Alessandro de Oliveira *
If the decision to open a company is already difficult, imagine expanding your business to a franchise. However, the model is a reality in the Federal District, and according to the Brazilian Franchising Association (ABF), in 2023 there were almost 5,000 units in the country’s capital — owned by franchisors or franchisees — with a total turnover of R5.5 billion $ and created more than 43 thousand direct jobs (see infographic).
ABF Regional Director Mauro Hyder, 46, explained how the franchise works. “It is a system that includes all stores, franchisees or franchisors. I draw a parallel with marriage, everything has to work together for a good income,” he compared. “The franchisee has its advantages, as it has the services offered by the franchisor to better sell the products, and the more the products stand out, the more the franchisee and the franchisor earn,” he emphasized.
Hyder listed some signs that can help a businessperson begin to consider franchising the business or service they offer. “Good indicators are the presence of maturity and consolidation of the business, as well as the presence of loyal customers,” he assessed. “I advise people to look for consulting companies for better adaptation,” he added. Mauro warned you to be careful when buying or even opening your own franchise. “First, look for serious advice and a product or service you like. Talk to other franchisees to get a better understanding of what the market is like and what franchisor support is like,” he commented.
Specialist in career and entrepreneurship, Ceub professor Juliana Nobrego emphasized that one of the advantages of buying a franchise is that the entrepreneur enters something that has already been tested and has results that can be evaluated. “It’s very different from opening a new business, because we never know how the market will react to a new company, no matter how perfect the planning was,” he stressed. “With a franchise, the company already has its audience, and the entrepreneur somewhat reduces the degree of risk and unpredictability, as well as accelerates the return on investment compared to opening a business from scratch,” he added.
The bad side, she says, is related to the types of contract to be a franchisee. “In the case of a business model, the franchisee has practically no opportunity to adapt the franchise to the local reality (in which he lives), because he will receive all the franchisor’s determinations, for example, where to put the point, the layout of the store, as well as the size of warehouse stocks,” he emphasized. . “Often this lack of tact on the part of the franchisee in tailoring the business to the particular reality of the outlet means that the outcome is not quite what the franchisee would like,” he commented.
Inspiration
Correio heard from franchise owners born in DF and consolidating both inside and outside the square. CEO of one of them, Frango no Pote, Carlos Junior, 25, explains how it happened. “The idea arose after a family trip to the USA at the end of 2011. There we discovered American-style fried chicken, and when he returned, my father realized that there was nothing like it in Brazil and decided to create a Brazilian version,” he commented.
According to the entrepreneur, the business started at home, on the barbecue area, and with a mini-delivery service selling chicken in a jar. “A month later, the demand began to grow strongly, and since my father always appreciated perfection, he eventually opened a store,” he emphasized. He said sales increased significantly with the opening of the Aguas Claras branch. “Since then, we have had offers to offer a franchise, but my father did not know how to proceed. Then he hired a consultant, brought in partners, and in 2014 actually entered the world of franchising,” he added.
Carlos Junior joined the company in 2018 in the operations sector. He stated that improving the home delivery service in 2019 was very important to ensure that the company did not go bankrupt during the Covid pandemic. “When we implemented this structure, we started to have record revenues. During the pandemic, the company only grew: we went from 20 to 60 units, including own and franchise stores,” he said of his company, which now has 70 stores nationwide. 30 only in DF.
“It really was a necessity.” This is what 42-year-old Bruno Vasconi, founding partner of Peça Rara Brechó, which opened in 2007, says: “To support my children, I sold a lot of things, I was a real lady. I read in a magazine about a mother who. I had a baby store and I thought that’s what I wanted to do,” he said of the inspiration for his venture.
Bruno commented that the need to become a franchisor arose when there was a high demand for people interested in having stores like hers. “They said they’d like to be involved in it, and that’s when I thought about franchising. At first I was afraid, but I sought a consultant to explore the feasibility, and in 2019 I converted the store into (a franchise base), he explained.
“We announced on social media that the store was becoming a franchise and several interested parties came forward. Our first franchise opened in Taghuating,” he commented. “But in 2020, a phone call changed the way the company expanded. She received a call from José Carlos Semenzato, businessman and president of SMZTO, the largest franchise investment group in Brazil. He said he wanted to create a partnership and help expand the franchise. It was a surprise. We there were conversations, meetings, and in 2021 he actually became a partner of the company,” he noted. In 2023, the Peça Rara Brechó franchise reached more than 150 stores sold. DF has 19 (seven owned and 12 franchised) ).
Fresh air
40-year-old businessman Andre Soares was already in the world of franchising when he decided to create his own brand. “Since 2012, it has been a multi-franchise with stores of different brands. The decision to create Dog do Bartô was made after we visited several hot dog carts and realized that the products were not of such high quality and did not have the necessary hygiene in preparation,” he said.
He opened his first store in 2019. But it took a few years to turn it into a franchisee-friendly brand because he had some fears. “Many people asked me to become a franchisee, but in the end I did not agree. Firstly, because of fear, and also because I still didn’t have a concrete idea of what I wanted from the business,” he explained.
It was only after he joined the partnership in 2023 that Suarez was convinced to embark on a “more aggressive expansion”. “We always try to maintain a good commercial relationship, but there will always be friction in the sense of a clash of views. This is because I have to make a decision for all the units and naturally that decision is different from the thinking of each of them. franchisees,” he claimed. entrepreneur. Dog do Bartô currently has 12 units in DF, two in Guyana, one in Formosa (GO), one in Sao Paulo and one in Ribeirao Preto (SP).
The desire to venture out led 65-year-old businessman Edmar Mote to enter the natural products sector, creating Bio Mundo in 2015. “I realized that this sector has a lot in common with me. In the first month of opening, after selling 25% more than the competitor, we sold 120%,” he calculated. He said he hadn’t thought about franchising.
“It wasn’t my desire, it was the market that approached me so that I could open a franchise. I received dozens of calls from investors and shopping mall chains that wanted to have one. We started our franchise in Guyana, and in the first two years we went to 30 units,” he emphasized. “Today we have 170 stores in 18 states, plus DF,” he noted.
*Supervised intern
Manuel Martinez