Tenanted Pub Summit: Trade urged to 'broaden' range of franchise concepts

Andrew Emmerson, former business development director at Domino’s Pizza Group, said the sector needs to “go further” than its present steps into franchising.

“I think you need to broaden the brand range that you offer to your potential franchisees,” said Emmerson, who previously worked for Allied Domecq on pub brands including the Firkin chain and Mr Q’s.

“You only need to go and visit some of the franchising shows and see the number of high net worth individuals who are looking to invest in franchises in this country. Ourselves at Domino’s and also the team at McDonald’s and elsewhere receive thousands of applications on an annual basis from people who are qualified and interested in opening up a system-based franchising [for food concepts] and there is no reason why you can’t appeal to that same consumer.”

Emmerson, who also worked for Dunkin Doughnuts in the US, gave the example of some brands he believes could work under franchise.

“What if I could franchise Chef & Brewer? What if I could franchise Hungry Horse?

“I’m really excited about Harvester and what they’ve done in the motorway services sector, I think that’s great, but why limit themselves in that way? There might be certain areas in the country where there aren’t many Harvesters and there is no doubt that there would be people who would wish to invest with M&B [Mitchells & Butlers, the Harvester owner] and similar companies in the development of that brand.”

Emmerson suggested one method could be for the pub company to invest in the properties while franchisees invest in the fixture and fittings and in fitting out the sites.