?
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Aug 31, 2016 23:08
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I think an issue all franchise prospective persons have right now is how territorial some franchise owners can be, and they don't wanna share their subway gold-mine, or mcd's goldmine and prevent other owners from getting into the market at all.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:13
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Aren't franchies anti capitalist in that when you purchase a franchise you're not purchasing a good or service, but rather a right to sell a good or service i.e. a guild?
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Aug 31, 2016 23:19
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Bonzo posted:I can remember Pizza Hut being being a big deal in my family because we never really had delivery in my area until later in the 80s. Pizza Hut also had table top PacMan or Space Invaders to play while you wanted for your order. Are you talking about the old Mr. Gattis on Outer Loop? I grew up in the area and my dad used to take my brother and I when he was off work at 11am sharp during summer.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:24
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Haha the UPS store around here is abysmal. They always act surprised and angry if you just want to send a package. One time I was shipping a guitar amp, it was like 90lbs, already paid the shipping, trying to make it easier for everyone. I go in and try to get some kind of help moving it in or a hand cart or anything. They wouldn't have it, so I heave it through the parking lot, through the door they wouldn't hold open, and near the front counter. Then she doesn't even try to like extend to scan with a gun, I have to heave it onto the counter. Every single time I go there, every face is different but act the exact same, like an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:39
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Krispy Kareem posted:All of them do in order to keep the food consistent. The Subway sandwich you buy in Fresno should taste and look the same as the one sold in Jacksonville. McDonalds isn't exactly circling the drain but things aren't looking spectacular domestically. Their corporate management is purestrain MBA, they keep forcing their franchise owners to make quarter-million dollar equipment purchases for the latest McBullshit, instead of just selling hamburgers and french fries and coffee out a drive-thru, like every franchisee has been telling them for years: http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-franchisees-are-furious-2015-4 quote:"I came away from the summit completely confused. McDonald's management does not know what we want to be. Expensive (and slow) custom burgers in the same restaurant where we sell the Dollar Menu?" quote:Equipment for the new customizable burgers, called Create Your Taste, will reportedly cost between $120,000 and $160,000.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:42
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darkhand posted:Haha the UPS store around here is abysmal. They always act surprised and angry if you just want to send a package. UPS here is great. USPS on the other hand gives you a mean look if you even think about approaching the counter. If you have a "you weren't home when we tried to deliver your package, come into the post office" slip, it takes so long that they must be personally searching the warehouse from Indiana Jones.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:49
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The UPS actual warehouse/distribution place has been super nice to me. It's just the weird storefronts they have in the stripmall that is garbage.
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Aug 31, 2016 23:51
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Jastiger posted:Aren't franchies anti capitalist in that when you purchase a franchise you're not purchasing a good or service, but rather a right to sell a good or service i.e. a guild? you're leasing the right to use their intellectual property: trade dress, trademarks, copyrighted materials, and maybe business method patents (which shouldnt be a thing). no one can stop you from selling burgers, but they can stop you from calling that burger a whopper
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Sep 1, 2016 00:01
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The UPS Stores are franchises. So it's not really UPS. They used to be Mailbox Etc stores. The only difference is now they can only sell UPS and USPS shipping instead of FedEx also.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:07
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potee posted:McDonalds isn't exactly circling the drain but things aren't looking spectacular domestically. Their corporate management is purestrain MBA, they keep forcing their franchise owners to make quarter-million dollar equipment purchases for the latest McBullshit, instead of just selling hamburgers and french fries and coffee out a drive-thru, like every franchisee has been telling them for years: I have to disagree with the franchise owners here, I can't really say the idea of trying to move into the premium fast food segment is a bad idea. Every success story in fast food from the past decade has been taking the concept upmarket and at the other end its gotten ridiculously cutthroat, you aren't going to be making record profits with a dollar menu being a core part of your business. I do think they have to decide exactly what they want to be, you can't be a starbucks, high end five guys and "artisan sandwich shop" all rolled into one. Its going to take some pain up front but they're trying to secure the long term value of the brand.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:27
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1500quidporsche posted:I have to disagree with the franchise owners here, I can't really say the idea of trying to move into the premium fast food segment is a bad idea. Every success story in fast food from the past decade has been taking the concept upmarket and at the other end its gotten ridiculously cutthroat, you aren't going to be making record profits with a dollar menu being a core part of your business. I do think they have to decide exactly what they want to be, you can't be a starbucks, high end five guys and "artisan sandwich shop" all rolled into one. Its going to take some pain up front but they're trying to secure the long term value of the brand. but has there been any success in taking an established cheap poo poo food and pivotting it into "fast-casual"? the brand is p much set in stone for most peoples mind. all the more success are spin-off/new chains taco bell is trying to create new restraunts branded as "Taco Bell Cantina" stuff here where they serve beer and more higher end fast-casual like food to target millenials, it might take off in other cities but it's not exactly re-using existing taco bells. https://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-bell-cantina-san-francisco-2
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Sep 1, 2016 00:51
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1500quidporsche posted:I have to disagree with the franchise owners here, I can't really say the idea of trying to move into the premium fast food segment is a bad idea. Every success story in fast food from the past decade has been taking the concept upmarket and at the other end its gotten ridiculously cutthroat, you aren't going to be making record profits with a dollar menu being a core part of your business. I do think they have to decide exactly what they want to be, you can't be a starbucks, high end five guys and "artisan sandwich shop" all rolled into one. Its going to take some pain up front but they're trying to secure the long term value of the brand. Their artisan burgers are loving garbage though and lol at any franchisee that had to pay 100k plus for the equipment. It'll be gone in less than 5 years, nobody goes to McD's for a salsa avocado burger.
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Sep 1, 2016 00:55
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natetimm posted:Their artisan burgers are loving garbage though and lol at any franchisee that had to pay 100k plus for the equipment. It'll be gone in less than 5 years, nobody goes to McD's for a salsa avocado burger. 5 years? 1, max 2. When you want a quick burger McDonald's. They shouldn't be so greedy honestly.
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Sep 1, 2016 02:28
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I don't buy the whole if you aren't growing you're dying
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Sep 1, 2016 02:29
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Seems like McD trying to grab franchisee money rather than customer money, like a weird pyramid scheme. Do they make markup on all the trash gimmicks they sell the franchises?
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Sep 1, 2016 02:36
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Darth123123 posted:I don't buy the whole if you aren't growing you're dying That's why all these companies are circling the drain. It doesn't matter if a company is making a metric fuckload of money, they are forecasted to earn 1.5 metric fuckloads of money. Oh but they only earned 1.3 metric fuckloads of money. DISASTER. Even though we were insanely profitable we better cut staffing down to skeleton crews, make everything we can cheap and raise prices as far as the market will tolerate while trying to capitalize on everything else possible. I've always wondered how far companies can push that mentality since Wal Mart is critical on staffing and they already sell garbage poo poo, when they start only making $5 trillion a day instead of $6 trillion what exactly is going to be the next step when there is nothing else to cut and they are simply making less money? How is McDonalds going to handle consistent profit instead of "infinite growth" profit.
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Sep 1, 2016 02:50
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Marv Hushman posted:They're more closely associated with legit actual houses. Entire towns in the US were full of Sears Craftsman kit homes that were delivered by rail and assembled by the owner or a contractor. Everything from classic bungalows to things that would be considered mansions even by today's standards. An astonishing number are still standing. I've spend the past few years up in rural New York, and there are a considerable number of old (70-90 years) Sears kit homes, many still in fantastic shape. They're all gorgeous, on top of that. They all look like upscaled dolls houses. Then again, if you bought a doll house from the Sears catalog, it might of actually have been a downscaled Sears house.
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Sep 1, 2016 03:04
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potee posted:McDonalds isn't exactly circling the drain but things aren't looking spectacular domestically. Their corporate management is purestrain MBA, they keep forcing their franchise owners to make quarter-million dollar equipment purchases for the latest McBullshit, instead of just selling hamburgers and french fries and coffee out a drive-thru, like every franchisee has been telling them for years: They have the custom burger poo poo at the McDonalds in my town. It took a lovely restaurant and made it even worse. The first time I got one, it took 45 minutes to get a burger that looked like it was made by a blind monkey. I dont go to McDonalds anymore because of their lovely service.
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Sep 1, 2016 04:22
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FilthyImp posted:Starbucks somehow has the magical ability of opening stores across the street from each other and still doing decent business, for what it's worth. From what I've been told it's not magic. Apparently there's a big office building somewhere filled with real estate professionals who's job is too decide where the next Starbucks goes and how many people are going to go to it. People would always joke that when a Starbucks moves in the neighborhood is going to be gentrified. It's true, but not because Starbucks made it happen or anything. I guess their people are so good at forecasting real estate trends that they're always the first people there. No idea if that's true but it seems plausible. uli2000 posted:They have the custom burger poo poo at the McDonalds in my town. It took a lovely restaurant and made it even worse. The first time I got one, it took 45 minutes to get a burger that looked like it was made by a blind monkey. I dont go to McDonalds anymore because of their lovely service. I think it's generally a bad idea to introduce new pain in the rear end nonsense to your staff when they already make dogshit money. Seems like companies would understand that by now, but they never do. CubanMissile has a new favorite as of 04:43 on Sep 1, 2016 |
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Sep 1, 2016 04:40
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CubanMissile posted:From what I've been told it's not magic. Apparently there's a big office building somewhere filled with real estate professionals who's job is too decide where the next Starbucks goes and how many people are going to go to it. People would always joke that when a Starbucks moves in the neighborhood is going to be gentrified. It's true, but not because Starbucks made it happen or anything. I guess their people are so good at forecasting real estate trends that they're always the first people there. No idea if that's true but it seems plausible. My buddy works for Nielsen and this is basically what they do. Take consumer data for an area, see what's underserved or ready for an expansion, and sell it to other corporations. No big-name retail place is just plopping down stores randomly, even Starbucks. There's a shitload of planning and data examination they do before they jump in.
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Sep 1, 2016 04:44
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Starbucks also seems to be really dominant in getting stores in hotel and office building lobbies. Even if there is already a Starbucks a block away, I bet a ton of people are more willing to elevator to the lobby then walk outside.
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Sep 1, 2016 13:47
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQKdEdzHnfU
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Sep 1, 2016 14:29
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EDIT: Never mind.
Bluemillion has a new favorite as of 15:12 on Sep 1, 2016 |
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Sep 1, 2016 15:10
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bongwizzard posted:Starbucks also seems to be really dominant in getting stores in hotel and office building lobbies. Even if there is already a Starbucks a block away, I bet a ton of people are more willing to elevator to the lobby then walk outside. I think a lot of that is less "oh they want STARBUCKS" and more "there is going to be a coffeeshop here, and people will use it. Might as well make it Starbucks".
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Sep 1, 2016 16:18
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I wonder what Starbucks plans on doing once the alleged coffee bean extinction comes? Not sure how true that is. I saw it as a short piece on Good Morning America. Supposedly 60 ish years left? I didn't pay too much attention. I was getting ready for work.
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Sep 1, 2016 16:28
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