Capital Feed

For Roman Braverman, this weekend is all about having enough sandwich meat, onions and tomatoes.

Braverman’s lunch spot, Roman’s, is in the Vanderbilt Apartments building, right next door to the U.S. Cellular Center, which will be buzzing with basketball fans starting Friday. Thousands of fans will be on hand to cheer 23 men’s and women’s teams playing 21 games during the four-day Southern Conference Tournament. And Braverman’s planning to be prepared.

“We’re expecting the busiest weekend we’ve ever had,” Braverman said Wednesday.

“We don’t really know for sure what will happen, but we’re going to have two extra people on staff, from four people to six people,” he said. “We’ve been open for two years, and the only thing we have to compare it to is the Craft Fair of theSouthern Highlands. We have a line out the door for that.”

Business owners doing what they have to do to survive into day’s tough times. Keep reading at Citizen-Times.

If you ask 100 people (even business gurus) why businesses fail; you will get 100 different answers.

So then who is right and who is wrong? The answer is usually not one answer for all businesses.

Business XYZ may fail because it is under-capitalized. Business ABC may fail because it doesn’t understand its customer’s needs.

All businesses are different and thus have different issues and obstacles that they must overcome. Even franchise businesses are different. Sure they all share the same processes, produce the same products and services (and are usually consistent with them) and they all get the same quality of materials from the same place.

All of which is great for their variable costs. But, each business or franchise has their own fixed cost structure, market and competition and a limited set of resources – thus making each one unique.

However, there is one characteristic, in my opinion, that can transcend all those different or unique businesses – one thing that, regardless of type or location of business, can determine if your business succeeds or fails – and that one thing is you!

I never knew how easy it was. Keep reading this interesting article go to Business Money Today.

Tight credit markets continued to hamper franchise growth in 2011, but the International Franchise Association worked hard generating ways to promote expansion and employment. From the Athlete Franchisee Education Program to The Credit Access Campaign, the association launched many initiatives to help franchises survive in the tough economy.

But a new year means new opportunities in an industry that boasted more than 765,000 business franchises and employed 7.6 million workers in 2010, according to the Franchise Business Outlook: 2011 report.

For those looking to become franchisees in 2012, a recent visit to the West Coast Franchising Expo yielded some trends worth considering.

See where you too could be taking your business. Keep reading this interesting article at Fox Business.

When Zane Tankel bought his first Applebee’s franchise in 1995 he was, for the most part, winging it.

He had been a serial entrepreneur since the 1980s, starting and selling a small commercial printing company and then a share of a drug-testing business. After buying and selling real estate for a few years, he decided to try franchising. Although he feared the role might be constraining, Mr. Tankel had heard that Applebee’s was an entrepreneurial restaurant chain, and he went to its headquarters in suburbanKansas City,Kan., to meet with its chief executive.

Sixteen years later, Mr. Tankelowns 34 Applebee’s. He has repeatedly challenged the corporation to accept changes to its formula — from its uniforms to its menus. His first restaurant onStaten Islandtook in $3.5 million the year it opened, 1995 — a time when the average Applebee’s was taking in $2.2 million.

Today, hisTimes Squarelocation has the highest annual revenue, about $13.5 million, of any Applebee’s in the world. His 34 locations average $4.25 million in revenue, double Applebee’s nationwide average. (The numbers were confirmed by Applebee’s.) The following is a condensed version of a recent conversation.

Q. You have said you loved building companies. Why did you buy a franchise?

To read his answer and more go to The New York Times.