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The year 2017 marked the first time in 30 years that the tax law has had a significant overhaul. And for restaurant owners the new changes could mean serious financial gains. Let’s take a look at how restaurant owners may be impacted by the new tax law.
Write-Offs For Expansions
If you’re a restaurant owner who plans to upgrade existing equipment or open new locations, you may be allowed to write off your total investment on your taxes. This write-off for expansions and upgrades expires in 2023 so you’ll need to plan accordingly. But don’t just plan to save money, plan for how you can expand your business leveraging the new tax laws to your advantage. If you have a franchise, consider opening a new location and writing off the entire expense on your taxes and using the savings for reinvestment. Such strategic thinking can help provide long-term profits for your business.
Save On Personal Taxes
If your independent franchise restaurant is a pass-through company, you could save a lot of money on your personal taxes under the new tax law. The tax code updates are designed to relieve the pain of double taxation by exempting 20% of your income up to $175,000 for individual filers and up to $315,000 for couples. One of the biggest burdens facing franchise restaurant owners is the heavy tax burden. If you want to strategically benefit from the new rules around income taxation, you may want to consider planning how you will invest the money you’ve saved. Reinvesting in your business, retirement, or your children’s college fund are just a few of the many good choices. But no matter what you do, having a plan for how you will utilize that money is the best way to benefit from the new tax laws.
Inheritance Tax Relief
The new tax law makes it easier and cheaper to pass down your family restaurant to your children. Your restaurant will still be taxed at the rate of 40% but that only applies if it’s valued at more than $11.2 million for individuals and $22.5 million for married couples. The previous rules applied the 40% rate only to businesses valued at half that rate. This tax relief rule will expire in 2025.
Corporate Tax Relief
For those few those few owners using a C corporation, the corporate tax rate is experiencing a steep drop from 35% to 21% creating huge tax savings for small and medium-sized franchise restaurants. And if deductions are applied strategically, it’s possible to pay as little as 20% in corporate tax. If you work closely with your tax accountant, you can plan your deductions and investments so that you can take full advantage of the changes in the corporate tax rule. But don’t wait, planning your tax strategy now can help you improve profits and saving significantly.
These are just a few of the benefits of the new tax law. If you want to find out how your restaurant’s specific circumstances will be impacted by the new tax law, speak with an expert who understands how the industry will be impacted.
Shifting from a single franchise to a multi-unit franchise allows you to leverage the economies of scale to grow your business. But how and why should you carefully pace the expansion of your franchise business?
Master Your Business Model
Before you shift to or expand your multi-unit franchise, you must master the business model. If you’re making mistakes in a single unit franchise, those mistakes will only be multiplied and magnified in a multi-unit scenario. If you can perfect the way you execute your business model in one franchise, it’ll be easier to implement the same successful strategies on a larger scale.
Build A Strong Reputation
If you’re an owner with a single franchise unit, it’s important that you build a reputation for professionalism and business savvy in the franchise industry and great customer service with customers before you expand. Using your existing reputation it will be easier to attract the right customers quickly to your new franchise units. Also, if you are known as someone who has run a profitable franchise, it will be easier to get the loans you need to expand.
Gain Working Capital
You need money to successfully expand your franchise, and you can’t always depend on a line of credit to meet all of your needs. As you consider expanding your multi-unit franchise business, you must have the working capital necessary to make investments. Also, having enough cash on hand will inspire more confidence in lenders to loan you the money you need to grow.
Talent Access
Good help is hard to find. Before you expand your multi-unit franchise, you must be sure that you have access to a workforce that is capable of doing the jobs you have available. Check the data on the target locales where you want to open up new franchise units—is there a workforce available who is skilled enough to do the job and can you afford them? You need to know this information before you expand your franchise.
Market Research
Every franchise owner dreams of cornering a lucrative market, but you’ll need more than a dream to successfully expand a multi-unit franchise. You must do research to find out if your target locales have enough of a customer base to purchase what you’re selling. Don’t skimp on this process, you don’t want to open up a franchise unit in a location that simply can’t deliver enough customers.
Look For Drawbacks
There is a drawback to every type of expansion—what is yours? Will you need to make substantial investments in training talent, upgrading a building, marketing and branding? Will that investment be difficult to recoup? You must look at all the possible drawbacks to a multi-unit franchise expansion so that you’re not stuck with a money losing venture that could completely sink you financially.
Shifting Your Paradigm
When you go from running a single-unit franchise to operating a multi-unit franchise you will be required to make major changes in the way you think and operate. While it is possible to have hands on supervising of a single franchise, such micro-management becomes impossible even at two or three units. Franchise owners who want to expand their business must learn to delegate major responsibility to other people and they must be prepared to deal with the complications and complexities of managing a business with so many moving parts. If you want to successfully expand your franchise business, you must pace yourself so that you can make the mental adjustments necessary.
Operating multi-unit franchises can be challenging and profitable but how can you go from a solo-entrepreneur to a multi-unit franchisee?
Understand The End Game
It’s easy to get caught up in the fantasy of owning and profiting from multiple franchise locations but the reality can be very different from fantasy. While it’s true that owning multiple businesses can improve overall profitability, it is also true that being a multi-unit franchisee will launch you into an entirely different system. Here are some things about the end game of multi-unit franchising you should understand:
You can’t micromanage multiple stores. If you’re accustomed to a more hands on approach to managing your business, you can’t carry this over to a multi-unit franchise. You must relinquish control to other people so that they can manage your business.
You must handle macro-level issues exclusively. Multi-unit franchisees can’t get caught up in the minutia of a business—they must focus on the macro level issues such as profits, expenses, growth, cashflow etc. If you take your eye off these macro-level issues you will drop the ball and possibly damage your business.
You need a dependable team behind you. No multi-unit franchisee operates alone. If you want to be successful or even just survive, you need a team of talented and dependable people who can help you run your business.
Be Prepared To Invest
Successful multi-unit franchisees understand that you must be prepared to make a substantial investment into your business. You will need to invest in:
- Franchise fees
- Fixtures
- Equipment
- Branding/Signage
- Staff Hiring and Training
- Property improvements
- Computer systems
- And more
The more you’re willing to invest in the right kinds of things, the more likely your business will succeed. Attempting to go the “discount” route could harm your efforts to grow and gain profitability as a multi-unit franchisee.
Find A Financial Partner
Multi-unit franchisees needs financial partners who have faith in what they’re doing, are willing to invest in their business, and have the capacity to provide the capital needed to grow. You must be very careful about which lender you partner with because you want someone who is equipped to offer lines of credit and loans that will help you meet your goals. Look at your lender as a silent partner in your business. Don’t move to hastily when choosing a lender, take the same amount of care you would take if you were investigating a potential business partner.
Choose The Right Contract
If you’re signing onto a multi-unit agreement with a franchiser, read the fine print. Some multi-unit franchise agreements require you to open new franchise units every year or every other year. You need to be sure that you can meet any timetable that is laid out in the agreement. Think about the requirements that are needed to meet the multi-unit franchise agreement and make sure you have a plan in place to make this happen. There are some benefits to signing a multi-unit agreement such as discounted franchise fees and exclusive access to a certain territory. In many of these multi-unit franchise agreements, the franchiser is prohibited from giving another franchisee access to your territory.
Before you become a multi-unit franchisee, make sure that you have the support and capital you need to succeed.
Are you a franchise owner stuck in a lease with unfavorable terms? If you have a solid plan and the right market conditions, you may successfully renegotiate your lease. Let’s take a closer look at how.
Do Your Research
Before you attempt to renegotiate your lease, do some research on the current commercial real estate market. If you signed your lease a few years ago, how have the rental rates changed? Are tenants paying more or less than they were three or five years ago for similar spaces? If rental rates are depressed in your area, then you have a solid foundation for asking for a lower rate. On the other hand, if rental rates have increased and the value of your space has increased it may be more difficult to renegotiate your lease. That said, there are other mitigating circumstances that could help you get a rent reduction.
- Current construction. Is there increased noise and pollution due to construction? If construction is impacting you and your customers, you may successfully argue for a rent reduction. This could also be the case if construction has reduced the number of people coming to your business especially if you can show that construction has reduced your revenue.
- Future construction. If you know that there is major construction planned for the future, you may be able to negotiate a rent reduction because of anticipated disruption to your business.
- Structural damages. If there was a natural or manmade disaster that caused damage to your building, you may be able to negotiate at least a temporary rent reduction depending on the extent of the damages and the length of time your business will be impacted.
Extend Your Lease
When you step into your landlord’s office to renegotiate your lease, you must be prepared to give something in exchange. Offering an extended lease could be enticing to your landlord if it’s a difficult market for finding tenants. An extended lease can also offer the benefit of stability for your franchise if you plan to be there long-term. But before signing on for an extended lease be sure that you’re ready for the commitment and try to assess if your rental rate is likely to remain reasonable throughout the life of the lease.
Put Time On Your Side
Don’t wait until the last minute to renegotiate your lease. While it may only take a few days to a few months to renegotiate your lease, landlords often respond slowly. If renegotiation is unsuccessful, it could take six months or more to find a new place to lease if your renegotiation goes south. To give yourself the gift of time, plan to begin your renegotiation at about a year before the end of your lease.
Be Prepared To Walk Away
Before you sit down to renegotiate your lease you must have an exit plan. What will you do if the landlord decides not to renegotiate your lease? You must be prepared to move. Before you talk to your landlord do your research on open spaces and find someplace that may be a good fit. You may even begin talking to the owner of the ‘plan b’ space BEFORE you begin renegotiating your current lease. Coming to the table with options will give you the confidence you need to demand more favorable terms.
If you’re thinking of renegotiating your lease, be prepared with data and options for moving to a new place with better terms.