About
The Franchise Central Blog
Franchise Central® is a social networking site that functions just like your favorite social networking sites. The Blog features members of Franchise Central, including franchisors, franchisees, licensees, distributors, and others who utilize our tools and resources. The Blog is where you can learn more about how people are using both the Franchise Navigator® and Connect Me®.
Craig Slavin
Craig Slavin, the creator of Franchise Central and related entities, including The Franchise Navigator® and ConnectMe®, has spent nearly 40 years in franchising working with a stellar list of international clients. He has helped companies from franchise prototype formulation through franchise development implementation, including marketing, developing new operations and support products and services, implementing automation, teaching franchisors how to find more top performing franchisees, repositioning concepts, and building and managing successful growth companies.
Franchise Conceptualization
Many companies, throughout the world, have retained Mr. Slavin to develop their original prototype location(s). His impressive client list includes: The Disney Store, ETD (retail convenience store for Shell Oil), Bally Total Fitness, AT&T Cellular, Pella Window Stores, Hewlett-Packard, Bata Shoe Organization, Vintage Stock, Apple Computers, Wizards of The Coast, El Taco Tote Real Mexican Grill, and the most successful fast food operation in the Middle East: Al Tazaj.
Franchise Development
Mr. Slavin has provided franchise development services through Franchise Architects, which he founded in 1980. Hundreds of worldwide organizations have contracted for his franchising services, which are tailored for the specific needs of each client. A partial list of clients includes: Sears Roebuck & Co., Great Clips for Hair, TCBY, Precision Tune and Lube, NEC Computers, Reliance Petroleum, Stratis Business Centers, Luk Oil (Russia), The Circle K Corporation, Texas State Optical, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Boston Pizza, Dairy Queen, Red Robin Restaurants, and El Taco Tote Real Mexican Grill.
Industry Authority
As a professional speaker, Mr. Slavin has conducted educational seminars for many prestigious institutions and groups throughout the world. He has been featured in business and franchising media including: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Success Magazine, US News & World Report, Nation’s Restaurant News, The Chicago Tribune, INC. Magazine, Delta Airline’s SKY Magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Chain Store Age Executive, National Petroleum News, and Canadian Foodservice and Hospitality Magazine. . . . Mr. Slavin was selected to the 1990 faculty of the American Bar Association’s Forum Committee on Franchising; he’s a re-elected member of the International Franchise Association’s Council of Franchise Suppliers; a member of the Association of Management Consultants, an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association Panel on Franchising; a member of the Board of Editors of Leader’s Franchising Business & Law Alert, a division of the New York Law Publishing Co., and he serves as an expert witness in franchise litigation.
Franchise Tools & Processes
Mr. Slavin is the creator of:
Franchise Central, your personal Gateway to Franchising, a social networking site that puts you in touch with the people, tools and processes that you’ll need whether you are a franchisor or franchisee, or just thinking about buying a franchise or franchising your business.
The Franchise Navigator®, the only market-validated profiling tool in franchising. Thousands of people just like you have already taken the Navigator survey to better understand their skills, values and needs as they relate to business and franchise ownership.
ConnectMe®, compares your Navigator survey results to appropriate franchise opportunities and suggests matches that will be appropriate for your skills and interests!
Dr. John Hayes
The author of the Franchise Central Blog is John P. Hayes, Ph.D., a veteran franchise executive who has been a franchisee, a franchisor, and an advisor to franchise companies since 1979. Through the years, Dr. Hayes has written extensively about franchising with articles appearing in Reader’s Digest, Inc. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, and many other publications. He’s the co-author of Franchising: The Inside Story and he has written two eBooks devoted to franchising: Franchise Pre-Investment Checklist, The ultimate guide to buying a franchise, and the forthcoming Help Your Banker Say Yes! How to get a loan to open your franchise. Dr. Hayes coaches franchisors and franchisees and speaks at franchise conventions and workshops. His most popular workshop is How To Capture & Keep Customers.