How to Get a Food Franchise in your Gas Station

One of the ways gas stations generate additional income is by opening a food franchise within the premises of their gas station. Getting a food franchise in your gas station is highly suitable if your gas station is located along a highway perhaps off the city center or a standalone gas station where motorists will have no other option than to patronize your food, drinks, or water et al.

The truth is that, in most countries of the world, especially in the United States of America and Canada, before you bring in a food franchise to your gas station, you have to visit the regulatory agency to be sure you can be allowed to open a food franchise in your gas station. This is so because there are zoning laws when it comes to gas stations and food businesses.

How to Get a Food Franchise in your Gas Station

If you are looking towards opening a food franchise in your gas station, these steps will serve as a guide;

1. Carry Out Extensive Research

The first thing you are expected to do if you want to get a food franchise in your gas station is to make sure you carry out extensive research, not just about franchising but also on the food industry and also the niche of the food franchise you want to open.

Your research will help you find out the pros and cons associated with investing in a particular food franchise. It will help you make the right decision as regards the food franchise to buy. Your research will also help you select the food franchise that best suits your business vision and available capital.

Once you have decided on the franchise you want, go through their website and their marketing items, and don’t forget to ask current franchise owners for their experience and advice.

2. Go Through the Franchise Requirements

When it comes to franchising, there are different requirements – some of the requirements might be favorable to you and others might not. Hence, a key step that you must not ignore when you want to get a food franchise in your gas station is to make sure you go through the franchise requirements attached to the franchise.

The truth is that franchisors most often set up certain requirements to ensure they only work with people who are qualified to carry on their business culture and concepts. These requirements include liquid assets, management experience, and credit score. Also, ensure you have certain personal and management skills as it would help you spot the perfect brand for you.

3. Contact The Food Franchise

Now is indeed the time to contact the food franchise on your list. You can visit their office, send them an email, call them or send them a text message. You can also visit the franchise’s website or you can submit a preliminary application online to request an interview.

Remember that during the application and interview process, you should be interviewing the franchisor just as much as they will be interviewing you to guarantee it’s a mutual fit. Once you scale through this phase, the franchisor will share the franchise agreement.

This is a document that includes the FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document). You shouldn’t review this document alone. Ensure to peruse through it carefully with your attorney, and if the terms are considerable and good, you can go on to sign the document.

4. Draft Your Business Plan

The fact that you are buying a food franchise and you are already operating a business (your gas station) doesn’t mean you aren’t supposed to have a business plan. As a matter of fact, you should put together a good business plan that clearly states how you intend to launch and grow your business.

A good business plan will contain key points that are very critical to the success of your business, such as a market analysis of competition in the area and the gap that your need franchise will fill that’s currently not being filled by competitors.

Please, also make sure you include other information like expected costs, how many people you plan to hire, what your position in the franchise will be, financial projections, and more. Indeed, one very good thing about opening a food franchise in your gas station instead of starting from scratch is that you can also obtain some information for your business plan directly from the franchisor or franchise agreement.

5. Secure Adequate Funding

Another important step that you should consider when buying a food franchise in your gas station is funding. Of course, you know that without adequate funding, you cannot buy a franchise. The total cost of investing and running your franchise will surely vary, and will most often depend on the exact brand you decide to invest with.

While a good number of franchisors will make financial assistance available, please note that this is not always the case. Aside from the initial startup costs of your franchise, ensure you have adequate funds to run your business, at least before it reaches the break-even point. It is very necessary to have access to extra capital, even if you don’t expect to take from it.

6. Meet with the Company’s Affiliates or Partners

Once you have done all that is stated above, the next step is to meet the company’s affiliates or partners. Here you can ask all the questions that have been bothering you about the franchise, and you will also get to know more facts about the parent company. You can also get in touch with the marketing department of the franchising company to get help with marketing your franchise.

7. Build Your Team

Once you have the go-ahead to open a food franchise in your gas station, you will need to start hiring so you can begin operations. You will need to assign various duties to different staff; manager, administrator, cashier, cooks or chefs or bakers, waiters, security guards, and more.

Please note that the fact you bought a successful food franchise doesn’t automatically translate to success for you, you must make sure you get it right when hiring your team. With the right team, and the right food franchise brand, you can rest assured that you will break even within the shortest time frame.

8. Organize a Grand Opening

Once you have successfully gone through the rigors of buying a food franchise in your gas station, you should start planning on opening the business. In recent times, no business opens its doors without first organizing an opening party to officially launch the business.

You can choose to do a soft opening if you are operating on a low budget or you can go for a grand opening party. The bottom line is that with a proper launching of the food franchise, you will officially inform people in your city that your fast-food restaurant or whatever food niche you are operating in your gas station is open for business.

Food Franchises That Work in a Gas Station

Here are some of the food franchises that work in a gas station;

1. Checkers and Rally’s Restaurants
2. Subway
3. McDonald’s
4. Papa John’s
5. Hunt Brothers Pizza
6. Champs Chicken
7. Dunkin’ Donuts
8. KFC US LLC
9. Taco Bell
10. Quaker Steak & Lube
11. A&W Restaurants
12. Royal Farms Fried Chicken
13. Kabob
14. Royal Chef Indian Restaurant
15. The Growler Guys
16. Billeaud’s Grocery
17. Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ
18. El Carajo
19. Andrae’s Kitchen
20. Pig Tail Bypass Country Café
21. Whoa, Nellie Delli.