Innholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2019 i Entrepreneur Magazine

four Hollywood actors had a big idea: Launch a snack bar and use the sales to help feed malnourished kids around the world. They had a big name, This Bar Saves Lives, for their company. And as they sat around their office—which was really just one of their condos—in the early days of the business, they dreamed up their biggest possible goals and wrote them on a chalkboard. “We brainstormed what success, on the business side, would look like. I’m not talking about growth trajectory or EBITDA here—I’m talking about wild indicators that would mean we’d made it,” says Ryan Devlin, one of the company’s cofounders. They wrote down three things: (1) Bars in the White House; (2) Bars in space; (3) Bars in Starbucks. They’re still working on the…

When an industry explodes and competition gets fierce, innovation is everything. The founders of Cannadips know this concept very well. Co-founder Cliff Sammet had watched the cannabis market grow and waited for the invention of the one product he craved: A discreet, orally absorbed, uniformly metered dosing method with the rapid onset effect of combustibles but minus the harmful smoke, vapor and odor. It never materialized. “He sat on the idea, thinking someone would figure it out,” says Case Mandel, recalling the gestating lightbulb moment of his co-founder. “It was two years later he gave me a 1 a.m. call with the concept.” Mandel and Sammet, two longtime friends living in California’s cannabis-producing goldmine of Humboldt County, were immediately presented with a roadblock: fat-soluble cannabinoids “don’t readily absorb in the…

Jason Avant has always been in the entertainment business. The former NFL receiver is an athlete by trade, but the business of football, he says, is about making sure fans have fun and providing them with an escape from reality. “That’s what football is,” Avant says. Football is, in fact, what provided Avant with his own escape from reality decades ago. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where both drugs and violence were prevalent. When Avant discovered football, he found something much more worthy of his energy—and he also found his way out. He played college football at the University of Michigan before signing with the NFL, where he played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Carolina Panthers. When he retired from the…

Astaircase to nowhere and some charred I beams are all that’s left of a house that once commanded million-dollar views of California’s Bell Canyon. A burned-out Mercedes sits beside them, waiting to be hauled away. Stapled to the home’s mailbox is a county demolition order that reads unsafe; the front yard is littered with debris. The house in this affluent neighborhood has looked like this since November, when the Woolsey Fire left it—along with 100 other homes around the bowl-shaped canyon north of Malibu—in various states of destruction. Inside the ruins, refrigerator doors tilt open, exposing rotted food. Drawers hang ajar from slouching kitchen cabinets. A couch is visible through one broken window, a candy dish still sitting on the nearby coffee table. The massive blaze was one of three…

WEIGHT-LOSS programs are nothing new to the franchise world, but Profile by Sanford—an offshoot of nonprofit healthcare system Sanford Health—takes a unique approach, offering clients its Profile Precise genetic testing to analyze how their bodies metabolize carbohydrates so their coaches can personalize their nutrition and activity plans. The company’s 100 physical locations, along with its phone-based Profile Anywhere coaching service, have already helped more than 100,000 members in all 50 states to lose more than 1.5 million pounds.…

THERE ARE MANY franchises aimed at helping seniors stay in their homes, but Chefs for Seniors is the first to focus on nutrition. Chef and restauranteur Barrett Allman realized this need when senior customers of his restaurants confessed to him that they struggled with cooking for themselves. Chefs for Seniors sends a trained chef into the client’s home to prepare a week’s worth of meals in two hours—providing both tailored nutrition and companionship for the elderly, and a relatively low-cost opportunity for working chefs and others interested in the senior-care industry.…

When Mariam Naficy launched Minted in 2008, she wanted to create a niche business, one that would crowdsource stationery designs from independent artists, ask consumers to vote for their favorites, produce and sell the best-performing creations, and share a portion of revenue with the original designers. But Naficy underestimated consumers’ interest in what she was building, and she soon found herself at the helm of a massive venture-backed design platform that was growing far beyond her original vision. So she rolled with it—adapting right alongside her company. Now Minted’s team is 400 strong and the company is generating revenue in the “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Naficy talked with Entrepreneur about letting the business lead the way, carefully selecting strategic partners, and building a team that doesn’t require hand-holding. Minted…

Brett Beveridge was in his last semester at the University of Miami in 1989 when he launched his entrepreneurial career. At the time, cell phones were gaining popularity. With little-to-no money, he and a college buddy started a cell phone company out of the back of a van. “We would drive around and set up shop in parking lots around South Florida,” Beveridge says. At 24 years old, Beveridge faced his first lesson when the person responsible for activating the cell phones wouldn’t pay back $250,000 he owed them. In need of every penny, Beveridge and his partner confronted the man. “When we arrived, we learned that he was going out of business,” he says. “Things became heated. He pulled open his jacket and flashed a gun.” Beveridge and his…

Looks like sunny weather ahead: Brainstorms still have their place in the workplace, but a newer technique is clearing the skies for heightened productivity, greater equity among team members and a faster decision-making process. Brainwriting—so called because it emphasizes written brainstorming contributions that ladder up to oral contributions and a final decision—is one of the techniques that is becoming more popular in leading organizations. One variation making the rounds in the tech world is a brainwriting exercise in which people individually make notes of their ideas, then vote on them as a group. It boils down to six key steps: 1. Team members write down their ideas for five to 10 minutes, individually, without discussion.2. Each person reviews his or her list for two minutes, selecting one or two favorites—again,…

Q How can I help create in-office efficiencies, especially when my team is small and we’re all juggling tasks and responsibilities? —MICHELLE N., NASHUA, N.H. PUT 10 entrepreneurs in a room, and you’ll hear the same mantras recited: Hustle. Focus. Do more with less. Survive. As inspiring as those words might sound, they can’t ensure success. There’s a reason that more than 50 percent of startups fail in the first five years. Creating efficiencies means establishing an infrastructure that can help your business in multiple situations. After all, failure isn’t always a by-product of a bad idea or a bad team. Sometimes everything is going right until it goes wrong: the website that gets too much traffic and crashes, or a product so in demand that inventory needs can’t be…

When Tony Lamb started Kona Ice in Kentucky in 2007, he had a simple mission: resurrect the ice-cream-truck business by serving tasty, affordable shaved ice out of a modern, playful truck with a self-serve flavor bar. He anticipated some success, but he got a runaway hit. Kona Ice now has more than 1,100 franchise operations throughout three countries, and thanks to some savvy feedback and ideas from franchisees in icier climes, the company’s sales thrive even when snow is falling. Despite the significant growth over the past 12 years, Lamb still runs the business like he did when it first launched: Take care of the franchisees so they can take care of their communities. You started Kona Ice in 2007 and very quickly incorporated a charitable component to your business…

If you’re interested in becoming a franchisee, you’ll find there are thousands of concepts vying for attention. Maybe you’ve narrowed down your interest to a certain category—like food or fitness—but even then there may be dozens or hundreds of companies to choose from. So which one is best? It’s a question that requires research and perhaps a bit of soul-searching. At Entrepreneur, we’ve done our own research—more than 40 years of it—to come up with our system of evaluating which franchises come out on top. Our annual Franchise 500 ranking evaluates companies on more than 150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. And the best of the best based on that evaluation—the 104 companies that…

HOPING TO REPLICATE the success of sister brand Dunkin’s Next Generation restaurants—of which 130 were opened last year, more than double the company’s goal—Baskin-Robbins has introduced its own new store concept, dubbed Moments. The first Moments store opened in Fresno, Calif., late last year, and features brightly colored contemporary decor, new seating options, digital menu boards, and a wall mural that celebrates the local community and encourages social media interaction. The store also features new treats like chocolate-dipped bananas, smoothie bars, and Polar Pizza.…

WHILE SO MANY retailers are struggling to keep customers in the e-commerce age, Pet Supplies Plus has grown year after year. Much of that is through franchising, but CEO Chris Rowland continues to open new corporate stores as well in order to seize prime real estate and also test out new ideas before requiring franchisees to implement them. One of the ideas that survived this testing process is an online ordering and in-store pickup program. Franchisees add a thank-you note to each order with info about upcoming events and discounts to encourage customers to return and spend time in the store.…

JULIE SELBY’S aha moment came when she hosted a neighborhood “crafts-and-wine” night in her basement. Just a few months later, in March 2015, she opened the first Board & Brush Creative Studio in Hartland, Wisc., to help others have the same experience. Attendees at Board & Brush workshops spend about three hours being guided through the process of creating a farmhouse-style wood sign, from sanding and distressing to staining and stenciling. Like its paint-and-sip predecessor, the concept has proven quite popular, already attracting hundreds of franchisees.…

In Louisiana, global technology firms and fast-growing startups continue to find a conducive business climate, a reliable talent pool and productive partnerships with colleges and universities statewide. That trend continued in 2018 with several key wins. In June, Austin-based global software company Accruent announced an expansion to New Orleans, also home to DXC Technology and GE Digital. Accruent, which will fill 350 New Orleans jobs by 2020, optimizes solutions for real estate, facilities and equipment solutions through internet-of-things, or IoT, technology. Accruent considered New Orleans more cost-effective than mature tech hubs with tighter labor markets. “Since 2012, New Orleans has led the nation in technology job growth, and we are pleased to continue this trend with the talent we need to support our strong acceleration in new technologies,” Accruent CEO…

Stephanie Benedetto has always been a material girl—not in the Madonna kind of way, but as a wild child of fabrics. Her great-grandfather came from Austria in 1896 to New York City’s Lower East Side and made coats and boleros out of other immigrants’ furs. Her family has been in textiles ever since. But when Benedetto came of age, she didn’t want to simply carry on. As much as she loved the business, she hated its waste. The $800 billion global apparel industry, with its ever-faster fashion, has become famous for its squander. It slurps up water like no tomorrow—literally, because at this rate, it will cause extreme scarcity in countries like China and throughout Asia by 2030, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group. And every year,…

ALLBIRDS MAY BE only three years old, but the San Francisco–based footwear brand is all about the future—at the company and beyond. The eco-conscious company uses 90 percent recycled packaging, which has cut down on waste by a third since its introduction in 2017. Allbirds’ signature material is merino wool, a sustainable option produced year-round by the namesake sheep breed. And the company recently partnered with nonprofit Soles4Souls to distribute lightly used shoes to those in need around the world. That forward-thinking mindset extends to the company’s headquarters itself, located in the Jackson Square Historic District on a street that managed to survive the San Francisco Fire of 1851. Inside, as employees brainstorm new designs, products, and sustainability initiatives, a street-address placard from the 19th century hangs on the wall,…

Pro athletes have surely snuck in their fair share of cannabis, but their leagues’ official rules have all been the same: The NBA, the NFL, MLB, and other major sports leagues forbid usage. That’s something Al Harrington is trying to change. He spent 16 years in the NBA, from 1998 to 2014, and now occupies two worlds. He’s a player in the upstart BIG3 basketball league and the very engaged cofounder and CEO of Viola, a cannabis brand that includes flower, vapes, and extracts. The plant healed his grandmother and transformed his career. Now he’s hoping he can spread the message to his former league—and far beyond. Is it true you weren’t a cannabis consumer until quite recently? I’m from Orange, N.J., so the war on drugs was something I…

1/Find a Bank You Can Grow With From James Short, director of food franchise finance, BBVA Compass Our franchise-specific team exists as a vertical system within the bank, which means when people come to us looking for financing, we start off with a Small Business Administration program that will finance single units to individual franchisees. One of the toughest things for a franchisee is growing from one unit to multiple units, whether it’s two or 10. But we can help them do that through our SBA program, and once they reach a certain size, we flip that into a conventional loan, where we have a little better availability to capital. So franchisees can have a full life cycle within our bank. But we also see plenty of owners come to…

URBAN AIR MAY have ranked #1 in our trampoline parks category, but in recent years the company has seen the need to become much more than just a trampoline park. It now touts its locations—often erected in former big-box retail store sites—as “indoor family theme parks” with a multitude of attractions, including go-karts, indoor skydiving, climbing walls, rope and obstacle courses, bumper cars, and a full-service restaurant. To aid in this expansion of its concept, the company secured a recent funding round and hired executives with experience at Six Flags, Topgolf, and Dave & Buster’s.…

For most people, the word franchise usually brings to mind brands that have been around for decades, like McDonald’s, Great Clips, and Jiffy Lube. But the truth is that the franchise industry is constantly being refreshed with newcomers hoping to replicate the success of those legacy brands—and often bringing with them innovations and ideas that older franchisors would be wise to watch. In fact, around a quarter of the 1,094 companies that applied for Entrepreneur’s 2019 Franchise 500 ranking have been franchising for five years or less (since 2014). And the top 100 of those new franchises can be found on the following pages. These franchises are ranked based on the scores they received from our Franchise 500 ranking formula, which evaluates companies on more than 150 data points in…

AS THE NAME IMPLIES, Modern Acupuncture’s mission is to introduce the 2,500-year-old practice to today’s consumers by turning it into a contemporary, spa-like experience. Patients lounge in recliners, surrounded by glowing lanterns, peaceful music, and TV screens displaying scenery from around the world while they receive acupuncture for pain, stress, allergies, digestive disorders—or even as an alternative to Botox and other skin treatments. Like other personal-care franchises, the company offers monthly memberships to keep clients coming back for more.…

FOUNDER VINEETA BHANDARI was inspired to open her own preschool to provide the level of care she desired for her daughter, who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age four. Today Building Kidz strives to help children around the world through its 501C, Building Futures Worldwide, which aids orphaned, abandoned, and disabled children, and contributes to juvenile diabetes research. Bhandari and her business partners have dedicated 25 percent of corporate profits to these efforts, and they’ve also opened a nonprofit school in India, serving 250 children a year.…