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By Scott Zide, Empower Brands

 

As the CEO of Empower Brands, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the remarkable journey of countless franchise concepts, each with its unique story of growth and evolution. Among the many strategies and approaches we’ve explored, one that has consistently stood out is the power of incubation brands. As a young entrepreneur, my very first franchise concept, Mosquito Squad, was a standalone business that I was able to scale into a vast franchise network and then sell later in my career. In this article, we’ll delve into the critical role incubation brands play in our dynamic industry and take a closer look at their impact on our brand.

The Birth of a Franchise Concept

Incubation brands are the lifeblood of innovation in franchising. They’re the platforms where new ideas are conceived, tested and nurtured into thriving franchise concepts. At Empower Brands, we believe that this phase is where the magic happens, where entrepreneurial spirit meets market opportunity. We recently acquired Bumble Roofing, a previously standalone concept that aims to make roofing accessible and affordable for all. Our journey with Bumble Roofing began with the identification of a significant need in the roofing industry for customer-focused, high-quality services. We realized that a fresh approach to an age-old industry could bring about remarkable change. For franchisors, “remarkable change” can sound frightening and presents both challenges and opportunities, but ultimately pushes us to remain open to new ideas and growth.

Incubation brands are the lifeblood of innovation in franchising. They’re the platforms where new ideas are conceived, tested and nurtured into thriving franchise concepts.

Nurturing Emerging Concepts

One of the essential functions of a franchisor is to provide the necessary support and infrastructure for emerging franchise concepts. This nurturing process can be likened to raising a child, where guidance, training and mentorship are key elements of success. In the case of our process, the first step is figuring out how a new brand fits into our network, especially as an already established concept looking to franchise. Then, it’s a matter of fostering a culture of excellence, emphasizing customer satisfaction and providing comprehensive training for future franchisees. There’s also the importance of developing an air-tight Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) and utilizing your marketing tools and brokers to get the brand name out there.

It’s important throughout this process that franchisors maintain a delicate balance between nurturing new concepts and managing their existing franchise networks. Incubation brands force us to allocate resources judiciously, ensuring that both new and established concepts receive the attention they deserve.

The Franchise Ecosystem

That said, incubation brands are not isolated entities; they are an integral part of the franchise ecosystem. This ecosystem involves a complex network of relationships between franchisors, franchisees, investors and support providers. Successful incubation brands understand the importance of collaboration and communication within this ecosystem. At the forefront is viewing franchisees as partners in your incubation journey. Commit to their success and work closely with them to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that arise in an emerging concept.

Pros and Cons for Franchisees

Joining a franchise incubation brand offers prospective franchisees a distinct advantage in the world of entrepreneurship. These brands provide a proven pathway to success, significantly reducing the inherent risks associated with starting a new business. With comprehensive support, established brand recognition, access to valuable resources and a network of like-minded entrepreneurs, franchisees can hit the ground running and thrive in their chosen industry. Moreover, the culture of innovation and adaptation within incubation brands ensures that franchisees stay ahead of the curve, making them well-positioned for sustained growth and long-term success in the competitive world of franchising.

While incubation brands are hubs of innovation and opportunity, they are not without their challenges. Funding the development of new concepts and ensuring scalability can be daunting tasks. For franchisees, there may be risks associated with joining a newer concept.

Furthermore, franchisors must be transparent and realistic about the challenges involved in launching new concepts. Open communication with franchisees and investors is crucial to managing expectations and mitigating risks.

Joining a franchise incubation brand offers prospective franchisees a distinct advantage in the world of entrepreneurship.

 Empowering Growth

In conclusion, incubation brands challenge and benefit franchisors by fostering innovation, adaptability and growth. They force us to evolve and remain competitive in a constantly changing landscape. While challenges abound, the benefits of nurturing new concepts and ideas are immeasurable. As franchisors, we must embrace the transformative potential of incubation brands and navigate the challenges they pose. By doing so, we can empower growth not only for ourselves but for the entire franchise industry.

 

Scott Zide is a seasoned entrepreneur and franchise expert with over 20 years of industry experience and a passion for building successful brands. As the CEO of Empower Brands, encompassing 11 industry leading concepts, Zide leverages his expertise in franchising and brand building to help others achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. His track record of success in the franchise industry is a testament to his leadership and dedication to creating interdependent relationships between franchisors and franchisees.

 

By Brandon Bean, Lumin Fitness

 

Why do so many businesses get into franchising? The answers vary, but often well-established companies with proven models view franchising as a vehicle to expand their brand and propel their business to greater heights. But what if you want to launch a brand as a franchise from day one?

That’s exactly the blueprint we created at Lumin Fitness, laying the groundwork for franchise success from the outset by crafting a brand strategy with both future customers and potential franchise owners in mind.

The Birth of an Idea

After years of building a career in fitness franchising, a realization dawned on me: while technology was rapidly advancing in other sectors, traditional brick-and-mortar fitness spaces seemed to be lagging behind. The market was ripe for innovation, and the potential was there to completely transform how technology and fitness coexist. My co-founder Omeed Shams and I spent the next four years alongside a trusted team of experts developing Lumin Fitness, The World’s Smartest Fitness Studio. Our state-of-the-art boutique fitness concept combines personal training with a group fitness community in an AI-powered, immersive environment that changes daily and evolves over time. By utilizing cutting-edge technology to meet the growing demand for hyper-personalized fitness experiences, we’ve developed something that is truly original and nearly impossible to replicate in a highly saturated and constantly growing fitness industry.

As if developing the high-tech consumer experience wasn’t enough, we were simultaneously designing the business model to operate as a franchise. I knew that our business was set up perfectly for accelerated expansion, and franchising was the best way to make that happen. As soon as we opened our flagship studio, we were ready to start selling franchises.

As a franchisor, there were three key principles that guided me and my team through the brand development process to make for a successful franchising launch:

1. Surround Yourself with the Right People

The worst mistake an entrepreneur can make is to try to do everything themselves. I knew I would need to enlist the right partners to make my vision come to life.

Over the course of Lumin Fitness’ development, we created a team with extensive experience in the fitness, franchising and gaming industries. My co-founder, Omeed Shams, a successful tech and gaming entrepreneur and avid fitness enthusiast, is the technology brain behind everything. Our Chief Development Officer Craig Sherwood, a former colleague of mine from Gold’s Gym, has driven significant growth for some of the biggest household names in franchising. With experts like these two in the mix along with many others, we have an especially solid foundation to build from.

Franchising works when the franchisor respects the fact that they are asking someone else to use their money to grow the franchisor’s brand. As such, the franchisor must hire a service-minded team that is absolutely committed to the success of each franchisee. Having a team that shares these values and has a track record to prove it is a major differentiator.

2. Establish Your Identity

Creating something truly revolutionary presents a serious educational hurdle to overcome. If you’re delivering a product or service no one has experienced before, then how can you succinctly educate consumers on what it is and why they should buy in? Before formally introducing Lumin Fitness to the masses, we conducted consumer testing in our test studio as well as a two-month preview period at our flagship studio in Irving-Las Colinas, Texas, to show proof of concept. This provided opportunities for people to see, feel and experience our concept in person as well as give us valuable feedback.

From a franchising perspective, we also wasted no time in preparing our franchise disclosure document (FDD) to ensure we were fully ready to start selling franchises as soon as our flagship studio opened.

The FDD is often mistaken solely as a legal necessity, but in reality, it’s about crafting your brand’s story. It communicates not only the logistical details but also the ethos, values and vision of the brand. It is the first step in a partnership between the franchisor and franchisee, built on mutual trust, understanding and a shared vision for the brand’s future.

While it may be tempting to start selling as soon as you can, keep this in mind: the stronger your brand identity is through proof of concept and your FDD, the more successful you will be in growing your brand.

3. Shape Your Systems

The power of franchising lies in an emphasis on the importance of systems to ensure smooth, efficient and fulfilling experiences for everyone involved — both customers and franchisees alike. We knew that without clear systems in place for our eventual franchise owners to follow, then we could never make it as a franchise.

So, as we looked to create those systems, we remained steadfast in the mindset that inspired Lumin from the start: technology can unlock incredible opportunities when harnessed effectively.

Much like we reinvented the entire experience for customers through our app and studio to emphasize hyper-personalization, we’re doing the same for franchisees. Lumin’s optimized business model includes custom-built back-of-house systems that streamline operations for the owner by embracing technology, therefore allowing franchisees to focus on interacting with members and building a strong Lumin community. This starts the minute someone expresses interest in a Lumin Fitness franchise, with an internal app that guides potential franchisees through the discovery process.

Of course, advanced technology can be difficult to develop and optimize for your very specific needs. But if you are willing to invest the time and resources in technology that will improve the experience for both your customers and your franchise owners, it can refine your franchise system to become a major selling point for your business.

Franchising with a Vision

As my journey with Lumin Fitness has shown, franchising a brand from day one is not something that happens overnight. It’s not just a means for replicating a business; it’s the steppingstone to revolutionizing an industry. By leveraging the right expertise, creating a strong brand identity and leaning into technology to build effective systems, you will be headed toward turning your vision into something lasting and impactful.

 

Brandon Bean is the co-founder and CEO of Lumin Fitness and its parent company Mixed Partners, a global partnership of fitness, gaming and entertainment industry veterans. For more information about IFA franchisor member Lumin Fitness, please visit franchise.org/franchise-opportunities/lumin-fitness.

By Nate McFarland, Authority Brands

 

Since joining the Authority Brands family as the first in our emerging brands portfolio, Woofie’s has grown from just four locations in Virginia to a coast-tocoast system of 18 locations with many more on the way.

Woofie’s rapid growth is no accident — it’s proof of concept for our approach to emerging brands: identify brands with great potential and plug them into the wealth of experience and expertise under the Authority Brands umbrella. The story of Woofie’s growth is a lesson in what it takes to successfully scale up a brand from hometown hero to national player.

The story of Woofie’s growth is a lesson in what it takes to successfully scale up a brand from hometown hero to national player.

 Unleashing the Potential of Smaller Brands

We always have an eye out for promising brands, and the ones we select have three things in common: they’re market leaders, provide essential services with low disruption risk and have strong unit economics.

Prior to debuting our emerging brands strategy, most brands we acquired were already franchising on a national level. But we saw significant opportunity and potential in smaller, regional brands likes Woofie’s. In January 2022, the Authority Brands emerging brands portfolio was born, and Woofie’s would be its first test.

Letting Go to Grow

Amy Addington and Leslie Barron identified an underserved market and founded Woofie’s in 2004. The pressure of building and expanding a brand is a lot for founders’ shoulders to bear. “We didn’t have a roadmap, or anyone to mentor us,” says Addington on Woofie’s early years. “We were building something very special to us. Woofie’s will always be my baby, but as a founder, you need to let go a little and hire people who really get it. You won’t grow if you don’t let go and bring in really strong team members.”

As Woofie’s grew, Amy and Leslie trusted the process. They carefully nurtured the brand and eventually franchised the business in 2018, expanding to four locations in Virginia.

The owners loved the brand, their communities were thankful for the service, and the two Woofie’s founders were ready to move to the next level.

Building a Team that Values the Mission

We believe wholeheartedly in our brands. Our leaders have more than 240 years of franchising experience, and many of them are proud franchise owners. We know what’s on the line for franchise owners and for brand founders. When we designed the emerging brands program, we knew it was crucial to find the right person to lead it. 

Stewart Vernon gets what it takes to grow from regional to national. He founded ASP — America’s Swimming Pool Company — with a $500 award and grew it into a company with $91 million in systemwide sales. While ASP continues growing with Authority Brands, Stewart leads emerging brands like Woofie’s. Scaling up a business is a major undertaking, but Stewart’s careful guidance and Authority Brands’ time-tested strategies are setting up emerging brands to take over their respective markets.

Striking the Perfect Balance

The emerging brands incubator leverages the Authority Brands’ in-depth home services experience to accelerate growth and development of smaller-scale franchise concepts that have a proven system and strong management.

With each emerging brand in Authority Brands’ portfolio, the central challenge facing the Emerging Brands team is finding the right balance between two strategies: applying the tried-and-true Authority Brands playbook (crafted largely for mature brands) while also customizing an approach for a smaller brand at a much different stage of growth. Woofie’s marketing strategy, for example, adopted Authority Brands’ scalable marketing infrastructure and core channels while also placing a stronger-than-usual emphasis on event marketing and social media — two channels critical to Woofie’s success historically. The results so far have been promising, as cohorts of new franchise owners have established themselves at a speed typical of larger brands while still maintaining the hightouch, relationship-driven approach that is critical to Woofie’s success.

Woofie’s success is proof that with the right strategy, we can propel smaller brands to new levels.

 Leader of the Pack

Authority Brands has been growing rapidly since our founding in 2017. Our approach is to provide a platform that gives brands access to the resources of a much larger business. Critical systems like IT, HR, and marketing are handled by best-in-class professionals, so that franchise owners can keep all their focus on providing best-in-class service.

Woofie’s has embraced our process and flourished as a result. From a few locations in Virginia, to a nationwide franchise, the brand is poised to be the leader of the pack in the pet care franchise industry. Woofie’s success is proof that with the right strategy, we can propel smaller brands to new levels. 

 

Nate McFarland is the marketing director for emerging brands at Authority Brands.

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