[ccalley]

I'm a third year law student in central Ohio and I am currently planning on opening a franchise in the Columbus, OH area that has very limited competition. I need to raise approximately $100,000. I have prior management experience and will actively involved. After the initial location is opened, I will be pursuing at least 10 more locations in central Ohio within the next 5 to 7 years.

The franchise fee is 10k. The additional funds are needed to secure equipment leases and property financing and renovations.
I am still in the planning phase. I expect to have hard numbers within the next 3 months and begin pursing property acquisition.
I greatly appreciate any input. Thank you.

[eich41]

Well you may want to talk about what exactly the business is. You're not going to get anyone interested by simply saying you plan on opening a "franchise" and need 100k. You may not want to disclose everything on a online forum, but you should at least be able to describe the business in a vague sense (what industry, target demographic, competitive advantages, etc.)

[ccalley]

I wasn't sure how much information to post. Fast Food industry, specifically breakfast oriented with a modest lunch/dinner menu. Target demo would be identical to that of McDonalds. Advantages are better value, country-style food made on site- rather than frozen and microwaved. This franchise has been very successful in more rural areas even when going head to head with other FF chains such as McDonalds or BK.

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As a fellow third year law student, I must ask you to elaborate as to why you are choosing to franchise a fast food restaurant with a law degree. Grades? No offers? Other? If I were an interested investor, this would send up a red flag when it comes to trusting someone with my money.

[jasaunders]

Most franchises require their franchisee to have a minimum level of net worth and liquid assets. Big franchises sometimes require up to $2MM in liquidity, without debt to finance it.

I take it your franchise partner isn't one of these? Have you been approved by the company yet to become a franchisee?

[2gould]

Originally Posted by jmenq2

As a fellow third year law student, I must ask you to elaborate as to why you are choosing to franchise a fast food restaurant with a law degree. Grades? No offers? Other? If I were an interested investor, this would send up a red flag when it comes to trusting someone with my money.

Tell that to Sam Zell...
Personally, I don't think that getting a law degree has any bearing on what you do in the future. A ton of investment bankers, VCs and PE guys have law degrees. I have one and I am looking to do something entrepreneurial. If I were an investor the law degree wouldn't make a bit of difference to me.
Cheers

[jasaunders]

I completely agree with you 2gould, I know a lot of people with law degrees who do things completely unrelated.
However, on jmenq's point, you don't normally see lawyers finish up law school right away and jump into fast food. You yourself said you know people with law degrees in investment banking, private equity and VC. Those are a little different than going into breakfast fast food. I think that's more of a stretch.

I applaud people with law degrees going into other fields. If I was a potential investor for this though, I would question why a law student was doing this. I don't know if I would go so far as to imply that bad grades were the reason, but I would want to know the motivation behind this. A suitable answer would be "I have always wanted to start a business, I see a very strong business case here that will make this opporunity successful and I have the intelligence and legal background to ensure I am not taken advantage of."

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Originally Posted by jasaunders

I completely agree with you 2gould, I know a lot of people with law degrees who do things completely unrelated.
However, on jmenq's point, you don't normally see lawyers finish up law school right away and jump into fast food. You yourself said you know people with law degrees in investment banking, private equity and VC. Those are a little different than going into breakfast fast food. I think that's more of a stretch.

I applaud people with law degrees going into other fields. If I was a potential investor for this though, I would question why a law student was doing this. I don't know if I would go so far as to imply that bad grades were the reason, but I would want to know the motivation behind this. A suitable answer would be "I have always wanted to start a business, I see a very strong business case here that will make this opporunity successful and I have the intelligence and legal background to ensure I am not taken advantage of."

Thank you. My point was neither to suggest that you are a poor student nor to suggest that one with a law degree should only go into law. (I myself am a perfect example of that.) My point is that you are asking someone to invest money to enable you to pursue a fast food venture, and investors NEVER invest solely in a project - they invest in the project AND the person. I just wanted you to understand that this is a question that you WILL have to face if you pursue funding from any serious investor. They are investing in YOU to run the project, and they will want a thorough understanding of who you are and whether you are capable of managing their money competently. Understand?

[2gould]

Josh's post wraps up both points of view perfectly, so there is no need to expand. I just didn't want the original poster to be discouraged based upon his educational experience. Thanks

[ccalley]

I understand that the knee jerk reaction is "what? you're in law school and you want to open a franchise?" I expect to be hit with that. I'm in a top 40 school, sitting at just above the 50% and am currently working at the state supreme court...I'm not worried about finding a law job. I would just much rather do something I know I would enjoy much more. The franchise I'm interested in is a rather small but effective organization with a little over 50 locations. I have no doubt that when I get a location opened in central Ohio that it will be successful. I grew up in a small town with the same FF franchise mix and the place is highly successful with low car counts and low per capita income. Placing in a location that has in excess of 40k cars per day and triple the per capita income and no additional competition is a no-brainer.
I completely understand your comments jmenq2 and take no offense. I do have a learning curve to handle which is one of the reasons I posted on YE.

[sleighter]

Your amount needed is small by lender standards.If you have a good business plan ,good credit,and an experienced chef , you can go with the Sba express or microloan.Equipment financing is the easy part. Many like Paul Bosely at First Financial only require a one page application up to $ 100,000 and two weeks to funding.You may also try Citi-Bank business Credit cards.Thay will do up to four at $ 25,000 grand apiece.