Going franchising

By Joe Palabao
Correspondent
FRANSHISING is today’s most successful business system in the world. It is a special type of licensing arrangement for the distribution of services and products wherein the franchisor allows another entity, the franchisee, to use its business system, trademarks and corporate entity for a certain period of time. The business format franchises offer franchisee not only the logo and the trademark but also the complete system of doing business. “System” is the key concept to franchising and adherence to the system is the gateway to success.
In the country, franchising is usually associated with the two fast food restaurant chains, Jollibee, owned by a very successful Filipino entrepreneur which started in 1984 with over 500 branches in the Philippines and abroad and McDonald’s, an international food chain business which started in 1955 with over 39,000 branches all over the world and serving billions and billions of customers throughout the world.
Franchising expert Rudolf A. Kotik, speaker during the recent Franchising Seminar at Dynasty Hotel in Cagayan de Oro said that in northern Mindanao, cited Botoy’s Litson Manok as among the first success stories of Food Franchising that he has developed under RK Consultancy that he manages.
Mr. Kotik is a franchise expert for 30 years here and abroad. He hails from Vienna, Austria, married to a Filipina and is based in Cebu, founder and CEO of RK FRANCHISE CONSULTANCY since 1995 whose main office is at the Ground Floor of Minnesota Mansion at Ermin Garcia St. in Cubao, Quezon City and it has also an office at Punta Princesa, Cebu and keeps a 200man working force and moving throughout the country for franchising consultancy services, and develop more clients to be able to contribute to the growth of the domestic and global businesses.
To date, RK Franchise Consultancy has developed more than 400 Filipino Companies into Franchise Systems. Combined these companies have nearly 4,000 franchisees. Moreover, it has brokered more than 900 Franchise deals for the last 10 years in all provinces in the Philippines in food and non-food business.
From a humble beginning of one single kiosk in 2000, now it has more than 50 branches of kiosks and restaurants after entering into franchising since 2005. And two upcoming new franchisors from Caraga Region are now open to the public for franchising which were developed last year. These are Uncle Sam’s Burger and Restaurant and Aling Cora Lutong Bahay from Butuan City.
There were 25 prospective franchisees and entrepreneurs who attended the seminar and after acquiring the needed information went into a self-test for franchising to include essential traits franchisees need in running a franchise wherein their systems should have good people with skills and proper capitalization. A franchisee should have the minimum amount of liquid capital and net worth available to meet the franchisor’s requirements. Actual franchising deal and market encounter were done by Uncle Sam’s of Butuan City with prospective franchisees from Bukidnon.