Andy's Frozen Custard vs Emerald City Smoothie Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Andy's Frozen Custard vs Emerald City Smoothie including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
 
Andy's Frozen Custard Franchise
Emerald City Smoothie Franchise
Investment $528,500 - $1,387,500$75,250 - $286,900
Franchise Fee $32,000$15,000 - $25,000
Royalty Fee 6%6%
Advertising Fee 1%2%
Year Founded 19862005
Year Franchised 20042005
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Term Of Agreement 10 years-
Renewal Fee --


Business Experience Requirements
 
Andy's Frozen Custard Franchise
Emerald City Smoothie Franchise
Experience --

Financing Options
 
Andy's Frozen Custard Franchise
Emerald City Smoothie Franchise
  In-House/3rd PartyIn-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees -/--/-
Start-up Costs -/--/-
Equipment -/--/-
Inventory -/--/-
Receivables -/--/-
Payroll -/--/-

Training & Support
 
Andy's Frozen Custard Franchise
Emerald City Smoothie Franchise
Training --
Support -* Use of the Emerald City Smoothie brand and all existing and new marketing materials * Assistance with real estate brokers, site selection, lease negotiation and construction based on best practices learned from over 30 store openings * A turn-key system that includes all architectural design, equipment, shelving, graphics, and signage at a reasonable cost * Extensive ECS Experience training for you and one staff member on drink making, developing a customer community, business management and marketing * Grand opening planning and support * "It's my store" customer involvement program * Peer-to-peer problem and solution sharing with other franchise owners * New drink introductions based on successful pilot programs at other franchises * Web presence for easy store location and product and service pre-selection * Periodic, high-return marketing strategies for pilot testing and implementation * Greater buying power for smoothie and health products as a member of our buying cooperative * Periodic visits to assist with general operations, employee training and to help you fine-tune the ECS experience * Analysis of store sales and performance versus system- wide benchmarks
Marketing --
Operations --

Expansion Plans
 
Andy's Frozen Custard Franchise
Emerald City Smoothie Franchise
US Expansion --
Canada Expansion --
International Expansion --

Company Overviews

About Andy's Frozen Custard

Andy's Frozen Custard has always been fanatical about custard, and has served it with pride since March 19, 1986. For more than 35 years, only the freshest ingredients have been used for a frozen custard experience you can't get anywhere else.
The Andy's Frozen Custard tradition started in Osage Beach, Missouri when John and Carol Kuntz embarked on a new frozen custard endeavor. Their treat quickly became a legend at the lake, and soon took nearby Springfield, Missouri by storm.
It was at the original Springfield location where John and Carol's son Andy (and his wife Dana) worked long hours learning the business from the ground up. Their fanaticism for a supreme product and unmatched customer service never wavered.
Always striving to expand and improve Andy's Frozen Custard, they have taken the brand to new heights, with locations throughout Missouri, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, with plans for additional locations in the future.
These shops offer customers near and far a slice of hometown Americana where it's fun to be a kid for a while. At the heart of each Andy's is a fun work environment, where everyone shares in the fanaticism that brought Andy's to life, and keeps it going strong.
A unique but simple approach has been used to achieve such great success; hire great people, and treat them right. John and Carol's philosophy was always, "If you are in the service business, you have to hire people that have a strong desire to serve. Pay them above average, train them well, and demand nothing but the best."
John, Carol, Andy, and Dana have been able to make Andy's Frozen Custard the largest dessert-only franchise in the world! Andy's can now be found in 15 states, and has more than 100 locations open, with several more under construction.

About Emerald City Smoothie

If you are looking for a significant franchise opportunity with a low cost of entry and a high upside potential, you may be a great candidate to be an Emerald City Smoothie franchise owner. We've also built our uniqueness beyond the product. We build customer loyalty everyday through: * A personal service philosophy that turns our employees into part of our customer's fitness-support team, which keeps customers coming back, according to the Parker LePla Emerald City Smoothie Customer Study * Supplements for any health goal from weight loss to bulking up * Smoothie recipes that won the "best of" smoothie category in a Seattle poll, featuring a unique blending process that creates a smooth, refreshing, but never-watery, taste * Branding and design that helps draw customers into your stores and makes selection of high-margin add-on products easy. Click here for a virtual tour of one of our world-class locations. * Marketing, training, site selection, and quality control services. Emerald City Smoothie also features all the benefits of franchising including our formula for operating to help avoid many mistakes commonly made by new business owners. Today, one out of every seven dollars spent by Americans for retail goods and services is spent in a franchised or independent product distribution business (source: IFA Franchise Opportunity Guide, p. 31, Fall/Winter 2004). Franchising generates an estimated $1.5 trillion in the U.S. economy annually (source: www.franchise.org/opportunities). The combination of the franchisor's expertise and your hard work create the potential for a strong business. With a franchise, you are in business for yourself, not by yourself!