lot of losers.”
Miller knows the first ones to
go. They’ll be early, competitive
players that serve “low-quality
fish in an uninviting, overlit
space”—much like the many
collapsing frozen yogurt shops
of the 2000s, hastily launched
businesses that couldn’t be sup-
ported by low-check purchases.
And he should know; a decade
ago, he was one of those fro-yo
franchisees. “I bought a Yogurt-
land franchise in California—a
total disaster,” he says. “It’s a
modern candy store. The yogurt
has a ton of sugar, and people
pile a bunch of candy on top. I
still can’t get out of it.”
Those giddy fro-yo days
should serve as a warning
both for franchisees not to be
gullible and for franchisors not
to be overzealous. Owning the
franchise, nevertheless, taught
Miller the beauty of the fran-
chise business—how a concept
can grow exponentially in a
very short period of time. And
it taught him how to be a better
franchisor.
LemonShark, for instance,
is selling franchise territories
with an average of three sites
rather than single locations, says
Randy Blue, VP of franchise
development. The company is
locking down sites near Chipotle
outlets, which have a similar
price point, and close to big
gyms and malls with high-end
grocery stores.
Blue is also inspired by a
past failure. He worked in
franchise development for
Quiznos, where he saw what
can go wrong when a franchi-
sor expands too quickly. “The
company had a hot concept,
but it was impatient,” Blue
says. It grew from 100 units
to 4,000 in three years. At its
peak, it had more than 5,000
locations, but franchisees filed
a class-action lawsuit alleging
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