Medford mail tribune., December 16, 1962, Image 47

Family Weekly I December 16, 1962
The Franchise Boom
You, Too,
Can Be
Your Own
Boss
Some 400 new business
operations offer you
independence and a
five-figure income all for a
small down payment and a
large amount of work
By HARRY KURSH
IN THE SPRING of 1956, Peter Kros
unger, father of two children and a
milkman in Albertson, N. Y., went to a
flower and garden show. He went out
of curiosity, . but the visit changed
his life.
While at the exhibition, Pete had seen the
"Agi-Sprayer," a unique truck designed to
spray lawns and shrubbery with chemicals auto
matically. General Spray Service, Inc., owners of
the truck, were starting a chain of franchised
businesses throughout the United States and
were looking for men who wanted to be their
own boss.
The truck, with patented equipment, was
worth more than $9,000. When Pete inquired
about the meaning of the franchise, however,
he was told that for a down payment of a few
hundred dollars the company would give him
the "Agi-Sprayer" to operate as his own busi
ness in an exclusive territory.
The idea appealed to Pete, but he had some
misgivings. At 36, he had no business experi
ence. Forced to quit high school after two
years, he had worked at odd jobs until he be
came a milkman 18 years ago. But the company
explained that education and experience didn't
matter as long as Pete was willing to learn and
was determined to make good. Besides, the com
pany would train him to run the business.
Convinced, Pete tapped his entire savings,
$500, borrowed a bit from friends and relatives,
and signed for an "Agi-Sprayer" franchise.
Now owner and operator of three such fran
chised businesses, Pete lives in a $&2,000, seven
room house and has seen his earnings grow to
more than $40,000 a year, a far cry from his
former milkman's wages of $140 a week.
The Pete Krosunger story is not unique. To
day, tens of thousands of families are enjoying
five-figure incomes through businesses of their
own, thanks to franchising, the booming mar
keting technique that has invaded every state.
Essentially, a franchise is a contract under
which a parent company puts you in busi
ness with its name and trademark, provided you
sell certain of its products or services exclusively.
In return, you may also be required to pay the
parent company a franchise fee, a percentage
of your receipts, or both. Otherwise, the busi
ness and all the profits are yours, except that
you enjoy the valuable benefits of continuing
chain-style promotion and assistance from the
parent company.
Franchising is not a new phenomenon. Many
franchised businesses, such as Ben Franklin va
riety stores, Western Auto Supply centers, and
Howard Johnsons have been familiar landmarks
in thousands of communities for decades. Almost
every new-car dealer is actually a franchised
businessman.
Franchising really started to mushroom in
the '50s when several major corporations made
it possible to obtain business franchises for
small or moderate cash investments, ranging
from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Today, there are at least 400 small business
franchises in a great variety of products and
services ice-cream roadside stands and mobile
vendors; doughnut shops; brake and muffler
shops; precooked, take-home dinner stores; in-the-home
rug and carpet cleaning services;
paperback bookstores; coin-operated laundries
and dry cleaners; custom recording services;
swimming-pool sales; and bookkeeping-acount-ing
services.
The cash required for nearly all small busi
ness franchises usually represents only a down
payment on the real value of the business. The
balance is paid from operating profits.
When the "Mister Donut" chain was launched
a few years ago, for instance, one of the first
to obtain a franchise for a few thousand dollars
was Ira Inkeles, then a young married man just
out of the Army and earning about $75 a week
as a paper-products salesman. He was orphaned
at an early age, and his small legacy was his
investment. But his business in Alexandria, Va
was in a new building located at a choice super
market corner. Together with land and equipment
it was worth about $100,000.
Within THREE YEARS, Ira paid the balance
from profits and was outright owner of
everything. What's more, now only 28 and father
of four children, Ira is carving a little corporate
empire of his own. In May, 1962, he purchased
his fourth "Mister Donut" franchise in Rich
mond, Va., and runs his enterprise from an office
and an air-conditioned limousine.
The be-your-own-boss lure has attracted men
and women from all walks of life to franchising.
Among the 15,000 licensed owners of Westing
house Laundromats are three Cleveland secre
taries, all single, who pooled their savings to open
a coin-operated combination laundry and dry
cleaner. Many franchised businesses are operated
by husband-wife teams, and a surprising number
of retired armed-forces officers have gone into
franchising.
Franchising is no get-rich scheme. It takes
hard work to get started and to succeed. Many
franchisees work longer and harder as bosses
than when they had to punch a clock. "One of the
secrets of the franchising success," says A. L.
vsb'-.s? r i 'i "23:
t H n !'( ( H).:H HTr
fe e
Werner Maahs went from franchisee of a "Chicken
Delight" store to vice president of parent firm.
4
Family H' if kill. Drrrmtwr 16. 1961