Business View Magazine | October 2020

190 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 MassageLuXe expansion, based on historical performance, and the franchise owner’s specific development goals. “They also provide commercial services to our franchisees and assist with negotiating the LOI and the lease to ensure that our franchisees are receiving proper guidance and care during the lease negotiation process. Some commercial brokers tend to steer tenants towards properties they represent regardless of concept fit. Even if the broker does not represent a property, there is not a lot of motivation within the industry to negotiate lower rates due to commission structures. As such, Locate AI is there to help ensure our franchise owners are being protected. Locate AI has a network of brokers that have agreed to survey markets on their behalf, and Locate AI handles the rest of the process. The best part is there is no fee to our franchisees for this service. So, we’re able to provide additional support to our franchise owners without adding additional costs, which is fantastic. individual needs and is a benefit to them. “If someone is not passionate about what it is we’re doing, or I don’t get the sense that they’re really involved in their community and believe that it would benefit from doing business with us, that’s the biggest turn-off for me. Everything else can be taught; we can teach them how to run a spa, and what they need to focus on.” BVM: Once you’ve awarded a franchise, what sort of support do you offer your new franchisee? Rentchler: “Once they sign that franchise agreement we immediately dive into site selection. We formed a relationship with a company called Locate AI; they provide us with our mapping platform as well as the demographic and psychographic information used to analyze real estate opportunities within a franchise owner’s market. We work with them to analyze key real estate data points to help guide franchise owners to specific areas within a market that we feel are best suited for