Special Offers Entice Local Customers and Encourage Franchisees to Join Your System

February 17, 2017

Offering lengthy royalty free periods to franchisees can show faith in current franchise partners, celebrate the brand’s success and give new franchisees a break when they are getting up and running.

By Michael Mabry

Reaching the 100-unit mark as a franchisor is a huge accomplishment. After years of hard work cultivating the brand, growing with the help of entrepreneurial-minded franchisees and overcoming a few challenges along the way, reaching that magic number solidifies your brand’s place as a major player in franchising.

MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes recently reached that landmark with our opening in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and we wanted to celebrate the occasion in a big way, for not only the guests who have supported us, but also the franchisees and potential franchisees that are pivotal to our next phase of growth.

Our focus was to promote this milestone opening, but also to reward the dozens of small-business owners in our system who have helped us to create this national brand. Our approach was to offer incentives surrounding MOOYAH’s 100th opening to attract more growth-minded entrepreneurs looking to expand this already thriving brand in their own communities.

Here is how our franchise turned the celebration opening into an event to launch our next phase of growth:

Celebrate your people

MOOYAH quite simply wouldn’t be successful without the support of our wonderful team, franchisees and loyal guests. When you have an opportunity to celebrate success, go big! We pride ourselves on being “Seriously Fun,” so we wanted to create a campaign around our milestone that paired that attitude with some seriously outrageous promotions, giveaways and events all geared toward giving back to the people who have propelled the brandto success.

We launched a multi-platform marketing campaign, utilizing our strong social media presence, loyalty rewards app, website, traditional public relations and of course, word-of-mouth, promoting all the ways we planned to celebrate this event and letting our guests know how they could get involved in the festivities in their own communities.

We chose August 29, about a week after the actual opening, to kick off a series of nationwide giveaways to mark the occasion. Nearly all of MOOYAH’s locations in the US gave out unique “Fresh Hot Buns” t-shirts and coupons for free fries for a year to its first 100 guests in line. Seeing truly excited guests lined up around the block before the restaurants were even open to earn their coupons was a great way to visualize our success. The celebration also extended to MOOYAH Rewards App users. We gave away $100 in App Rewards every day for 100 days. Guests who scanned their receipt barcodes were automatically entered to be one of the 10 daily winners of $10 Rewards.

Attract more top talent

While rewarding our loyal guests was important for us, we also aimed to use the opening as an opportunity to launch our next phase of growth, part of an even larger goal of reaching the 200-unit mark within the next five years. On pace to meet our development goal of opening 30 new units this year, we hope that reaching this company milestone will only accelerate our growth in coming years, so we wanted to design an incentive to help us achieve that.

Beyond consumer giveaways, MOOYAH is celebrating the 100-unit achievement by offering prospective business owners a unique deal: free royalties for the first 100 days after their location opens. Franchisees who sign development deals during that period between August 29 and December 7, will enjoy this exclusive celebratory offer.

This was another opportunity for our system to attract qualified and eager franchisee candidates looking to invest with an exciting and growing brand. By tying this unique financial incentive for franchises to our 100th opening we’re not only promoting our past success, but also ensuring future growth at the same time.

It may seem counterintuitive for franchise brands to offer lengthy royalty free period offers to franchisees, but we believe that by showing faith in our franchise partners, celebrating the success of the brand and giving new franchisees a break when they are first getting up and running, we will ultimately more than make up that value in the long run.

Stay true to your branding

MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes has been able to grow to 100-units by staying true to our original concept: customizable, fresh burgers with limitless toppings and house-baked buns, real ice cream shakes and hand-cut fries, all served in a Seriously Fun atmosphere. For us, fun is more than an adjective; it’s at the core of our company philosophy.

When deciding just how we would mark our 100th opening we wanted to make sure we were giving our guests, franchisees and even potential new franchisees the fun experience they’ve come to expect from MOOYAH.

In a booming franchise segment like the better burger category, it can be difficult to stand out in consumers’ minds. We’ve made our mark by offering fresh, high quality food in a fun atmosphere fit for the whole family, and we continue to show that in everything we do.

Michael Mabry is Chief Operating Officer of MOOYAH Burgers, Fries & Shakes, a Dallas-based brand with 100 units worldwide.