Franchise fee, decoration, materials step by step money pit.
“The last time you did not receive the old man, in my hands to buy 40,000 yuan of materials! How much commission do you calculate this? What a pity to miss it. “
“No pity, I was going to leave, left you is not better? “
At noon one day in the winter of 2018, Zhao Li smiled while responding to a colleague who was pitying for her, while packing her things and preparing to leave. This is Zhao Li’s last day of work before leaving completely, colleagues for her pity to lose a few thousand dollars of commission, but Zhao Li feels that this is a good thing.
At that time, Zhao Li was working in a company called Shanghai YLH (to protect the privacy of the parties concerned, the company name was chosen to replace the pinyin letters) restaurant management company to join the investment company.
The “old man” in the mouth of her colleagues is an old man in his sixties, no children, first opened an ice cream store, then closed down because of the inability to operate the store, lost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and then did not die, and joined a milk tea brand under YLH, the initial investment of more than 100,000 yuan.
Zhao Li’s task is to let the old man to buy an additional 40,000 yuan of materials, but Zhao Li felt that he could not do, simply transfer this customer to other colleagues to dock.
“I can’t pit those old people, and I don’t want to work in those leek-cutting franchise companies, that kind of conscience condemnation, will make people have nightmares. “Zhao Li said.
Gorgeous on the outside, sore on the inside
Zhao Li came to Shanghai in 2016, because of the love of food and beverage, chose to enter a brand investment franchise company (hereinafter referred to as Company X), “in retrospect, Company X is considered more formal. “Zhao Li said.
After working for nearly a year at Company X, Zhao Li felt that the restaurant is considered to know something, so she resigned and opened a milk tea store with a friend. After the store was stabilized, Zhao Li resigned as a store manager due to personal development restrictions, and again re-found a job, so she went to YLH at the end of 2017 with a salary package of 5,000 yuan base salary plus commission.
Zhao Li told the reporter: “My main job is the post-service work after a customer signs a single store. For example, one customer originally signed only a single store, and I was responsible for docking the decoration and registration equipment. During the period, the customer felt that the company and I are still good, want to upgrade to become a regional agent, then I can get him to upgrade the regional agent after the commission. “
Just started, Zhao Li is happy. She told reporters that the company location in a park in Songjiang, Shanghai, the decoration is particularly high, especially the dining sample room, although not open to the public, but the packaging is also particularly attentive. The company has many investment managers, and every day there are many customers to visit the company, the contract success rate is very high, so Zhao Li take commission opportunities are also more, the average monthly income soon over 10,000 yuan.
But after working for a few months or so, Zhao Li felt that something was wrong: the company has a team responsible for technical, after-sales, investment, but in a larger number of customers, but also from other companies outside to temporarily find investment over, as well as external sales. Zhao Li felt that this practice is not very responsible for customers.
As time passed, Zhao Li felt more and more wrong: the creation of a new brand to disappear too quickly.
“We launched a new brand in May, and began to constantly attract investment to join, only to have the brand stop operating in October. Is this not a typical fast recruiting company? “Zhao Li recalls.
In October 2018, the company came in about 15 franchisees, saying that because the material expired, the promises made at the time of investment were not fulfilled, asking the company to return the franchise fee. Zhao Li remembers that it was an afternoon, it was about to close time, the company suddenly rushed in a group of people, they all looked angry, the age of thirty up and down, the largest had a few men in their forties.
Zhao Li is one of the employees who docked that group of franchisees, Zhao Li told reporters that the company was actually prepared for this, because it had arranged in advance a small number in the customer base as an undercover agent. So, the company responded to the franchisee in a very relaxed manner: the first day deliberately did not talk to the franchisee.
The first day deliberately did not communicate with the franchisee, only to placate the franchisee and then let the franchisee wait. By the second day the company sent people to negotiate with the franchisee, the company proposed to replace the expired materials as a solution, but the franchisee still insisted on the return of the franchise fee.
The two sides did not see eye to eye, and the franchisees lived in the vicinity of the company for a few days, but also left because there was nothing to do. This storm for the company, although “there is no danger”, but in Zhao Li’s heart planted the seeds of separation, until he met the old man said at the beginning of the article, Zhao Li firm The company’s decision to leave was firmly made.
Cutting leeks, they are professional
Zhao Li told reporters: “I guess there should be many franchise owners do not know that some brands of investment companies are actually fast recruiting companies, starting from you to pay the franchise fee, to training, decoration, materials everywhere is a pit, step by step. “
According to Zhao Li’s description, the process has four nodes.
- joining fee: the low price to lure you into the pit
Zhao Li recalled that the fast recruiting company’s rhetoric on the franchise fee are basic routines.
Some investment managers, will give customers a good commitment, for example, the customer’s budget is 100,000 yuan money, the investment manager will tell customers to join the fee as long as a few million yuan money, and then add the decoration, the first batch of materials, these things equipment and then count up, 200,000 yuan to open down a store.
But the actual is not the case, the investment manager will try to get customers to pay more money.
For example, a single store franchise fee of 50,000 yuan, 80,000 yuan, 100,000 yuan, 150,000 yuan and other specifications, such as Shanghai, a first-tier city in urban and suburban areas are particularly large differences, the investment manager at the beginning will say that the franchise fee as long as 50,000 yuan, if a customer is relatively easy to agree, the investment manager will feel that this person has money, can be ripped off, and then began to give customers additional code.
In general, the investment manager will ask this customer to do a regional agent. Zhao Li introduced the investment manager’s words: take Shanghai, if the Jing’an District regional agent to take down, after paying enough 250,000 regional agency fees, any open as many stores can be. If someone else comes to open a store in the region, you can get 70% of that person’s agency fee as a rebate.
Zhao Li said she saw many franchisees were originally intended to open a single store, and then signed three or four regional agents at once, smashing out millions of dollars, and finally regret.
And if the customer’s budget is really limited, the investment manager will see the wind and rudder, go along with the customer said to open a store is enough, the purpose becomes a rush to get customers to pay to become franchisees, anyway, there are still a lot of wool-gathering opportunities.
- training: hanging the head of the service sheep playing the idea of making customers pay more money
After the customer has paid money to become a franchisee, the next link is training. Zhao Li said, the regular fast recruiting company will generally choose experienced industry veterans as teachers, but many fast recruiting company trainers are likely to be young people who have just entered society.
Take site selection, their so-called assistance in site selection is actually to go to the 58 same city and other websites to see which stores for rent, and then directly telephone to ask, after asking to tell the franchisee, where a store location is good, you go to see.
But these so-called site selection teachers themselves do not know the flow of the place, the crowd’s spending power and other necessary factors. “My original company got a clerk to be a site selection teacher. “Zhao Li recalls.
Although the company does not care about the site selection of these elements of the actual business, but there is a professional system on how to get franchisees to shell out money as soon as possible.
Zhao Li told reporters: generally in the franchisee to participate in training, the training teacher will ask a mouth material set. If the franchisee answered no fixed materials, the training teacher will let the franchisee learn everything once, after learning to let the franchisee to select their own, think which products can, want to on which products, the franchisee selected after the teacher will tell the franchisee what materials are needed for those products, and urged the franchisee to order.
“Generally speaking at this time the franchisee has chosen a good address, the person in charge will be good to the businessman, saying ‘you now after the material is set, because the material delivery cycle is 21 days, you have to think about the end of training now, is not immediately go back to the decoration, decoration spend half a month is not just? When you finish the renovation, if the equipment and materials have arrived, is it possible to take two or three days out to practice after you can open? “Zhao Li said.
Many franchisees, once heard, said this is indeed the case, at once materials and equipment are set. Zhao Li said that by this time, in fact, franchisees still feel particularly good about the company and feel that the company has given them good advice. But after the franchisee opened, the expired materials, follow-up “services” will expose the greedy nature of the quick trick company.
- Decoration: behind the word game is a soft and hard two big pits
Zhao Li believes: decoration is the second money pit after the joining fee, which has a bright and a dark two pits.
Hard pit is the equipment fee. In the investment company will tell the franchisee to send equipment, but this is just a means to encourage franchisees to pay the franchise fee, the actual equipment sent may be just some tea buckets, induction cookers and other basic accessories, but some important equipment, such as cash register systems, ice machines, freezers, refrigerated cabinets, operating tables, etc., are required to franchisees to buy additional, and either specify the brand, or buy from the company, and franchisees from the company The purchase price is often much higher than the market price.
The reporter’s past reports also confirm Zhao Li’s statement. For example, in the article “franchisee 3 months loss of 550,000, the national comic book “return of the great sage” into the milk tea investment scheme accomplice”, mentioned.
Wang just told reporters that before joining the company said they equipment as long as 20-30,000 yuan, but when it came to learning the company let them order equipment, just a coffee machine is more than 12,000 yuan, a tea machine 9800 yuan, the whole equipment costs nearly 50,000 yuan.
Later, Wang just through the company sent the coffee machine packaging on the x company (at the request of the interviewer to conceal the name) address and contact information, to find out that the Ling dust sold them more than 12,000 coffee machine, x company factory price of just over 8,000 yuan, the dealer price of just about 10,000 yuan, if a large number of orders the price will only be lower.
The soft pit is the soft decoration.
Zhao Li told reporters: many franchisees in the signing of the contract did not pay attention to the provisions of the soft decoration, the company will not mention these when signing the contract with the franchisee, just will be a passing remark.
“But the contract actually provides very fine, such as store advertising fonts, the company has detailed provisions on the franchisee store decoration using materials, colors, size, but the content at the same time will not be very obvious, many ordinary people may look alone on their own is not very visible. “Zhao Li said.
This leads to the result is that franchisees have no way to find the right decoration materials themselves, often only through the company specified decoration materials, of course, the price is also far higher than their own decoration.
- materials: not only expensive, and even take expired products to substandard
Zhao Li told reporters that when working in the company, there have been complaints from franchisees about the company sending expired materials. The reason behind this is likely to be that the company itself has little effective control over the supply chain.
Formal brand investment franchise companies often have their own unified warehouse, materials will also have their own trademark. YLH materials are not covered by the trademark, the place of supply is not uniform, such as a franchisee a total of 50,000 yuan of goods, but he may receive five or six express logistics, today from Qinhuangdao to a batch of tea, tomorrow from Henan to a cup package, the day after words from Shandong to a batch of juice.
Zhao Li herself has dealt with raw material suppliers. She told the reporter that many raw material suppliers said that if the ordering company does not reach a certain minimum order quantity, they will not do the labeling and will not put the company’s logo and trademark on the label. ylh will find different companies to place orders only after receiving money from franchisees, and because the brand iteration is too fast and the order quantity is unstable, quality control is inevitably not guaranteed.
After leaving YLH, Zhao Li’s new job is to be in charge of raw material docking and has a deeper understanding of this piece.
“Some fast recruiting companies to provide franchisees with tea, generally selling seven or eight hundred or even one or two thousand are available, but in fact the cost price is very low, such as my contact with the kind of raw material manufacturers, three or four hundred to buy (for industry confidentiality considerations, Zhao Li never mention the specific unit). Another example is the core raw materials of a well-known milk tea brand of that ice cream cone, fast trick company to the franchisee’s price is 200 yuan a packet, but the manufacturer may also ship more than 20 yuan a packet, equivalent to 10 times. “Zhao Li said.
Zhao Li concluded: hindsight, the characteristics of the fast trick company is obvious, but even they have to work in depth within a period of time to recognize, let alone the franchisee. So she is confused about how to avoid fast-track companies for franchisees in the end. And she was so guilty and sad when she faced those owners that she couldn’t stand the condemnation of her conscience.
After understanding the matter with Zhao Li, the reporter edited in the name of job search on the recruitment software contacted the YLH company, in about the interview location of the company’s personnel gave the location, but in another place called Shanghai McFood Restaurant Management Co., Ltd, which is located in Shanghai Qingpu District, personnel said the workplace will be based on the project in Songjiang and Qingpu two areas.
At the same time, there is a company of the same name in Qinhuangdao, Hebei, enterprise search shows that the legal person and Shanghai YLH the same, a brand investment to join the industry told reporters: “Qinhuangdao has a lot of fast recruiting companies. “
But wait until January 2021, the reporter editor again through the recruitment software search the company, but can not find YLH company and Shanghai wheat food restaurant management Co.
As of the date of publication, the editor found through the recruitment software with the company with the same name and the same legal person, opened in Shanghai Putuo somewhere, and created a new brand, is recruiting sales consultants and other occupations.
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