What Film Franchises Made the Franchise 500 List?
January 27th, 2016 by Casey FloresWhere did the three franchises that offer window tinting services rank on Entrepreneur magazine’s annual Franchise 500? Check the stats below for the franchises that made the list—and their percentage of film sales.
No. 170 – Window Genie
Initial Investment: $89,800 – $139,000
Year-Over-Year Change in Units: +23
This was the seventh year Cincinnati, Ohio-based Window Genie has made the Franchise 500 list. Coming in at No. 170, the company moved up 26 places from last year’s ranking of 196, earning its highest ranking ever this year.
According to Ken Fisk, vice president of franchise development, window film accounts for 30 to 35 percent of franchisees’ sales and pressure washing, window cleaning and other services bring in the rest.
“It all depends on how hard you push it,” Fisk says. “We want window tinting to becoming number one for us as far as the revenue goes. The deal with 3M has helped us tremendously.”
Fisk says the company will be adding 20 to 25 more franchises this year.
No. 371 – Tint World
Initial Investment: $108,224 – $199,568
Year-Over-Year Change in Units: +5
After spending three years off the list, Tint World bounced back in 2015 to make its rankings again. The automotive aftermarket and accessory franchise was founded in 1982 but has only been franchising for the last nine years.
Charles Bonfiglio, CEO, says automotive film (including tint, wraps and paint protection) brings in 40 to 50 percent of franchisees’ business. The rest of the company’s sales comes from its other services, including residential, commercial and marine tinting and automotive accessories such as stereo systems and remote starters.
Bonfiglio sees a paradigm shift coming to the world of automotive tinting, so the company is investing heavily in architectural tinting.
“We just hired a manufacturer representative who’s in training now who’s really going to help us with that,” he says. That representative will focus on developing national accounts and working with architects and engineers on large-scale commercial installations, which will then be funneled through to Tint World dealers.
“I think this is going to take us to another level,” Bonfiglio says.
No. 378 – Ziebart
Initial Investment: $172,000 – $331,000
Year-Over-Year Change in Units: +1
Ziebart has a long history of making the Franchise 500 list—it’s been on there for 20 years, in fact, says marketing director Larisa Walega.
The 57-year-old company offers more than just film installation services, but also rust protection and automotive detailing.
“Our goal for our franchisees from a film standpoint (tint and paint protection) is to be in the 20-30 percent range,” as a percentage of their businesses, says Walega.
“Specifically in film, we’ve seen growth in paint protection film,” she explains. “It’s had great growth over the last two years or so. We view it as one of the major product-drivers of Ziebart and we continue to push that.”
As for the company’s future, Walega says they are looking to diversity their film offerings even more in the coming future.
Here’s how Entrepreneur accumulates its rankings:
Only franchise companies that supply a full Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) or Canadian Disclosure Document and whose information is verified by Entrepreneur can receive a listing. To be eligible for the Franchise 500®, a franchisor must have a minimum of 10 units, with at least one franchise located in the U.S. The company must be seeking new franchisees in the U.S., and it cannot be in Chapter 11 at the time the ranking is compiled. (The exception to these rules is Canada-based companies that are expanding only in Canada.)
All companies are judged by the same criteria: objective, quantifiable measures of a franchise operation. The most important factors include financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. We also consider the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising, startup costs, litigation, percentage of terminations and whether the company provides financing. Financial data is analyzed by an independent CPA.
This article is from Focus on Film, the weekly e-newsletter that covers the latest news regarding window film and related products, including paint protection film. Click HERE to sign up—there is no charge. Interested in a deeper dive? Free subscriptions to Window Film magazine in print or digital format are available. Subscribe at no charge HERE.