Archive for Items Categorized 'Avanti Magazine', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

Incorporation—Is It For You?

  It appears to me that many, if not most, franchisees are now entering into store agreements in a corporate capacity rather than as individuals. On the other hand, most franchisees who signed or renewed an agreement some years ago are still operating as individuals. That’s probably because SEI only began, a relatively short time […]

Paying The Price For Other’s Mistakes

  Consequences. Life is full of them. Some occur whether you are expecting them or not. If you put your finger into a flame, for instance, your finger will get burned. While this may have been an unknown consequence the first time, you undoubtedly learned the consequence to this action immediately afterwards. Furthermore, you learned […]

Thank You For Allowing Me To Serve

  I’ve had the honor of serving the franchise community for 30 years, mostly with the Southern California FOA and more recently as a vice chairman of the National Coalition. Over this time I’ve had the privilege of working with and befriending some of the most hardworking and devoted franchisees in the system. I’ve seen […]

Product Mix And Center Of The Store Sales Plan

  I recently received an e-mail from one of my field consultants regarding the center of the store sales plan for the months of January and February. The plan included recommendations on what products to add in certain parts of the store. Most of the suggested items were for the snacks, candy, HABA, and energy […]

How Important Is Communication?

  As 7-Eleven grows towards 10,000 stores—the company’s goal by 2015—communications between franchisees, 7-Eleven, Inc., and vendors becomes increasingly critical and at the same time increasingly complicated, not just because of the size of the organization, but because of the time it takes to generate informative, high quality communications. Today we have Zones with 500 […]

Influencing Legislation That Could Impact Our Businesses

  With the economy still on the mend, it appears many state and local governments dealing with budget issues are looking for quick fixes, and these fixes usually end up affecting small businesses like ours one way or another. Whether it’s a tax on sugary drinks, a ban on plastic bags, or new menu labeling […]

The Dangers Of Selling Counterfeit Products

  With respect to the sale of counterfeit products in your store, this article will begin with the same warning it will end with: DON’T DO IT! Recently, the owner of one brand of a sexual enhancement product accused a 7-Eleven franchisee in Southern California of selling not only that owner’s counterfeit product, but other […]

GEA: The Power Of The ClipBoard

  The idea of store inspections to improve overall cleanliness is not new. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Southland Corporation (the predecessor to SEI) would send employees to every 7-Eleven store unannounced to perform store cleanliness inspections. Back then the company realized the best way to get franchisees to follow new policy […]

Why Is This USE Not Local?

  In the old days, 7-Eleven would hold University of 7-Eleven (USE) events in local market areas and would repeat these in more than a dozen or two areas around the country. It was exceptionally gratifying to go to a USE, meet with the market manager, shake hands with the Division vice president, and float […]

Asset Protection: A New Approach

  With SEI pursuing an aggressive expansion plan, the number of 7-Eleven stores available for franchising is increasing. Many of these new stores inevitably will be sold to existing franchisees who have proven they can run stores profitably. The others will be sold to newcomers, which is great news, because the more franchisees we have […]