Alicia Miller (Big Money in Franchising)

私募股权与特许经营的结合，对你来说可能有些神秘，但有一件事是确定的。

The marriage of private equity and franchising may be a mystery to you, but one thing is certain.

私募股权资本和特许经营的涌入，加速了许多特许经营商和多店加盟商的发展。

The influx of PE capital and franchising has accelerated the growth of many franchisors and multiunit franchisees.

欢迎收听本期FranchiseU，我将与《特许经营中的大钱：在私募股权时代扩展你的企业》一书的作者Alicia Miller对话，她将就私募股权对特许经营模式的影响提供宝贵的见解。

Join me in this episode of FranchiseU as I talk with Alicia Miller, the author of Big Money in Franchising, Scaling Your Enterprise in the Air of Private Equity, as she provides valuable insights into the impact that PE has made on the franchise model.

欢迎收听FranchiseU播客，在这里，行业领袖们分享知识和灵感。

Welcome to the FranchiseU podcast, where key industry leaders provide education and inspiration.

有请主持人Kathy Gossier博士，她是路易斯维尔大学青年全球特许经营卓越中心的主任。

Here's your host, doctor Kathy Gossier, the director of the Young Center for Global Franchise Excellence at the University of Louisville.

欢迎收听新一期的FranchiseU。

And welcome to another episode of FranchiseU.

今天和我一起的是Alicia Miller，她是Emergent Growth Advisors的创始人和管理合伙人。

And with me today, I have Alicia Miller, who's the founder and managing partner of Emergent Growth Advisors.

很高兴你能来，Alicia。

So glad you're with us, Alicia.

谢谢邀请我。

Thanks for having me.

哦，很高兴你能来，你的经历真是精彩。

Oh, it's so great to have you, and what a story you have.

所以你现在的公司是一家专注于特许经营战略咨询的精品咨询公司。

So your current firm is a boutique advisory firm in franchise strategic consulting.

你名字后面有三个资格认证，我们待会儿会详细聊聊。

You have three qualifications behind your name, which we're gonna unpack in a moment.

NACDDotDC、c MAA 和 c f e。

NACDDotDC, c MAA, and c f e.

但你的履历非常丰富。

But your resume is so vast.

我的意思是，你不仅多年前是西尔万学习中心的加盟商，还是摩托罗拉的高级领导。

I mean, not only were you a franchisee at Sylvan Learning years ago, you were a senior leader at Motorola.

对于你现在的公司，你还参与过其他几家战略领导公司。

For your current venture, you've been involved in a few other strategic leadership companies.

但今天我们真正要聊很多的是，你写了一本关于特许经营领域私募股权的了不起的书，我相信这是该领域的第一本。

But what we're really gonna talk a lot about today is the fact that you're an author of an incredible book on private equity in the franchise sec sector, which I believe is the first of its kind.

是的。

It is.

你还为《企业家》和《福布斯》撰稿。

You also write for entrepreneur and Forbes.

你是一家大型城市航空特许经营商的董事会成员，这太了不起了，而且你还在IFA任职，我们就是这样认识的。

You serve on the board of a large urban air franchisee, which is incredible, and you serve with the IFA, which is how we know each other.

所以你在教育领域贡献你的专业知识，我很高兴看到你的热情和我的热情在这个方面是一致的。

So you lend your expertise in the world of education, and I love to see your passion align with mine when it comes to that.

你的教育背景相当显赫。

You have quite a pedigree of education.

你毕业于史密斯学院，然后你有两个硕士学位，一个来自马里兰大学，还有一个是沃顿商学院的MBA。

You attended Smith College, and then you have two master's degrees, one from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Wharton.

我的天哪。

My goodness.

那可真不少。

That is a lot.

那我们来聊聊你的职业生涯吧。

So let's unpack your career.

从你离开加盟商角色、转向加盟咨询那段时间开始聊。

Let's take the time from when you left becoming a franchisee into franchise consulting.

你能谈谈那次转变以及为什么吗？

Can you talk about that move and why?

当然可以。

Sure.

当我作为加盟商进入这个行业时，我下定决心要尽可能多地学习关于加盟的一切。

When I came in as a franchisee, I was determined to learn everything I could about franchising.

所以，说实话，我做的第一件事就是参加IFA大会，并报名了认证特许经营高管项目，这个项目设计得很好，能带你了解加盟的不同领域，比如如何成为有效的加盟商，如何成为更好的加盟商，以及一些我完全没接触过的领域，比如国际加盟。

So I, honestly, one of the first things I did was come to an IFA convention, and I enrolled in the certified franchise executive program, which is really well designed to sort of walk you through the different areas of franchising, franchising, how to be an effective franchisor, you know, how to be a better franchisee, and then areas that I had no exposure to at all such as, international franchising.

这对我来说真的是一个很好的基础。

And it was a really good grounding for me.

我真希望我早点这么做，甚至在我开始我的加盟生意之前就做了，但这就是我最初了解加盟行业全貌并学习所有相关知识的方式。

I wish I had done it earlier even before I had, you know, started my franchise business, but that's how I really kind of first surveyed the landscape of franchising and learned all about it.

当我卖掉我的加盟生意时，我已经完全沉浸在加盟领域了，并且决定这就是我想继续发展的方向。

When I sold my franchise business and I, at this point, was fully steeped in franchising and decided this is where I wanted to stay.

我热爱加盟。

I love franchising.

我进入了咨询行业，我做的第一件事就是加盟开发，我觉得这是一条相当常见的路径。

I went into consulting, and the first thing I did was really franchise development, which I think is a fairly common path.

在我从事加盟之前，我的整个职业生涯都是关于市场推广的，也就是销售和市场推广策略。

My entire career prior to franchising was always go to market, so sales and go to market strategy.

所以过渡到加盟开发职位并不是什么难事。

So transitioning into a friend dev position wasn't a stretch.

但很快，我再次转型，转向更传统的管理咨询和战略，因为我发现每个人都在努力增长，目的是为了吸引资本，以便更快地加速他们的业务，这让我真正理解了私募股权。

But quickly, I ended up transitioning then again to more traditional management consulting and strategy because what I found is that everyone was trying to grow with a specific purpose of trying to attract capital so they could accelerate their business that much faster, and that's what got me to really understanding private equity.

啊，多么精彩的职业道路啊。

Ah, what a wonderful pathway.

那么，特许经营为什么是你的专长呢？

So what about franchising makes it your lane?

你为什么这么喜欢它？

Why do you love it so much?

我喜欢企业家的热情。

I love, the passion of entrepreneurs.

我喜欢特许经营的灵活性，以及它的创新性。

I love how nimble franchising is, how innovative it is.

现在市场上有些概念真的很酷、很有趣，带来了不同的东西，而且你经常会想：我怎么没想到呢？

There's concepts now on the market that are really cool and interesting and bring something different, And you get this sensation constantly of why didn't I think of that?

那是个好主意。

That's a great idea.

没错。

Exactly.

是的。

Yeah.

我做过那种事。

I've done that.

我很喜欢。

I love it.

对。

Yeah.

我也很喜欢。

I love it.

你知道，不是每个人都想坐在公司里，按那种方式发展自己的事业。

You know, not everybody wants to go sit in a corporate kind of a role and build their career that way.

有些人确实更适合自己创业。

Some really are better suited for running their own business.

但我非常欣赏加盟模式，因为我自己不是发明家。

But I appreciate the franchise model quite a lot because I myself am not an inventor.

其实我碰巧有一个专利，但我不算是真正的发明家。

I do have a patent actually, coincidentally, but, I'm not really an inventor.

我喜欢特许经营，因为我可以进来实施一套流程。

I liked franchising because I could come in and implement a process.

而且我理解，有很多人想经营企业，就说，给我一本操作手册吧。

And I appreciate there there's a lot of people who wanna run a business and just say, you know, give me the playbook.

我只想经营好一家企业。

I just wanna run a good business.

我觉得特许经营模式在这方面真的非常出色，它的构建方式很巧妙。

And I I think the franchise model is really so brilliant in in how it's constructed that way.

说得好。

Well said.

那我们聊聊你名字后面那些头衔吧。

So let's talk about all those letters behind your name.

你提到了其中一个，CFE，即认证特许经营高管，我们都有这个。

You've talked about one, CFE, which is certified franchise executive, and we share that.

给我们讲讲另外两个吧。

Tell us about the other two.

NACD指的是全国董事协会。

So the NACD is the National Association of Corporate Directors.

我是个终身学习者。

I'm a perpetual student.

这是我丈夫常说的。

That's what my husband says.

那是一个认证项目，旨在让你在董事会层面成为更有效的董事。

That's a certification program to be a more effective director at the board level.

所以那是我参加过的项目。

So that is a program I went through.

而CMAA是类似的认证，但侧重于并购咨询。

And then the CMAA is a similar certification but pointed at m and a advisory.

你知道吗，Alicia，很多成功公司的CEO总是说，真正的秘诀是做一个热爱学习的人，并且不断学习。

You know, Alicia, many CEOs of very successful companies always say the real secret is to be an avid learner and to continue learning.

所以，太棒了。

So bravo.

你做到了。

You do that.

说到这个，你的写作帮了我很多学习。

And speaking of which, your writing has helped me learn.

我喜欢不断学习，我一开始收到你的书时，我翻了一下，可能没有读得那么仔细。

I love to constantly learn, and I'd mentioned to you when I first received your book, I skimmed through it, probably not as deeply as I should have.

我当时想，哦，这内容真不错。

And I thought, oh, this is really good content.

但在这之前，我逐字逐句读了一遍，现在我已经把它推荐给所有人了。

But prior to this, I read it word for word, and now I've been recommending it to everyone.

那我们聊聊你那本很棒的书，叫《特许经营中的大钱，在私募股权时代扩展你的企业》。

So let's talk about your fabulous book, which is called Big Money in Franchising, Scaling Your Enterprise in the Error of Private Equity.

说实话，私募股权对我们很多人来说是个谜。

Private equity, honestly, is a mystery to so many of us.

这是我知道的唯一一本关于特许经营领域私募股权的书，而且里面有很多我喜欢的内容。

And so this is the only book I know of private equity in the franchising sector, and there were just tons of things I love about it.

但首先，告诉我们，你为什么决定写这本书？

But first, tell us, why did you decide to write this book?

而且这不是一本小书。

And it's not a small book.

它有300多页，还有大量的参考文献。

It's over 300 pages with the amount of references.

我是说，这位老教授很喜欢这些，所以做得非常好。

I mean, this old professor loved all that, so it's very well done.

但你为什么决定写这本书呢？

But why did you decide to write this?

对。

Yeah.

短篇内容可能不是我的强项。

Short form content is probably not my strong suit.

这绝对是一本需要细读的书，而这也是这本书能出版的原因。

It's definitely a chewy book, And this is the part of the book that made it forward.

还有600页的内容被删掉了，说实话，我可能还有足够写两本书的材料。

There's another 600 pages on the cutting room floor that are I probably have material for two more books, honestly.

天哪。

Oh my gosh.

所以作为第一次写书的作者，内容太多需要精简也不奇怪。

So first time book author, it's not a surprise I had too much and needed to narrow it down.

当我看到私募股权活动和特许经营领域的情况时，很明显人们找不到什么好的资源来了解这些。

When I saw what was going on around all this PE activity and franchising, it was clear that there just wasn't any good resource people could go and read to figure this out.

所以每个人都是靠自己摸索，根据自己的人脉来理解，没有一个清晰的框架来思考私募股权及其对特许经营的影响。

And so everyone was hunting and pecking their way through and figuring out based on their own network of people, and there wasn't any cogent framework on how to think about private equity and think about the impact on franchising.

你知道，这是好是坏，还是介于两者之间？

You know, is it good or bad or somewhere in between?

所以这看起来是一个及时的资源，人们会需要并使用它。

So it seemed like a timely resource that people would need and use.

我收录了很多案例研究和参考资料，这样人们就能意识到，这不应该是什么神秘的事情。

And I included a lot of case studies and references so that people could realize, you know, this is not something that should be mysterious to them.

这本书很容易理解。

It's accessible.

你知道吗？

You know?

并不是只有一小部分被选中的人才能搞懂，其他人都不行。

It's not one little group of anointed people can figure it out and everybody else can't.

不是这样的。

That's not true.

但你需要深入研究和调查才能真正理解，这就是我在书里尝试做的。

But you gotta dig in and do the research to really understand it, and that's what I tried to do in the book.

我觉得你做得非常成功。

And I think you did that quite successfully.

我喜欢那些案例研究，因为它们让你的概念变得生动。

I love the case studies because it brought your concepts to life.

那么，我们先从私募股权的基本概述开始吧。

And so let's start with just an overview of private equity.

很多时候，人们一听到私募股权就完全摸不着头脑，听起来就像是一群千万富翁把钱凑在一起搞个什么基金，但实际上根本不是那么回事。

Oftentimes, when people hear private equity, they just have no clue, and it sounds like a bunch of multimillionaires putting money together to have some type of fund, and it's really not that at all.

所以也许你可以打破这些误解，给我们介绍一下私募股权的整体情况。

So maybe you could just dispel all the myths and give us an overview of the private equity landscape.

好的。

Sure.

我试着用一种合理的方式来拆解它。

I tried to break it down in a sensible way.

传统的私募股权是从大学捐赠基金和养老基金那里筹集资金，然后投资于公司。

So traditional private equity raises money from from university endowments and pension funds and invests in companies.

对吧？

Right?

目标是让这些公司成长，希望最终能卖掉它们，从而获得投资回报。

And the goal is to grow them and hopefully sell them at some point to make a return on their investment.

但在特许经营领域，还有很多其他私人资本参与者，比如独立发起人和家族办公室等等。

But there's a lot of other private capital players active in franchising, such as independent sponsors and family offices and so on.

所以我试着把所有这些都拆解开来，让大家容易理解，然后讨论他们不同的持有期、不同的策略、他们的业绩记录，以及他们在寻找什么。

So I tried to break all of those things down in a way that would make it easy for people to digest and then talk through, you know, their different hold periods, their different strategies, their track record, and what they look for.

然后把这个和现实结合起来：现在有4000个活跃的特许经营商和多单位加盟商，这个市场非常大。

And then marry that to, okay, there's this huge landscape of 4,000 active franchisors and multiunit franchisees.

他们在哪里运作，又是如何组织的呢？

Where do they play and how do they organize themselves?

对我来说，最简单的思考方式就是把他们分组，比如他们是增长型的吗？

And to me, the easiest way to think about it was to group them into, you know, are they growth?

他们是在关注新兴品牌吗？

Are they looking at emerging brands?

他们是更偏向规模玩家，这又分为投资增长型企业和投资那些可能增长没那么快但仍然很有价值的规模化企业，还是他们是转型投资者？

Are they more scale players, which is kind of split between investing in growth businesses and investing in more value large scale businesses that maybe aren't growing still as fast but still really valuable to own, or are they turnaround investors?

我觉得这三个类别很好地描述了整个市场。

Those three buckets describe the landscape, I think, very well.

把所有这些复杂性拆解并归入这三个类别后，我发现很多人会说，天哪。

And just taking apart all that complexity and putting it into those three buckets, I found a lot of people say, you know, gosh.

这样想就简单多了。

That's just an easy way to think about it.

现在我能更清楚地看到自己的公司在这个我所谓的PE盈利阶梯上处于什么位置，也大概知道应该开始和哪些类型的公司接触了。

Now I can see more clearly where my own company might be on this what I call the the PE profit ladder, and also what kinds of firms that maybe I should be starting to talk to.

这对我很有帮助，因为增长、价值和转型这些词很容易理解。

That was very helpful for me because the words growth value and turnaround, very easy to understand that.

目前有多少私募股权公司参与特许经营，无论是作为特许人还是多单位加盟商？

How many private equity firms are there in franchising right now involved either at the franchisor level or at the multiunit franchisee level?

根据我的研究，超过700家。

More than 700 by my research.

数量不少，但实际上只占公司总数的一小部分。

It's a lot, but it's actually it's a small percentage of the number of firms.

有5000家注册的传统私募股权公司从养老金中筹集资金。

So there's 5,000 registered traditional private equity firms that are raising money from pensions.

对吧？

Right?

他们必须注册自己。

They have to register themselves.

大约有9000个家族办公室，而700个品牌已经获得了私募股权资金。

There's something like 9,000 family offices, and 700 brands have received, private equity money.

那大约是400家公司。

That's about 400 firms.

所以实际上配对成功的公司和品牌比例非常小。

So it's a very small percentage of firms and brands that have actually paired up.

这就是为什么我认为还有很长的路要走。

There's that's why I think there's still quite a long ways to go.

你知道，700个品牌中，如果有400个活跃的，那就意味着不到20%的品牌以某种方式与私募股权挂钩。

You know, 700 brands, if there's 400 active, that means less than 20% of brands have affiliated themselves with private equity in some way.

现在有一些规模很大的品牌非常有吸引力，但它们一直坚持不参与，多次表示不打算接受私募股权，或者正在推迟。

Now there are some, you know, scale brands that are very attractive that are holdouts and have said many times they don't plan on taking PE or they're delaying it.

那很好。

That's great.

但是，你知道吗，如果你仔细想想，还有一大批其他小型或更小的品牌，它们可能对吸引私募股权资金非常感兴趣，但除非它们做出一些改变，否则可能永远不会得到。

But, you know, if you think about it, there's this really long tail of other small of smaller brands that may be very interested in attracting private equity money, but probably never will unless they make some changes in what they're doing.

我完全理解。

I can definitely understand that.

而且我觉得有时候私募股权，我在你的书里读到，他们通常期望在五年内将投资翻三倍。

And I think sometimes with private equity, I read in your book that they're looking to triple their money within five years as a standard.

不是他们的钱，而是他们的投资，我应该说。

Not their money, their investment, I should say.

这让一些人感到警惕，因为他们认为他们想进来赚钱，然后退出。

And that alarms some people because they look at it as they wanna jump in, make money, and jump out.

有没有私募股权公司长期持有的例子？

Are there examples of private equity firms that hold?

当然有。

Sure.

首先，我认为他们不应该感到警惕。

First, I don't think they should be alarmed.

这套玩法就是这样，你可以根据对它的了解，做出自己的选择和走自己的路。

The playbook is what it is, and you can make your own choices and your own journey based on knowing the playbook.

如果他们必须在那么短的时间内获得回报，他们往往会更多地投资于营销、加盟商支持、开拓新市场、推出新产品和服务，还有更新技术栈，因为他们必须打造一个更有价值、显著更有价值的企业，以便日后转手。

If they've got to make a return that fast, they are going to tend to invest more in marketing, franchisee support, new market expansion, launching new products and services, you know, updating the tech stack because they've got to create a more valuable significantly more valuable business over time to be able to flip it.

理论上，这就是它的运作方式。

In theory, this is how it works.

对吧？

Right?

现在我们都清楚，有时他们所做的改变并不被加盟商看好。

Now we all know sometimes the changes they make aren't seen as positively by franchisees.

所以这并不总是一个好故事。

So this is not always a good story.

但大多数情况下，他们的增长计划与加盟商对体系应有的期望是相当一致的。

But for the most part, their growth agenda is pretty well aligned with what franchisees should want in a system.

但是，你知道，随着品牌规模扩大，增长开始放缓，那时他们可能会开始做出一些与增长无关、而更多是寻找从业务中榨取利润的方法的改变。

But, you know, over time, as the brand gets scale and the growth starts to slow down, that's when they can start to make changes that maybe aren't related to growth and are more related to finding ways to take profit out of the business.

我觉得这个紧张点就是人们感到不舒服的地方，也是我们看到关于私募股权进入特许经营领域投诉最多的地方。

And I think that tension point is where people get uncomfortable, and where we have seen probably the most complaints related to private equities entrance into franchising.

他们对新兴品牌的活动抱怨没那么大。

They're not complaining as much about emerging brand activity.

他们更多是基于提交给FTC的名单来抱怨的。

They're complaining more based on the list, you know, that was submitted to the FTC.

他们更多是在抱怨那些环境正在变化的大品牌。

They're complaining more about scale brands where the environment is changing.

他们开始增加费用。

They're starting to add fees.

他们开始做一些特许经营商可能不喜欢或者看不到明确商业理由的事情。

They're starting to do things that franchisees maybe don't like or can't see a clear business case for.

对。

Mhmm.

说到长期持有，实际上，持有时间最长的玩家是Roark。

In terms of long hold, actually, there's the longest hold player is Roark.

他们很少出售。

They rarely sell.

对。

Right.

而且他们投资了超过100家特许经营商。

And they've invested in more than a 100 franchisors.

所以在那些获得私募股权帮助的700个品牌中，有100多个是Roark的。

So of that 700 brands that have received PE help, A 100 plus are Rourke.

所以是七分之一。

So one in seven.

对吧？

Right?

哇。

Wow.

我没想到这一点。

I don't think I realized that.

我知道他们是行业巨头，但哇。

I knew they were the power player, but wow.

这个数字真大。

That's a big number.

对。

Yeah.

他们的做法就是喜欢大规模的品牌。

That so their MO is they like large scale brands.

所以他们可能增长快，也可能不快。

So they may or may not be growing fast.

有些快，有些慢，但如果规模巨大，还有其他方式从加盟体系中获利。

Some are and some aren't, but there's other ways to take money out of a franchise system if it's got tremendous scale.

对吧？

Right?

所以他们的策略有点不同。

So that's their playbook is is a little bit different.

但是你知道，Riverside在Neighborly持续增长的过程中投资了三次。

But there's you know, Riverside invested three times in Neighborly as it continued to grow.

你知道，他们在不同的基金里，先在一个基金投资，然后卖出，再重新投资。

You know, they in different funds, they invested in one fund and then sold and then reinvested.

Lawn doctor是另一个被私募股权持有了，我想，到现在已经十二或十三年了。

Lawn doctor's another one that's been PE held for, I think, twelve or thirteen years at this point.

它就像坐火箭一样持续增长，而且他们现在还在把它打造成一个家庭服务平台，叫做Happiness Brands。

It just continues to grow like gangbusters, and they're adding they're now making a home services platform out of it, called Happiness Brands.

所以我觉得我们可能会看到一些更长期的持有。

So I think we're gonna see probably some longer holds.

你知道，现在并购市场有点积压，一些当前的持有者想创造一个好的退出机会，但现在市场并不总是最优的。

You know, there's a little bit of a backup in m and a right now where, some some current holders would like to create a good exit, but it's just not an optimal market right now always to do that.

所以他们可能会持有更长时间。

So they may end up holding it longer.

你明白吗？

You know?

对。

Mhmm.

但我觉得，更多独立企业主应该考虑的是，私募股权总是努力让企业保持一种随时可以出售的状态。

But what PE does, I think that more independent business owners should think about is they always try to keep the business in a sale ready position.

这样一来，他们就能抓住机会。如果市场好转，找到真正好的买家，他们就能立刻行动。

That way they can be opportunistic If, you know, the market improves and they find a really good buyer, they can jump on it.

他们的策略并不依赖于完美的市场时机。

Their thesis does not depend on perfect market timing.

但你知道，随时可售对每个人都有好处。

But, you know, sell ready is good for everyone.

这意味着你在推动收入增长。

It means you're driving revenues.

你在推动利润增长。

You're driving profits.

我是说，那是一个很好的模式。

I mean, that's a that's a nice formula.

但你还提供了这个关于特许经营和私募股权的时间线，我觉得特别有意思。

But you also provided this timeline with franchising and PE, and it was fascinating to me.

你把它分成了四代。

You put it into four generations.

第一代是1920年到1960年，叫做早期阶段。

The first was 1920 to 1960 called the early years.

当然，A&W是在二十年代起步的，肯德基是1952年。

And, of course, a and w started in the twenties and KFC in 1952.

所以我想，哦，这个我能理解。

So I thought, oh, I can relate to that.

然后第二代是从1961年到1990年，你称之为前私募股权时代。

And then generation two point o is from 1961 to 1990, and you coined that pre PE.

我想那时候，比如回想我在肯德基的日子，我们是被百事收购的。

And I think that's when like, I think back to my KFC days, we were owned by Pepsi.

所以那时候是大公司拥有这些特许经营店。

So that was when large corporations were owning these franchises.

然后，加盟的第三代是从1991年到2019年，你称之为后私募股权时代。

Then franchise generation three point o was from 1991 to 2019, and you call that post PE.

那是私募股权运动涌入的时期。

And that was the influx of the PE movement.

现在到了2019年，疫情之后。

And now for 2019, post pandemic.

你觉得最初是什么推动了私募股权对加盟的兴趣？

What do you think initially drove PE's interest in franchising?

很多事情是同时发生的。

A lot of things came together at the same time.

第一批私募股权公司成立于四十年代末，真正开始大规模发展是在六七十年代，然后我们在八十年代经历了一个大型收购时代，那时候加盟并不在他们的关注范围内。

The first private equity firms were founded in the late forties that really kind of got underway in a bigger way in the sixties and seventies, and then we went through this large buyout era in the eighties where franchising was not on their radar.

那时候，很多公司在做大型杠杆收购，但也有一些不好的后果。

At that time, a lot of them were doing these really large leveraged buyouts, and there was some fallout from that that wasn't always good.

但总有一些投资者在寻找新的想法。

But there were always these investors looking for new ideas.

第一批人进来的时候，有商场、餐厅和零售方面的经验，然后试了试水，做了几笔投资。

And the first group kind of came in, had, experience in malls and restaurants and retail and put in you know, put a toe in the water, did a couple of investments.

但真正让特许经营进入大家视野的，我觉得要归功于贝恩。

But, really, it was Bain who put I think we can credit Bain putting franchising on everyone's radar.

他们在九十年代末和两千年代初做了三笔投资，加起来有五十亿美元，分别是唐恩都乐、汉堡王和达美乐。

They made three investments that together were $5,000,000,000, Dunkin', Burger King, and Domino's in the, late nineties and early two thousands.

这些投资让他们自己和投资者都赚得盆满钵满，以至于整个私募股权行业都开始关注。

And they did so phenomenally well for themselves and their investors in those investments that the entire PE sector went, hey.

特许经营。

Franchising.

多好的主意。

What a great idea.

这是个很棒的商业模式。

This is a great model.

对吧？

Right?

我是说，贝恩的一位前领导人当时正在竞选总统，媒体曝光度很高，所以媒体都在翻他们的投资历史，看他们都在做什么，这当然也有影响。

I mean, it didn't hurt that one of Bain's former leaders was running for president and was getting a lot of press, and so the the press was picking through their history of all their investments and what they were doing.

所以这件事就受到了极大的关注。

So just it got so, so much attention.

你知道吗，我觉得很有意思的是，特许经营是一个数十亿美元的生意，在美国有80万个门店，但在某种程度上它却几乎是隐形的。

You know, it's it's fascinating to me that franchising is a multibillion dollar business with, you know, 800,000 units in this country, but still it's sort of, like, invisible in a way.

它

It's

对，没错。

just Exactly.

当时也是这样。

And it was then too.

然后突然间，所有人都同时注意到了，心想，啊，特许经营。

And just sort of all of a sudden, everyone turned all at once and went, ah, franchising.

真是个绝妙的主意。

What a great idea.

所以那就是九十年代第一次真正进入的时候。

And so that's when the first entrance really came in in the nineties.

九十年代末、两千年代初，我们开始看到更多的活动。

Late nineties, early two thousands is when we started to see just so much more activity.

而且，你知道，艾丽西亚，我同意。

And, you know, Alicia, I agree.

特许经营即使在商学院里也几乎是无形的。

Franchising is still almost invisible even in business schools.

所以有我们少数几个人在教这个，学生们对此非常着迷。

So there are a few of us that are teaching this, and the students are enthralled by it.

这确实是因为它是一个很好的模式，就像你说的，不是每个人都是发明家，但人们想经营自己的生意。

And it's really because it's such a great model to your point, not everyone's an inventor, but people wanna run their own business.

我认为这可能和私募股权的情况一样。

And I think that's probably the the same that happened with PE.

让我们稍微换个话题，因为私募股权不仅投资于特许经营商层面，也投资于一些多单位加盟商，以及一些非常大的多单位加盟商。

So let's switch gears a little bit, because private equity not only invests at the franchisor level, but it also invests in some multiunit franchisees and some very large multiunit franchisees as well.

你能谈谈这个，并给我们举个例子吗？

Could you talk about this and provide us an example?

当然可以。

Sure.

有些投资者确实只喜欢投资加盟品牌。

So there are some investors who do prefer only franchise brand investing.

对吧？

Right?

他们不想拥有门店。

They don't wanna own units.

嗯。

Mhmm.

但也有其他人喜欢支持优秀的经营者，他们真正在寻找的，门槛通常更高。

But there are others who like backing great operators, and they're they're really looking for, the bar is usually higher.

所以，虽然他们可能愿意看那些EBITDA在50万到100万美元之间的系统，但这些人中的大多数，如果想投资门店层面，他们希望看到EBITDA大约200万美元，也就是规模相当大的系统。

So whereas maybe they're willing to look at systems that have 500,000 to a million of EBITDA, most of these guys, if they want to invest at the unit level, they wanna see more like 2,000,000 of EBITDA, so pretty big scale systems.

所以在少于100家门店的系统里，你看不到这种情况。

So you don't see it in systems smaller than a 100 units.

可能要到系统有大约500家门店时，你才会真正看到，因为你需要形成规模。

You may not really even see it in systems until it gets to be about 500 units because you gotta create scale.

对吧？

Right?

你不能……对。

You can't Right.

如果系统很小，你无法建立足够的规模。

You can't build enough if it's a if it's a small system.

而且，你看。

And, look.

我在某处读到过一个统计，60%的门店是由婴儿潮一代拥有的。

I've read a stat somewhere that 60% of units are owned by baby boomers.

所以接下来会有很多整合。

So we've got a lot of consolidation coming.

我觉得这也是为什么商学院在研究特许经营时，他们的一个角度就是这种创业式收购。

I think that's also why the business schools who are looking at franchising, one of their angles is this entrepreneurial acquisition.

对吧？

Right?

所以通过收购现有门店来起步。

So get started by acquiring existing units.

我就是这样开始做特许经营的。

That's how I got started in franchising.

嗯。

Mhmm.

这真的是一个很有趣的模式。

It's a really interesting model.

但随着这些系统整合，你知道，运营商变得越来越大，如果没有私募股权的资金，你很难继续走这条路。

But as these systems consolidate, you know, the bigger and bigger these operators get, the less likely it is that you can continue on that path without private equities capital.

对吧？

Right?

就是太大了。

It's just too big.

所以我觉得这就是最近加速交汇的地方。

So I think that's where the intersections really has accelerated recently.

你说得太对了。

And you are so right.

整合，即使一半的加盟商还是单店，那也意味着另一半是多店且正在增长。

Consolidation, even though half the franchise owners are still single unit, that means the other half are multiunit and growing.

就在过去几年，谁能想到会有加盟商拥有2600家店呢？

Just through the last few years, who would have thought there would be a franchisee with 2,600 units?

而且这已经发生在Flynn餐饮集团身上了。

And it's happened with the with the Flynn Restaurant Group.

我的意思是，那真是太不可思议了。

I mean, that's pretty incredible.

而且还有人有几百家甚至接近一千家的例子。

And there are examples of folks having hundreds and close to a thousand as well.

你说得对。

And you're right.

我觉得这确实需要私募基金的资金才能实现。

I think it does take private equity dollars to make that happen.

那很有意思。

That was interesting.

那我们聊聊私募基金带来的这种权力动态吧。

So let's talk about this power dynamic with private equity.

你在特许经营商和加盟商层面看到了什么？

What do you see at the franchisor and franchisee level?

当私募基金进入加盟商层面时，会产生一种非常有趣的动态，因为特许经营商可能由另一家私募基金支持，而他们可能有相互冲突的任务。

When PE comes in at the franchisee level, it creates a really interesting dynamic because the franchisor might be backed by another PE group, and they may have conflicting mandates.

实际上，我认为这是特许经营行业长期以来最健康的事情之一，因为它促使更多关于管理团队如何管理业务的对话，以及他们是否在为加盟商和整个系统做出积极的改变，还是他们改变得不够快？

I actually think this is one of the healthiest things to happen in franchising in a long time is it is prompting a lot more conversations around how good of a steward the management team is of the business, and are they making changes that are positive for franchisees and the system, or are they not making changes fast enough?

他们做出的改变是真的为了提高母公司层面的盈利能力，而不是为了帮助加盟商吗？

Are they making changes that are really more about improving profitability at the parent level than helping franchisees?

不同的是，在单店层面的私募股权，那些人会很快达成一致。

What's different is that PE at the unit level, those guys will align quickly.

他们不会感情用事，而且会带来数据。

They're not emotional about it, and they bring data.

在一些大型体系中，我们看到他们能够推动加盟总部做出改变，因为他们带来的数据太多了，很难否认问题的存在，这样就迫使双方进行对话。

And we've seen in some large systems that they've been able to get changes made at the franchisor level because they just bring so much data that it's hard to deny that there's a problem, And so it forces that conversation.

要孤立那些加盟商就更难了。

It's harder to sort of isolate those franchisees.

你知道，有时候当有人不满时，加盟总部会采用这种策略。

You know, sometimes that is a tactic that franchisors will use when someone's disgruntled.

他们会说，好吧。

They'll say, okay.

你是个个体，这不代表整个体系。

Well, you're an individual, and this does not reflect the whole system.

但如果你的体系中有60%（在某些情况下现在就是这样）是由私募股权支持的，而且这个群体带着数据出现，说你需要改变做法，并说明原因，那真的很难否认。

But if 60% of your system, in some cases right now that's the case, is PE backed and that block shows up with data and says you need to do things differently and here's why, that is really hard to deny.

并不是所有的管理团队都能适应那种坦诚和那种数据，我想这就是为什么有些系统不愿意让私募股权进入单店层面的部分原因，在我看来这挺讽刺的。

Not all the management teams are prepared for that level of candor and that level of data, and I think that's partly why we've seen some reluctance in some systems to let PE in at the unit level, which is kind of an interesting irony from my perspective.

但在特许经营总部层面，他们有一套非常清晰的策略，取决于品牌处于生命周期的哪个阶段。

But at the franchisor level, they have run a very clear playbook, depending on where that brand is in its life cycle.

我在书里详细讲了这一点。

I talk through that in the book.

对。

Mhmm.

所以加盟商应该做好准备，预见品牌成熟过程中可能发生的变化。

So that franchisees should be well prepared to anticipate likely changes that are coming as the brand matures.

但说实话，有些变化不管有没有私募股权都会发生。

But, honestly, some of these changes would happen with or without PE.

它们只是特许经营体系成长的一部分。

They're just part of growing up in a franchise system.

区别在于，私募股权因为时间限制而行动非常快，而且变化的节奏可能会让人不安。

The difference is that PE moves really fast because of this time constraint that they're under and that the pace of change can be unnerving.

而且，变革的沟通方式以及他们与加盟商的合作程度，可能会成为问题。

And how change is communicated and how much they collaborate with franchisees is can be an issue.

我能理解。

I can see that.

你知道吗，我在读你的书的时候，想到我在一家上市公司工作。

You know, as I was reading through your book, it occurred to me working for a publicly traded company.

有很多相似之处，嗯。

There are a lot of similarities Mhmm.

比如所需的纪律和对结果的追求。

With a lot of the discipline that's needed and the push for results.

所以我觉得那里有很多相似之处。

And so I thought there are a lot of similarities there.

是的。

Yeah.

你还有整整一章。

You also you have a whole chapter.

好的。

Okay.

这可能是我最喜欢的部分。

It might have been my favorite.

专门讲私募股权利润阶梯的那一章。

Dedicated to the private equity profit ladder.

真的很有意思。

It is fascinating.

而且，Alicia，就这个话题我们可能能聊上好几个小时。

And, Alicia, we could probably talk for hours on this one.

但你先给我们简单讲讲你是怎么想到这个的，再大概介绍一下吧。

But just tease it out for us how you came up with that and maybe just a quick overview of that.

听我说。

Look.

我觉得人们有必要了解这个机制是怎么运作的，也就是私募股权是怎么赚钱的，因为这对那些体系里的加盟商来说，会带来一系列相当可预测的后续影响。

I think it's important for people to understand how the mechanism works, so how private equity is making money because that has downstream fairly predictable playbook implications for franchisees in those systems.

对吧？

Right?

所以你可以看到每个不同的参与者是如何变现他们的投资的，以及他们在持有期间可能会尝试哪些手段。

So you can see how each of the different players monetizes their investment and what sorts of levers they might try to pull during their ownership cycle.

但我也觉得人们需要意识到，一旦第一次被私募股权收购，它就会在这条阶梯上待一段时间。

But I thought it was also important for people to realize once it's traded the first time to private equity, it's gonna stay on that ladder for a while.

它会被多次拥有，所以他们应该预料到会有所有权变更。

It's gonna be owned multiple times, so they should anticipate there will be a change in ownership.

所以你不能太依赖管理团队或创始人，因为那些人可能会在某个时候退出。

And so you can't you can't fall in love with the management team, or the founder because those folks may exit at some point.

这不仅仅是特许经营的事情。

And this isn't just a franchise thing.

这是私募股权的事情。

This is a private equity thing.

学者们研究了超过5000笔私募股权投资，发现一旦第一次被收购，下一次最可能的买家是另一家私募基金，而不是战略买家或上市。

Academics have have studied this across more than 5,000 PE investments and just discovered that once it's purchased the first time, the most likely buyer the next time is another private equity fund versus a strategic or going public.

所以它可能会在那个阶梯上待一段时间，或者最终落到像Rourke这样的长期持有投资者或家族办公室手里。

So it can be on that ladder for a while, or it could land, you know, in sort of a long hold investor like a Rourke at some point or a family office.

这一章写得非常好。

It's a fabulous chapter.

它确实帮助我们更深入地理解了你刚才说的内容，甚至更多。

I mean, it really helps unpack exactly what you've just said and more.

我们就说到这里吧。

So we'll just leave it at that.

大家得买书才能知道所有细节。

People will have to buy the book to find all the details.

而且，在书的结尾，你给出了很有力的建议，我很喜欢那一章的标题——‘当你期待时该期待什么’。

And, you know, at the end, you provide powerful advice, and I love the name of the chapter, what to expect when you are expecting.

所以这一切都是关于为私募股权做好准备，无论你是特许经营商还是加盟商。

And so it's all about getting ready for private equity, whether you're a franchisor or a franchisee.

随便聊聊，对于可能被出售或交易给私募股权公司的品牌中的加盟商，你有什么最好的建议吗？

Just for fun, what are a few of your best tips for franchisees who are in a brand that may be sold or traded to a private equity firm?