You have options for the franchise development agreement that you may use to make the most of your franchising plan for the growth of your business.

The most common franchise development agreement that we think about when we begin to entertain the idea of franchising a business is what is referred to by industry insiders as a single unit franchise.  The title pretty much explains itself. The franchise agreement that is developed sets in place a relationship between one franchise owner who buys the rights to open one franchise outlet in the designated territory.  An example is a small business person who decides to purchase one McDonald’s in a very active mall area of town.  That kind of franchise development agreement can be very successful and a great many franchises are run under that kind of set-up.

As you develop how you want to see the franchises you sell in your business be managed, it pays to understand other forms of franchise development agreements.  The single unit franchise will probably stay the privileged citizen of your franchising family because it seems to fit the American dream of success so well.  For a hopeful investor to make that leap from opening their own small business to running a very prosperous single unit franchise in your organization is the stuff movies are made of.

Perhaps not as common but worth plenty of attention is the multi-unit franchising idea.  Once again the gurus who gave this franchise development agreement that name did a terrific job. This franchise development agreement is stunningly similar to a single-unit franchise development agreement with a twist.  A single franchise owner is given the authority to open multiple physical locations under the same franchise agreement terms.

It is probably good to delve into how the franchise is managed under the multi-unit franchise development agreement.  This organization plan does not create a network of managers with tiers reporting to a top dog who runs the show.  Instead one single franchise owner operates and manages multiple physical locations.  It can be a tremendously profitable type of franchise development agreement for the franchise owner and for the franchising company because you are tapping one great manager for all he or she is worth.

Enter the Master Franchisor. 

Both the single-unit and multi-unit franchise development agreement plans are based on one relationship between you and one franchise owner.  It is true that the multi-unit franchise development agreement is a bit more complex but it is worth it for the big piles of money it can generate if it is run well.

A third type of franchise development agreement that taps the power of one great manager with even more complexity is the concept of the master franchisor.  The title has a bit of the superhero feel to it and in a way, because of the kind of money a great master franchisor can make when you are franchising your company with this plan, he or she might be the superhero of the franchising world.

The master franchisor does operate a multi-tiered operation in which you, the franchising company grant to the franchise owner the right to open sub-franchises which are accountable to the master franchisor.  This is not one franchise owner with multiple physical locations.  It is a franchise development agreement that utilizes a structured tier of many franchise owners who are developed and managed by one master franchise owner.  In a way it is like you are allowing one franchise owner to become a subsidiary of your business all his own.

All three of these franchise development agreements have tremendous expansion potential and they can generate huge pots of cash.  Each is successively more complex and the nature of the franchise agreement documents will reflect that.  So keep on staff some crack franchise lawyers if you decide to utilize a mixture of these different franchise development agreement types.  You will keep those lawyers busy creating franchise agreements hand over fist to keep up with the explosion in your growth if you manage it right.  That will make it all worth the effort.