Regional to Global EXPANSION
Oklahoma City . So we felt comfortable [ expanding in Jordan ] because he knew what we were expecting in the way of product and service , and he had already demonstrated to us that he was capable .
So that makes it very easy . The way we go about it is we require that someone do a pilot store over there first – it really forces them to source product and prove that they ’ ve got a foothold in the country , and then they have a place to train someone .
So far we ’ ve sold Jordan and Palestine , and it ’ s the same with Allen – he opened an office there , now he ’ s opened the pilot store and we ’ ll go from there . He has a full time consultant based in Singapore that commutes back and forth , and we have a general manager for the brand that ’ s based in Shanghai . With this policy in place , it becomes kind of a friends-andfamily almost scenario of initial expansion . So now with that under our belt , we are a little more open to looking at third parties . In fact , we ’ ve got Egypt , Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – we ’ re talking with three separate groups that all appear very capable . So that ’ s something again where they ’ ll have to develop a pilot store , send people over here for training , and then we will help with support on our end .
FDF : What kind of support ? Is that more difficult for new franchise locations out of the country ? MP : Absolutely . We provide a high level of support for our industry in terms of training , pre-opening teams , purchasing and advertising support , and ongoing support that we do , and quite a bit of communication with our U . S . franchisees .
The distance and the language begin to come into play with international locations , and things are obviously outside of our normal distribution channels . When we ’ re developing a unit in the US , we just call our distributor to say “ get ready , because in six weeks we ’ re going to be opening in this town .” It ’ s a little bit different when it ’ s overseas .
So there we really rely on a combination of things – our franchise partner sourcing and seeing what products are available at the volumes that anticipate going in , and then our US vendors to see
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