SOUTHERST e@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 1998-09-29 published
category e is education election employment athletics
Uphill battle for downhill skiing star
By John SOUTHERST,
Special to The Globe and Mail, Page B12
When his international skiing days ended, Todd
BROOKER wanted
a McDonald's franchise in the worst way.
The downhill skiing star seemed to have the right stuff to own
one of the lucrative outlets. He'd organized ski events for years,
raising millions for Ronald McDonald Children's charities.
He completed training at McDonald's rigorous Hamburger University
in Chicago in 1994. For two years, Mr.
BROOKER worked six days
a week, between April and November, at a Barrie, Ontario, franchise
-- without pay. Yet McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd.'s head
office in Toronto told him at the end of his second Barrie stint
that he wouldn't get his own franchise for a year or two.
"All along, they kept reminding you that they may never give
you a restaurant and that if they did, it could be anywhere in
Canada," says Mr.
BROOKER, 39, who left the ski circuit a decade
ago.
In the end, he couldn't wait. Last December, Mr.
BROOKER opened
a new restaurant in the Wendy's International Inc. chain in downtown
Collingwood, Ontario
His experiences underline the critical need for franchise buyers
to link up with franchisors whose style is a good fit. Style
reflects the company's characteristic features: communications,
spending habits, sales methods, product marketing, franchisee
assistance and more. If your style doesn't mesh with your franchisor's,
you're destined for trouble.
The degree of control exerted by a franchisor is one strong indicator
of style, and that's where Mr.
BROOKER parted with McDonald's.
Even for a downhiller who made his fame on the slopes, Mr.
BROOKER
felt the playing field tilted too steeply in favour of McDonald's.
It wasn't just the wait that made him look elsewhere. Mr.
BROOKER's
lawyer said the McDonald's franchise agreement was so one-sided
that he shouldn't sign it unless he really, really wanted a franchise.
It stipulated, for instance, that he would have to forego all
"non-passive" business Interests other than a McDonald's franchise.
That meant Mr.
BROOKER would have to give up television commentary
for ESPN and CTV network coverage of major ski races, as well
as coaching, teaching and making ski tips videos.
Mr. BROOKER also intended~to purchase land on the main drag in
Collingwood, close to the resort town's ski hills. But McDonald's
required that he lease the restaurant's building back from the
company rather than own it out-right.
"They're able to demand everything their way because everyone
wants a franchise so badly."
But Mr. BROOKER also believes that his celebrity status may have
conflicted with McDonald's corporate personality.
"It's their culture. They all have McDonald's on their licence
plates and on their ties. It would be hard for them to take on
someone well known for doing his own thing and really promoting
himself as well as the franchise."
McDonald's has framed its franchise agreement with the explicit
intent of encouraging active franchisees rather than investors.
Lawyers, doctors and dentists have given up practices to own
a McDonald's restaurant and become "the Mr. and Mrs. McDonald's"
of their communities, says Rem Langan, a McDonald's vice-president.
"To be successful in the hospitality business," he adds, "you
have to be grinding it out day in, day out.
Mr. BROOKER turned his back on McDonald's after his second stint
in Barrie. "I more or less blew up and that was the end of it."
His Wendy's franchise is now located on that choice corner lot
he owns in Collingwood. An old ski lift purchased from the local
Georgian Peaks ski club -- complete with towers and chairs --
sits beside the drive-through.
In the local ski magazine, Mr.
BROOKER's name appears in his
Wendy's advertisement as the restaurant's owner-operator, a spark
of individual visibility seldom seen amidst franchised trademarks.
"I've been allowed to do things I never could have done with
McDonald's..." he says. "I promote the fact that it's my restaurant."
Always a familiar figure in Collingwood,
BROOKER played heavily
on his celebrity status when his restaurant opened last December.
Decked out in his Wendy's jacket, he gave away coupons on visits
to area businesses and on the ski hills. He served nearly 2,000
people in his first couple of days.
He also kept up his local community appearances -- as Collingwood's
ambassador to the Special Olympics, master of ceremonies for
the parade, participant in local equestrian event celebrations
and forerunner, coach and prize-giver at children's ski races.
"I don't wear a big Wendy's band on my head," Mr.
BROOKER says,
"but people know that I own the restaurant and they support me
in return."
That's not to say anything goes in a Wendy's franchise. Mr.
BROOKER
says the Dublin, Ohio-based franchisor is strict about such matters
as menu items, pricing and how the food is made. But franchisees
have more flexibility where local marketing is concerned.
Meanwhile, he continues his ski activities and television appearances.
"Wendy's doesn't say in the franchise agreement that you have
to give up all your other business interests," he says, "but
the intention is that your franchise is going to be your main
line of business. And it is for me."
The apparent fit with Wendy's may lead to further ventures. Mr.
BROOKER has begun the process of applying for a new joint Wendy's
and Tim Hortons outlet.
He carries no bad feelings for McDonald's -- it was simply a
matter of being unsuited to each other, although he wishes he
had realized it earlier. "I learned since I quit ski racing that
you shouldn't want things too badly," Mr.
BROOKER reflects. Two
years ago, for instance, he was forced out of a local resort
hotel and condominium venture that he had helped finance.
"I knew things were changing, but I wanted it so badly that I
didn't know when to drop it. It was the same with McDonald's."
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