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BRIEFS
IFA, NFC Merge
The International Franchise Association (IFA) and the National Franchise Council (NFC) announced in early February that they will join forces. The NFC will become a division of IFA, and in this manner will continue to oversee its well-regarded Alternative Franchise Rule Enforcement Program.
The NFC was founded in 1998 to develop programs and campaign against 'intrusive regulation of franchise relationships,' according to NFC President Neil Simon. Through the Alternative Franchise Rule Enforcement Program, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refers franchisors that violated the Franchise Rule to NFC for compliance training and limited monitoring in lieu of an enforcement action. Mediation to resolve outstanding issues between the franchisor and franchisee is often part of the resolution.
'The addition of the Alternative Enforcement Program will complement and enhance IFA's current self-regulatory efforts for the entire franchise community,' IFA Chairman Steve Siegel told FBLA (see full interview, page x). 'The transfer of the Alternative Enforcement Program to the IFA is a win-win for IFA's members, regulators, franchise investors and the entire franchise community.'
FTC spokesperson Steve Toporoff said that the agency 'is pleased that the Alternative Enforcement Program will continue'We think it has a very productive role in the scheme of franchise regulation.'
From the FTC's perspective, the program enables the agency to help educate companies about compliance with franchising rules, without requiring the agency to use scarce resources to pursue minor violations of those rules. 'This becomes especially valuable in working with new franchisors that might be unfamiliar with the Franchise Rule and are in technical violation, but are not committing fraud,' Toporoff said.
SuperShuttle Expands
SuperShuttle Inc., reports greater driver satisfaction, higher profitability, and better customer service as it continues to convert its employee-drivers to franchisees. Based in Phoenix, AZ, SuperShuttle provides drivers who move people to and from airports through shared-ride, door-to-door service. It has contracts at 21 major metropolitan airports in the US.
Since 1999, SuperShuttle has been converting its drivers to franchisees in an airport-by-airport rollout. It now has about 650 franchisees, each of which is an individual who owns his or her vehicle, according to David Bird, senior vice president of operations for SuperShuttle. The company provides financing for drivers to buy their vehicles, and it does not charge an initial franchise fee. The program has been a major success. 'In our old system, employee turnover was nearly 100% annually. Basically, we were a stopover job while people tried to find other work,' Bird said. 'Now our franchisee turnover is less than 10% per year. That shows how popular the system has been.'
In addition to reduced training and overhead costs, SuperShuttle has found that its drivers' accident rates have been cut in half, and the severity of the accidents has dropped, too. 'Our drivers realize that their income is directly related to their performance, to their ability to keep their vans on the road,' says Bird. Drivers have more control of their own destiny.'
Customers who use the service also benefit from better treatment from 'drivers who are more serious about their profession,' he says.
As SuperShuttle finishes converting the approximately 30% of its workforce that is not franchised, it has put most other growth plans on hold. But one thing is certain: 'We will only expand to airports where we can operate our franchise model,' said Bird.
IFA, NFC Merge
The International Franchise Association (IFA) and the National Franchise Council (NFC) announced in early February that they will join forces. The NFC will become a division of IFA, and in this manner will continue to oversee its well-regarded Alternative Franchise Rule Enforcement Program.
The NFC was founded in 1998 to develop programs and campaign against 'intrusive regulation of franchise relationships,' according to NFC President Neil Simon. Through the Alternative Franchise Rule Enforcement Program, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refers franchisors that violated the Franchise Rule to NFC for compliance training and limited monitoring in lieu of an enforcement action. Mediation to resolve outstanding issues between the franchisor and franchisee is often part of the resolution.
'The addition of the Alternative Enforcement Program will complement and enhance IFA's current self-regulatory efforts for the entire franchise community,' IFA Chairman Steve Siegel told FBLA (see full interview, page x). 'The transfer of the Alternative Enforcement Program to the IFA is a win-win for IFA's members, regulators, franchise investors and the entire franchise community.'
FTC spokesperson Steve Toporoff said that the agency 'is pleased that the Alternative Enforcement Program will continue'We think it has a very productive role in the scheme of franchise regulation.'
From the FTC's perspective, the program enables the agency to help educate companies about compliance with franchising rules, without requiring the agency to use scarce resources to pursue minor violations of those rules. 'This becomes especially valuable in working with new franchisors that might be unfamiliar with the Franchise Rule and are in technical violation, but are not committing fraud,' Toporoff said.
SuperShuttle Expands
SuperShuttle Inc., reports greater driver satisfaction, higher profitability, and better customer service as it continues to convert its employee-drivers to franchisees. Based in Phoenix, AZ, SuperShuttle provides drivers who move people to and from airports through shared-ride, door-to-door service. It has contracts at 21 major metropolitan airports in the US.
Since 1999, SuperShuttle has been converting its drivers to franchisees in an airport-by-airport rollout. It now has about 650 franchisees, each of which is an individual who owns his or her vehicle, according to David Bird, senior vice president of operations for SuperShuttle. The company provides financing for drivers to buy their vehicles, and it does not charge an initial franchise fee. The program has been a major success. 'In our old system, employee turnover was nearly 100% annually. Basically, we were a stopover job while people tried to find other work,' Bird said. 'Now our franchisee turnover is less than 10% per year. That shows how popular the system has been.'
In addition to reduced training and overhead costs, SuperShuttle has found that its drivers' accident rates have been cut in half, and the severity of the accidents has dropped, too. 'Our drivers realize that their income is directly related to their performance, to their ability to keep their vans on the road,' says Bird. Drivers have more control of their own destiny.'
Customers who use the service also benefit from better treatment from 'drivers who are more serious about their profession,' he says.
As SuperShuttle finishes converting the approximately 30% of its workforce that is not franchised, it has put most other growth plans on hold. But one thing is certain: 'We will only expand to airports where we can operate our franchise model,' said Bird.
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