How to Buy a Pizza Franchise

Buying a pizza franchise requires a great deal of preparation. Pizza is well loved and therefore one of the safer food franchises to consider. Unlike other fast foods, pizza has escaped much of the bad press about being unhealthy. If you're interested in opening a pizza franchise, you should consider the area you're looking at for your site and the demographics of that area before choosing a franchise to purchase.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Invest your time and money in doing your homework. It's worth the extra savings to investigate the franchise world fully before diving in with your entire life's savings. Travel around and visit different pizza chains. Walk around at franchise fairs and talk to people who own franchises already. Ask legal questions and financial questions of lawyers and accountants.
2. Think about who you are and what your goals are. More importantly, decide what you're willing to do to achieve those goals, and how hard and long you're willing to work. Decide whether you're prepared to devote your life for the next few years to making this business work, and whether you're OK with following mandates from company headquarters rather than working totally independently. Answering these questions honestly will help you determine if this is really what you want. Make sure you discuss your answers with people in your immediate family; this process isn't going to be easy, and you'll need their support.
3. Know the different franchises available for sale. They vary from the traditional to the funky. Domino's, Little Ceasar's and Pizza Hut all have nationally recognized names. Pizza Fusion and Zpizza offer organic healthy options and are growing in popularity. There are hundreds of possibilities. Find the best fit for your own business philosophy, prospective costumers and area.
4. Look into the company's history. Find out how they support new franchises and what kind of training they offer. Know how much they expect up front and in the long term. Also, find out their mission statement and their long-term goal for the company. Find out what they're best known for and the typical restaurant size and atmosphere. Be aware of their profit margin and their competition.
5. Get your loan approved and seek legal aid to interpret the legalese of the contract before you sign. Remember that you, not the bank, must do all the research and fact checking on the franchise. Getting a loan approved doesn't mean that the bank thinks this is a safe investment.
6. Pick your location with the help of the company. Someplace with a thriving economy and therefore lots of hard-working, hungry people around dinner and lunch is a good bet. If the town has college kids too, even better.