The bedrock of franchising is uniformity: Uniformity of franchised unit appearance (with some variation). For quick serve restaurants, it’s uniformity of product offerings, ingredients and recipes. In guest lodging, it’s uniformity of hotel appearance, guest room features, meeting facilities, food and beverage offerings and Wi-Fi availability. In the convenience store setting, it’s uniformity of store appearance and décor; food, beverage and other items offered for sale; inventory requirements; and hours of operation. In franchising, the goal is replication—a McDonald’s Big Mac should taste the same in Boston as it does in Los Angeles and a Holiday Inn hotel should have the same look and feel in Pittsburgh as it does in Portland.
This is what the public wants—indeed, demands. Consumers have come to associate franchisors’ trademarks and service marks with certain standards of quality, product offerings, unit appearance and an array of other attributes. And the public expects those to be reflected in every franchised unit it frequents.
