Franchise or Independent?
Franchise or Independent? In 2003, Rusty and Beth Adcock opened up the fourth franchised unit of Country Fisherman, a small, Mississippi-based, family-owned restaurant group. Rusty and Beth were switching gears from the corporate worlds of electrical wholesale distribution and retail marketing. Obviously there would be a learning curve. They had looked at several business opportunities and decided on the restaurant business because it was a cash-basis business. There was not going to be a lot of money tied up in inventory and there would be minimal to no accounts receivables. This would bode well for cash flow. The Country Fisherman Restaurant originated in 1987 in Prentiss, a small town in south central Mississippi. Peggy Tuma started it and built it with hard work and a deep background in food preparation. By the time her new husband Harold came along in the early 1990s, Peggy had worked out enough kinks that Harold encouraged and assisted her in expanding. Gradually they expanded into two other markets—Mendenhall and Jackson, Mississippi. It was at this time they realized the need to formulate franchise agreements. When the Adcocks and Tumas worked out their deal with the Brookhaven franchise, it was the first franchise agreement sold subsequent to the restaurant being established. At the time, the Tumas had initially owned all of the first three restaurants. Later they sold the Mendenhall unit to a relative. So, basically, the deal being done with the Adcocks was the first independently run unit the Tumas would be selling. While the Tumas had created a franchise model for their enterprise, the Adcocks were in charge of their own destiny. The Tumas provided simple menu plans, inventory guidelines, and volume pricing contracts with their franchise agreement. During the first week or two after opening the Brookhaven unit, the Tumas did help with hands-on assistance to make sure the unit got under way as the others they had opened. However, once the “wheels were in motion,” the Adcocks were virtually on their own. The Tumas would provide answers to questions and solutions to problems when called upon. As time went by, Rusty and Beth picked up on the ins and outs of the restaurant business. Moreover, through nobody’s efforts but their own, Rusty and Beth became fairly well known in the community. And in 2007, it became evident that the franchise business model the Adcocks were a part of might not be the best answer for them now. There were some inconsistencies in the decision making for all Country Fisherman units. Therefore, Rusty and Beth felt poor decisions independently made by the other franchisees could adversely affect their unit. If the consistency was not going to be upheld by the Tumas, maybe Read More