The new tool will shed light on the franchise industry’s financial data, making it easier for candidates to understand what brands look for in the awarding process
As franchisors and bankers rush to court the multi-unit operators of the big “Grade A” brands, those newcomers interested in joining the franchising world may find the process of securing a loan difficult and overwhelming. But thanks to bQual, a tool developed by BoeFly that has helped rewrite the future of franchise development, and 1851 Franchise, a leading source for business and franchising news, navigating the world of financing just got a little easier. In January 2016, 1851 Franchise partnered with BoeFly to introduce the new Franchise Finance Index—a monthly snapshot of the franchise lending landscape, built with the prospective franchisee in mind.
Since 2009, BoeFly, the premier online marketplace connecting small business borrowers with lenders, has been educating future business owners on the process of financing a franchise. In 2014, the company introduced a new weapon to its franchising arsenal—bQual, a tool to transform the development process for potential franchisees by making it easier to find a proper lender and to better understand their economic standing. bQual provides individuals with vital financial details, such as their business credit score (SBSS by FICO), required on most Small Business Administration loans, their FICO consumer credit score, a copy of their Equifax credit report, and an overall fundability assessment of their loan prospects. Ultimately, the impact is twofold—it helps the franchisees by giving them the insight they need to move forward with confidence, which in turn delivers the franchisor a meaningfully higher lead-to-franchise sale conversion rate.
To compile January 2016’s Franchise Finance Index, BoeFly and 1851 Franchise collected and analyzed bQual financing statistics sourced from franchisee activity from brands that account for approximately 9,000 franchise units around the country. These franchise brands utilized bQual to educate their prospective franchisees on their unique funding situation. According to Mike Rozman, chief executive officer of BoeFly, the Franchise Finance Index will provide useful insight not just for franchisees, but also for franchisors and lenders alike.
“BoeFly works with hundreds of franchise brands and their early stage candidates, and we’re helping them get educated about their financing needs and we receive insight into their capital position and what their credit looks like. The Franchise Finance Index was created to shine a light on those numbers,” Rozman said. “With this Index, we’re trying to provide an honest look into what we’re seeing here at BoeFly for the larger market. By providing this aggregated data that only we have access to, we expect to educate those interested in franchise sales and financing alike.”
With the goal to produce this data monthly, the first Franchise Finance Index represented bQual submissions from brands like Checkers, Firehouse Subs, Jamba Juice, Lenny’s Sub Shop, Smoothie King, Wayback Burgers, Papa Murphy’s and many more. The cultivated information revealed an average FICO score of 748.15, an average SBSS score of 191.38 and average liquid assets of $158,760. Throughout the U.S., the Index also revealed that Texas, California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, South Carolina and Georgia are all the most active states for franchise leads, respectively.
As the Chief Brand Strategist and publisher for 1851 Franchise, Nick Powills believes the Franchise Finance Index will help the industry as a whole better understand the type of candidates brands are looking for. 1851 Franchise works with more than 50 franchise brands, and Powills has seen firsthand what it takes for candidates and franchisors to truly thrive in the industry.
“The goal of the Franchise Finance Index is to leverage transparency to make successful franchising easier. This partnership between 1851 Franchise and BoeFly has resulted in this incredibly useful data, and for the first time, it’ll all be visible to the public,” Powills said. “By exposing these numbers, we’re helping franchisors better identify the right candidates, and conversely, we’re giving candidates the information they need to determine if they’re ready to take the next step into franchise ownership. In the end, it could lead to faster openings for new business owners while allowing the franchisor to eliminate financially unqualified candidates sooner, freeing up time to work with more qualified prospects.”
BoeFly helps prospective and existing small business owners secure fast, efficient and competitive financing through its on-line matching platform, which connects borrowers with lenders from among its more than 5,000 participating banks and specialty finance companies. Lenders benefit by being presented with only those loan requests that fit their lending profile, dramatically lowering their cost and time of origination. BoeFly is the leading franchise lending solution, having supported franchisees from more than 395 unique franchise brands since 2014, including Carl’s Jr., Meineke, Jamba Juice and Kiddie Academy. Founded in 2010 by small business owners and small business lending experts, BoeFly’s marketplace has accommodated over $4.5 billion in transactions. For more information, visit www.boefly.com.
1851 Franchise was created to fill a much needed hole of content—to bring the franchise world together through an online educational resource where readers will find daily news from thought leaders, journalists and entrepreneurs. With more than 200,000 readers monthly, no singular digital destination currently exists that speaks directly to the industry—the franchisees, the franchisors and the suppliers. As a leading small business and franchise magazine, 1851 pulls stories from real-life experiences and leans on their team’s vast knowledge of the business’s inner-workings to bring the readers stories that are both relevant and meaningful. 1851’s staff of writers and contributors is comprised of industry professionals with one goal in mind—to increase their readers’ scope of consciousness with inspiring stories, breaking business news and ahead-of-the-curve trends. By challenging their readers to think smarter about themselves and the world of business, 1851 aims to fuel passionate discussion on every article they publish.
