Everyone’s a Winner!
Las Vegas Multi-Unit Conference sizzles
The 2006 Multi-Unit Franchising Development Conference & Expo,
“Gearing Up for Growth,” attracted nearly 400 attendees and 52
exhibitors this past March. Sponsored by Area Developer magazine
and produced by Franchise UPDATE, Inc., this fifth annual event was
the largest, most successful to date, both in numbers and in buzz.
The conference featured two-and-a-half
days of dynamic programs, roundtables, and
lively, informative breakout sessions. Topics
ran from nuts-and-bolts tips on managing
the everyday details critical to franchise
success; to high-level strategies for unit
growth; to real-life “stories from the edge”
from successful multi-unit operators
describing their own early learning
experiences.
FRANdata President Darrell Johnson
opened the conference Thursday
describing the state of franchising by the
numbers. The growth of multi-unit
franchising continues, he noted, with 52
percent of units now controlled by multi-unit franchisees (nearly half of those in the
fast food sector). Of the nearly 25,000
multi-unit franchisees in his database, 84
percent owned 2 to 5 units, 10 percent
owned 6 to 10, 4 percent owned 11 to 20,
and 2 percent owned 21 to 50, with the
remainder owning 51 or more units.
Johnson also noted a startling rise in new
franchise concepts, which grew from
roughly 200 in both 2003 and 2004 to
more than 500 in 2005.
Morning keynote speaker Steven S.
Little, senior consultant for Inc. magazine,
set the tone with his fast-paced, provocative
“ 7 Irrefutable Rules of Business Growth.”
The afternoon keynoter, Jim “The Rookie”
Morris, recharged the after-lunch crowd
with an inspiring story on the power of
dreams and his dramatic comeback to
Major League Baseball.
The event also offered three full-day, preconference Boot Camps on Wednesday: one
program for experienced operators (
Multi-Unit Franchising Business Architecture),
one for newer entrants to franchising
(Multi-Unit Franchising Fundamentals),
and a first-ever Boot Camp for women:
Growth Strategies for Women Franchisees.
A raffle auction held on the busy
exhibitor floor raised $5,000 for this year’s
designated charity: The Little Rock
Foundation, an organization formed by
parents to benefit children with blindness,
visual impairment, and other disabilities. As
an added bonus, attendees were treated to a
stirring singing performance by the charity’s
namesake, nine-year-old Little Rocco
Fiorentino, Jr., who was born blind.
After days of fast-paced business and
networking activity, the conference wound
down to a more relaxed conclusion Friday
afternoon on the fairways and greens of the
event’s luxurious venue, the JW Marriott Las
Vegas Resort Spa & Golf.
Attendees of all stripes departed Las
Vegas rejuvenated—and armed with both
big new ideas and practical suggestions on
how to grow their own multi-unit
businesses. Many are already making
plans for next year’s conference, to be held
at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs,
April 18-20, 2007. For more information:
www.areadeveloper.us/mudco/venue.shtml.
The only conference dedicated 100
percent to multi-unit franchising, each
annual Multi-Unit Franchising Development
Conference & Expo is a unique opportunity
and refresher course for developers,
franchisors, operators, suppliers, and investors
to meet their peers and learn together how to
build the franchise business.
