Franchisee contacts?

[Atomic Ads]

Don't know if this is the right forum but it seemed close enough..

I'm looking to do some market research on a product new to Scotland and want to contact franchisees of the big restaurant chains to get their thoughts as they are target clients if we go ahead. McDonalds, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Costa etc

I'm finding it really difficult to get any contact info for franchisees- does anyone here own one or have any advice on contacting them?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mike Lewis]

You could try contacting the Scottish Franchise Magazine. They might publish your request as a news story.

Or, how about contacting the franchisors that you mentioned. They probably won't give you a list of their franchisees, but they might circulate your request.

Mike

 

[BioOutsource]

I'm wondering which department or business unit you're more interested in talking. Don't get stuck after hearing some NO's find a way around, try to use social media or stuff hopefully you'll approach them.

 

[Atomic Ads]

I have found the only place many of these guys are mentioned is on press releases, otherwise they're as good as invisible (which is clearly how they like it!). Searching Google for city/town and the franchise names turns up some, and local newspaper searches are quite good too. Then a case of calling the franchise and asking for the name you've found.

Making some progress but it's a bit of a slog.

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Just an idea but can you not just go into a McDonald or Subway and make some enquiries. I would guess that most of these are franchise based?

How feasible is it for you to provide the product free of charge to say one subway or McDonalds? That way you get great pictures and a great way to approach franchisees of the same business. If you can get testimonials etc then even better it all builds the social proof.

 

[Atomic Ads]

Just an idea but can you not just go into a McDonald or Subway and make some enquiries. I would guess that most of these are franchise based?

That was the first thing I did.

There were almost without exception utterly useless. The staff either didn't know, wouldn't say, had never met them, didn't know their surname, or just stared at me blankly seemingly unaware of what I was asking. One girl in Subway was better and actually wrote the name down for me but other than that...

Most seem to be multiple franchisees and they clearly don't spend much time in the shops. Anonymity seems to be the name of the game. Understandable I suppose with the brand to maintain and the number of approaches they must get but still. I've got their number now though.