Beauty and The Beast Franchises

Beauty and The Beast Franchises

Beauty and the Beast has gone on to become one of Disney's most beloved franchises, with Belle and the Beast appearing in direct-to-video follow-ups, theme ...When you franchise a business you create a family. Some families are dream families while others are totally dysfunctional; most, however, fall right in the middle, and like most 'normal' families they have some good qualities and some pretty bad ones. The principles of love, friendship, interdependence, camaraderie, protectiveness and loyalty present in most families also permeate most franchise relationships. Those principles and how they manifest in franchising form what I call the Beauty of franchising.

The relationships formed between franchiser (founder and employees) and franchisees, and among all franchisees can be very strong. There's support going both ways. For example, it's the responsibility of the franchiser to train and support franchisees as their businesses grow and mature. And, for the relationship to flourish, franchisees also have to support franchisers by paying their dues and by being open to accept the franchiser's decisions with which they may or may not agree. It's all about the give and take... the dance of franchising can be a beautiful one when all parties are giving and all are receiving.

Yet, the Beauty of franchising transforms quickly into a Beast when these win-win principles are not upheld. Dysfunction is quickly evidenced when the "Us" versus "Them" attitude appears. Typical comments from franchisers and their staff that define this attitude include: 

Franchisees never follow the system.
They just don't listen.
All they do is complain.
Typical comments from franchisees in an "Us" versus "Them" culture include: 
They (meaning the franchiser and the staff) don't know what the real world is like.
They never listen to us.
All they do is refer us back to the Operations Manual; they never support us.
Unfortunately, what starts as mis communication and rash statements made in moments of frustration or anger, when repeated over a period of time, can become a habitual way of communication, albeit impaired. This style of relating with each other rapidly becomes part of the culture. Thus, it's critical that franchisers and franchisees remain vigilant of what they say about each other at all times .
There's only one truth about all of the sample statements above: THEY ARE ALL UNTRUE. They are broad generalizations, interpretations, and imply a finality that's very unlikely true.

When we use the words "always" and " never" or any other words that convey a similar finality, the statements are usually not true. There may be an instance or even many examples when the statement may apply, but just one instance when the opposite occurs makes them invalid. There are simply not as many truisms as we tend to say exist. The problem with using these exaggerations is that we use them to prove that we are right. They separate us from whomever we are trying to relate and place us in an inflexible frame of mind where understanding and openness are hard to come by. They move us to a world of right and wrong, where the "we" are right and "they" are wrong prevails.  Over time this attitude erodes the relationship until it is too late and... the Beauty becomes the Beast.

Lizette Pirtle is the CEO of International Expansion Experts; she is a franchising expert with over twenty years in franchise management, training, communications and marketing. Her passion is helping franchisees and franchisors achieve success. Lizette can be contacted by email at