David “Franky” Frank is having success with his hot dog business and is wanting to know how to take it to the next level. My answer might surprise you…

Hi Steve,

I always read your blog with interest and am just getting ready to get your biz & build series! I just got my first cart at the beginning of the summer and have been hot-doggin’ all summer long.

Plus, I’ve been partnering with a local restaurant for commercial kitchen, cold & dry goods storage, cooler & freezer, wash up etc. As a result I also added some organics, chowder, and other comfort foods like mac-n’-cheese, franks-‘n-beans and the like.

Along the way I quickly became interested in franchising my version of the cart biz and noticed you’re helping a former Wendy’s exec with same… Would you be willing to consult with me also?

Thanks,

David “Franky” Frank
Franky’s Curbside Cuisine
Manomet, MA

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Hey David,

When I was consulting with former Wendy’s VP Tom Rodenkirch, I was helping him with the operations side of his hot dog cart start up. From your email it sounds like you have already gotten proficient at running things from an operations standpoint.

The actual legal act of franchising is an area of expertise that would require the services of a franchise lawyer.

But first a word of caution:

Franchising is a huge undertaking that requires an immense amount of time and investment to pull off. You will also lose a large degree of the freedom you currently enjoy, as you will then be working for your franchisees. Your new job will be to keep them happy and profitable.

Before you start down that road I would suggest you duplicate your current success and get at least two more carts up and running within your own privately held company.

After you have proven your concept across multiple locations, you can then start thinking about large scale expansion.

Whether you franchise or not, it’s a good idea to run your business as if it were already a franchise. That means having systems in place (documented in a written manual) so that you do everything the same way every single time.

This greatly reduces the chance for mistakes, ensures that the quality of your product remains top notch, and also makes it easy to expand your business.

When you bring on new employees, you will train them using your operations handbook, which helps to ensure that they will do do things the same exact proven way that you do.

In the business world they call it “best practices”.

Bottom line: Franchising sounds sexy but it isn’t the only way to expand your business – and in most cases it isn’t even the best way. You can make obscene amounts of money with multiple carts running under your own LLC business structure while still retaining direct control of each “store”.

Need to know more about the different business structures for your hot dog biz, as well as the different methods of expansion? I get in depth and cover it all in the last eighty pages of my book “Carts of Cash” which is included in my Hot Dog Biz 101 package.

Get your copy by clicking here.

Good luck with your expansion David. Keep me posted on your success!

-Steve

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