Franchising
The use of powerful yet simple franchising model was key to the successful expansion of Eagle Boys. After the company opened a few stores, it quickly realized that controlling and effectively managing all of these busy stores throughout the country was going to be an enormous challenge. In addition, it would be difficult to raise the required capital to build new stores. With the popularity of franchising quickly rising in the early 1990s, it seemed like the logical choice. This turned out to be true, and in the words of Mr. Potter, “…we turned to franchising, and the rest is history”.
Eagle Boys developed a very successful and lucrative franchise system that revolves around ten important principles: (1) support during the decision-making process; (2) cost-effective franchise entry price; (3) store location and building assistance program; (4) franchise training; (5) team selection and training; (6) extended support through training and day-to-day guidance; (7) regular visits by franchise business managers to improve sales, profitability and general management; (8) strong marketing, advertising and buying power support; (9) stable and dependable Australian-owned company; and (10) proven brand and dynamic products.
The franchise system is the mainstay of the company’s efforts, and its success is directly related to the flexible store models the company developed through its R&D. Franchisees are able to choose one of the following store models – all with proven track records – which best suit their needs and goals.
Standard Store: Representing the company’s roots, this model is a store that is large enough to meet the needs of metropolitan or regional centers with a population of over 10,000.
Drive-Thru Store: One of Eagle Boys’ many firsts, this model improves customer convenience and can effectively compete with a larger group of fast food chains, such as those that provide drive thru service but do not sell pizza.
Micro Store: Similar to the Standard Store, the Micro Store model provides all of the quality products of Eagle Boys, but is smaller and thus targets areas with a population between five and ten thousand.
Local Store: This model is designed to meet even smaller population centers than the Micro Store, but can bring in significant value-for-money business. Designed to dominate in markets where there is limited competition, this model allows attractive menu pricing and the potential to deliver considerable profits to franchisees.
Express Store: Designed to operate in space as small as six square meters, this model is one of the company’s most successful and caters to the busy customer on the go. It provides franchisees with a unique opportunity to create a profitable business in a very small space, producing high quality personal pizzas and healthy profit margins, all with low labor costs and minimal required infrastructure. The Express Store model is designed around simplicity, consistency and speed, with one store producing from 60 to 2,500 pizzas per hour. Adaptable to a range of applications, Express Stores can be independently branded kiosks or can be incorporated into an existing business.
The successful franchise model combined with Eagle Boys’ unique store models and products has allowed the company to experience rapid growth in a short time. It has also allowed the company to weather tumultuous economic times and is one of the major contributing factors towards its success.