Wrapping Up 2024: Key Lessons Learned for Franchise Owners

As this year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time for franchise owners to reflect on their journey, successes, and lessons learned in 2024. It’s a chance to look at key insights and to ask how next year can be even better. Let’s look at a few franchise success factors that you may focus on for 2024.

Understanding Key Franchise Factors

1. Customer experience is paramount: If there’s one franchise lesson that stands out, it’s that customer experience is king. It likely does not matter what year you are reflecting on; the customer’s experience is a top priority for many savvy business owners. Think back on 2024:
   • What did you do to enhance a customer’s experience?
   • Did you experience your business through the customer’s eyes?
   • Who are your customers, and what are they looking for?
   • Where could your customer experience improve?
2. Embrace training and support: An important success factor is utilizing and embracing baseline training and support. Reflect on a few questions from the past year to consider how much you used your franchisee training and support in 2024:
   • How did you utilize your franchisee training in 2024?
   • Do you feel you got the most possible out of your franchisee training?
   • Is there something your training went over that you’re still struggling with?
   • Have you reached out to the franchisor for help or guidance with a problem you’re facing?

   Taking these factors into account can help guide you toward making 2024 a more rewarding year. Ongoing support from a franchisor, such as Penn Station East Coast Subs, includes various resources designed to help owners navigate the fast-paced world of quick-service restaurants (QSR).

3. Leverage technology efficiently: There’s no doubt we’re in a world driven by technology. As business owners, technology can help your operation run smoothly and efficiently. With the right POS system, your customers can get the food they want in a timely fashion. However, technology can also help drive business. A Franchise Times article published in November 2023 calls data “currency” for restaurant owners.

   Reflect on these questions to understand your technology utilization in 2024 and how you may be able to harness it more effectively in 2025:

   • What technology does your restaurant use?
   • Who is trained in using this technology?
   • Are you monitoring loyalty or rewards program usage?
   • How much of your business comes from online ordering?

4. Community engagement and local marketing: Another valuable lesson and one of the most important franchise success factors is the power of community engagement and marketing. Local marketing efforts, community events, and social media engagement have strong potential to impact a franchise’s local presence.

   Consider these questions and look for where you may be able to improve or innovate in the coming year:

   • Have you been active on social media?
   • Have you utilized your franchise marketing support?
   • What is your local marketing strategy? Do you have an agency that can handle your local marketing?
   • What pops up for customers when they search for your business online?
   • Has your business helped with local fundraisers or other forms of community service?

Welcome 2024 with Penn Station East Coast Subs

As you reflect on these franchise success factors, use these lessons to fuel your growth and achieve new heights in the year ahead. As a Penn Station East Coast Subs franchisee, you are part of a brand that values quality, community, and our franchisees. We provide our franchisees with well-rounded training at our headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. In four focused weeks, we give our franchisees insights on:

• Restaurant operations
• P&L bookkeeping and reporting
• Use of equipment
• POS system
• Product prep
• Third party delivery
• Catering

We also provide a comprehensive support system that includes help with:

• Site selection
• Restaurant design and construction support
• IT and online ordering
• Operations and training
• Marketing
• Financial reporting

We also value community and giving back. We help our franchisees stay connected to the community their restaurant is in. We give back with:

• An annual fundraiser for the Down Syndrome Adoption Network
• Student athlete programs to highlight outstanding students
• Rewarding random acts of kindness
• Offering fundraiser days

Ready to get started on a new franchise opportunity for the new year? Learn more about Penn Station East Coast Subs today.