NEW YORK (AP) – They’re not household names like McDonald’s or The UPS Store, but small franchises beyond the usual restaurant groups and retailers are attracting buyers who want something new or different and see greater challenges and opportunities with lesser-known businesses.
Franchise buyers are taking chances on ideas like a nursing service, a personal assistant company and a used clothing retailer – companies that are tiny or growing, but don’t yet have the name recognition of thousands of locations.
“I like the feeling of family and a team and I don’t feel you can get that with a big corporate franchise,” says Tom Wicklow, who’s buying a franchise of Let Mommy Sleep, which provides baby nurses and other help to new parents. “A service business, especially one that helps new families grow closer and live happier, offers something that money can’t buy.”
Wicklow, a former Marine who recently got his MBA, had considered a Domino’s Pizza franchise, but didn’t believe it would be fulfilling. He’s getting involved instead with Let Mommy Sleep, which is based in Bristow, Virginia, and has one franchise open so far in Philadelphia. Wicklow, who lives in Stanhope, New Jersey, plans his franchise to cover the northern part of the state and hopes for 10 employees in the first year.
But to be sure that a smaller franchise like Let Mommy Sleep would be a good deal for him, Wicklow had asked a mentor from SCORE, the organization that gives free advice to small business owners, to evaluate the franchise agreement papers first.