Operating under the Raving Brands umbrella are Entrepreneur Magazine's sixth ranked Top New Franchise, Moe's Southwest Grill, a Nation's Restaurant News Fast 50, Mama Fu's Asian House, Entrepreneur Magazine's top five smoothie brand, Planet Smoothie, and possibly the only coffee concept beating Starbucks in a market, PJ's Coffee.

This year alone, Raving Brands is also rolling out Doc Green's Gourmet Salads, Shane's Rib Shack and Boneheads Fresh Fish and Piri Piri Chicken. It gives no impression of stopping there. With the launch of its Tour Days program, Raving Brands hopes to educate potential franchisees across the country on the art of franchising. Franchising is a relatively new form of small business in America, not surfacing until the early 60s and not becoming a legal form of business practice until the end of the 70s when the Federal Trade Commission adopted a regulation under the FTC Act. There are literally thousands of different franchises in the country, opening and closing every day. Historically, franchising took off as a growth strategy for corporations to expand faster by franchising stores in addition to building company-owned stores.

"Our model is very different than most in the marketplace," says Raving Brands Founder and Chief Martin Sprock."We operate one company-owned concept and franchise the rest. This way we are intimate with the brand, yet 99 percent of our focus is on making the franchisee successful, verses owning and franchising and ultimately competing with our own franchisees."

What makes a franchise successful?

According to James Meaney, author of "How to Buy a Franchise," "The reason franchises are successful is the total commitment of the franchisor to the excellence of product or service and the success of the franchisee ..

Many of franchising's biggest disasters have occurred when franchisors put quick riches ahead of long-term growth and stability."

Martin Sprock agrees with Meaney. Sprock notes, "Never, ever, ever be greedy. Share the pie with the guys around you; ultimately you'll reap greater rewards for having done so."

"We believe in our brands and the opportunity they present to people who want to start a new career, change their lifestyle or try a franchise concept that has the infrastructure necessary to be successful," explains Brian Curin, vice president of marketing, Raving Brands. "We thought it would be a great gesture to give a free start to a qualified person in each market we visit, waiving the $25,000 start-up fee to enable them to become a Raving Brands franchisee." Raving Brands Tour Days is scheduled to visit one market per month, beginning with Hollywood, Florida.

In each market, Raving Brands will invite interested franchisees to a day-long session on franchising, with an overview on each of its concepts. Raving Brands will address the concepts in depth and speak to immediate opportunities in the markets, Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars (UFOCs), franchise guidelines, financial investments, franchise agreements, marketing, training and franchisor support. "If you are planning on becoming a franchisee, always make sure you understand the concept. Ask as many questions as possible," explains Sprock. "If a company doesn't take the time to answer, run."

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