Many feel that if managed properly, owning a diverse set of businesses can help insulate against business peaks and troughs in the market. Many wealth planners will generally present diversification models to allow the purchase of multiple asset classes such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Diversification in the franchise industry is different. Franchisees can diversify within a particular industry by acquiring different brands.  Diversifying within the same industry, such as the buying several different restaurant brands, still allows the franchisee to apply the same basic infrastructure to their business.

This strategy of franchising helps spread the risk from a franchisee’s perspective. If the demography of existing brands and new brands are vastly different, there becomes an opportunity to cross-market both products and knowledge. Aziz Hashim, the president and CEO of NRD Holdings, LLC, highlights a smart way to diversify in his recent piece in Franchising World about this topic, stating that “The most effective way to execute a diversification strategy is to identify opportunities in new sectors where the operational complexity is generally lower than the existing operations so as to not dilute the franchisee’s time and focus, where at least some existing infrastructure can be leveraged and ideally where there are natural synergies through complementary service offerings and similar demographic.” Complementary service offerings can play a key role in expanding your opportunities and create growth.

Do you own a diverse set of businesses? We would love to hear feedback from you!