Food Service Opportunities
Food Service Opportunities
Source: Michael J. McDermott - " Foodservice Opportunities: A Franchise Feast"
If there is a single industry more closely identified with the concept of franchising than any other, it must surely be foodservice. Restaurants and other eateries, especially those of the fast-food variety, have always played a major role in franchising. Known in industry jargon as quick-service restaurants (QSR), these outlets have achieved global recognition thanks to the ubiquity of brands such as McDonalds, Burger King and Subway Sandwiches.
Fast-food outlets have achieve global recognition from the ubiquity of franchise brands.
Franchising is a dominant force in the foodservice sector, and its leadership status there is unlikely to change. In the QSR segment of foodservice, for example, franchised establishments account for more than 56% of all quick-service eating places in the United States, according to "Economic Impact of Franchised Businesses," a comprehensive study prepared for the International Franchise Association (IFA) Educational Foundation by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The top 10 QSR brands are all franchises, starting with No. 1 McDonalds, which had more than $27 billion in 2006 sales, and ranging down to No. 10 Sonic Drive-In, with more than $3 billion in revenues in 2006.
Franchise systems account for more than 80% of U.S. jobs and payroll in the QSR segment, along with total economic output approaching $120 billion a year. Franchising plays a smaller role in the full-service restaurant segment, accounting for about 23% of jobs and payroll and just over 13% of total establishments. Even so, it generates more than $37 billion of economic impact there.
While there seems to be little doubt about franchising’s continued prominence in foodservice, there is change—important change—underway in the sector. Experts say that what worked in the past is no longer a...
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