Like IHOP, Fastframe is seeking experience rather than financial
strength in its prospective franchisees. This franchise differs,
however, in that it gives its corporate and franchise employees the
ability to work toward, rather than invest in, a store of their
own. With a goal of keeping talented framers and designers in its
system, Fastframe instituted its managing partner program in 1998,
allowing corporate and franchise employees to earn shares in their
stores.
The program is based on "the fact that there are a lot of
good people in this industry, both designers and framers, and quite
honestly there's not a great career ladder for them,"
explains Brian J. Harper, Fastframe's president and CEO.
"We want to give them a [true] career opportunity."
Greg Fournier was an ideal candidate. Working as an employee of
an Orange, California, Fastframe store for six years, Fournier
became increasingly frustrated as his employer seemed to lose
interest in the business. "I saw the potential of this store .
. . and the lack of what [my boss] put into it. Everything I tried
to do wasn't enough, because I wasn't the
decision-maker," says Fournier, 30.
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Fournier explained his situation to Fastframe, which informed
him about the managing partner program. He put in a small sum of
money to buy the store, and the franchise put up the rest. Fournier
was given certain sales goals that, when achieved, would earn him
an additional percentage of the business. He's currently earned
40 percent of the business from Fastframe and has become managing
partner of a second store in Yorba Linda, California.
Without the managing partner program, Fournier is unsure where
he'd be today. He agrees with Harper's sentiments, though,
that he probably would have quit working at Fastframe. "I
might have moved to a larger company where I could have overseen
more people, but I wouldn't have been happy. I always wanted to
own my own [business]," he says. "That's why this is
such a great program. It's ideal if you lack the funds to [buy
a franchise], but you have the knowledge and the ambition to do
it."
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Originally published in the June 2002 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
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