Opportunities all around - Heavenly Hot Dogs Inc.'s use of handicapped franchisees

Nation's Business, Jan, 1990 by Meg Whittemore

Opportunities All Around

Helping The Disabled Become Entrepreneurs

Those who are physically disabled and would like to own a business may want to consider Heavenly Hot Dogs as an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Heavenly Hot Dogs, a franchise based in Cape Coral, Fla., sells hot dogs and beverages from either a free-standing location or, starting in 1990, a specially outfitted van. A year ago the company launched a program to offer franchises to physically disabled men and women, including those who must use a wheelchair.

Response to the program has been strong. "Right now we have 27 handicapped franchisees and more than 3,000 applications from disabled folks who want to work," says Lee Lanktree, president and CEO of Heavenly Hot Dogs. The firm also has 11 nondisabled franchisees. By the end of 1990, Lanktree expects to have 52 more free-standing franchises--both disabled and nondisabled--plus 200 mobile vans operated by the disabled.

Lanktree says his disabled franchisees make an average monthly pre-tax profit of $3,000 to $4,000. "We have a low product cost and low overhead," he says, "and our biggest problem right now is handling all the volume."

The franchises cost $52,000 for complete start-up for a free-standing unit, and up to $39,000 for the customized van. Royalties and advertising fees total 9 percent of gross sales per month. Low-interest government loans are available to disabled entrepreneurs.

Lanktree views the disabled population--about 12 million people--as an underutilized labor pool. "My motives are not altruistic or based on pity," he says. "Given today's shortage of labor, what I'm doing simply makes good business sense."

Forecast For The 1990s

Franchising is hot and growing so fast that statisticians are scrambling to keep up. The International Franchise Association has joined with the accounting firm Laventhol & Horwath to produce Franchising in the Economy, a look at the numbers behind the phenomenon. Some forecasts for the '90s:

Sales from retail franchises will rise to over $1 trillion from $640 billion.

Employment by franchises will account for more than 10 million jobs, up from the current 7 million, based on the current rate of economic expansion.

Workers will be drawn particularly from those aged 40 to 60 and from the professionally seasoned.

Franchisees increasingly will come from the ranks of women, Hispanics, blacks, and Asians.