Five Advantages Food Franchises Have Over Independent Restaurants

Investing in a food franchise system has some advantages and a select few disadvantages.

If you are not comfortable being part of a system and want a more individualistic approach, then perhaps working independently may be more akin to your style.

If you want to be part of a system that garners brand recognition and has an existing substantial marketing push, then there are plenty of food franchises where you’ll fit right in.

Of course, some businesses market their businesses better than others and not all franchises are created equal when it comes to offline and online marketing.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to argue against the marketing power of a big franchise pushing your restaurant onto the next level.

For instance, just take a look at a few of the advantages.

1. Social media

Take a gander at your local independent pizza restaurant’s Twitter, Instagram or Facebook page. Now look at the page of the franchise it is competing against.

It’s probably clear which has more followers and it is also clear who is reaching more people with their statuses and posts. Of course, these posts aren’t always localised, but the deals and products they are advertising, more often than not, are available in most franchises.

For instance, Subway’s 2.4m followers are seeing pictures of epic sandwiches no matter where they are in the world. Thus, even if your Subway franchise is only opened one second, it is still being marketed to the masses.

Quite simply, franchises’ social media audience is often far higher than that of individual, independent traders, who are competing for the same hungry customers.

There may also be individual social media accounts for each store. This doesn’t change the fact that franchisees are benefiting from the larger umbrella accounts and their individual accounts. It’s a double-advertisment and a wider reach.

In terms of ‘social spend’, it’s very often non-comparable between franchises and single-restaurant owners too.

2. Media campaigns

The following point is quite simply an extension of the above, but very often food franchises benefit from ad campaigns which independent restaurants cannot afford.

These campaigns lead to greater brand recognition. This, coupled with a large amount of online spend, leads to many consumers instantly thinking of the franchise when ordering food online.

Of course, these advertising campaigns can cost a significant amount of money. Thus, many franchisees are relieved to see the franchisor is making the effort to put these campaigns together, because as a single business, it is a much more difficult task.

3. Established SEO

If you type “pizza delivery”, “burger fast food” or “family food” into your Google search, then the chances that most of the top results that pop-up are connected to franchises is quite high.

This is true for most combinations of relevant terms, because franchise systems have the necessary SEO spend and expertise to push themselves to the top of these very important pages.

If you are an independent food restaurant, you will have to put in the SEO work to ensure your website is getting seen by potential customers.

When competing against established names, that can be a difficult task.

4. ‘Find a location’ listings

Very often, the websites that belong to well-known food franchises have a “find a location” section.

When you pair this fact with the point that well-known restaurants are looked for online more often than their unknown counterparts, it’s easy to see why franchisees are at an advantage.

Picture this; you’re driving in a location that you are not familiar with and you’re looking for comfort food that you know and trust.

What do you do? If you are like many other consumers, you check where the nearest branch of your favourite fast-food restaurant is.

For most people, that restaurant is a franchise.

5. Trust

An established name, a high search engine ranking and a link within a renowned franchise’s website are all great advantages, but there’s one other element that makes it even easier for franchisees.

That element is instant brand recognition.

Even if you open an amazing food business and customers love your menu, you still have to establish your reputation and audience.

For most franchises, that stage of the marketing process is already done.