Restaurant chains support franchisee fundraising efforts in the community

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 22, 2004

Many franchisees believe it is good for business and morale to reach out to their communities to help with fundraising for different causes--and restaurant chains support these efforts in a variety of ways. Assistance can range from providing help with publicity and materials for local campaigns to offering the structure for participating in a national drive at the grassroots level.

But franchisees and franchisors alike agree that corporate good citizenship can pay off handsomely for business because it generates good publicity and boosts guest traffic.

One company that supports fundraising for both local and national causes is Friendly Ice Cream Corp.

"We are a big supporter of involvement with our brand. Our brand ties very well to the community," says Jim Sullivan, director, franchise business of Friendly's.

"Friendly's has for years been a very neighborhood type of brand, being the fact that we're associated with food, with ice cream."

Friendly's franchisees host a lot of Family Fun nights at their restaurants to support various causes in which the franchisee gives a percentage of the sales proceeds back to the organization being supported. The percentage donated typically ranges from 10 percent to 20 percent.

"This does a couple of things," explains Sullivan. "One, it gives our franchisees a strong foothold within the community. And two, it helps our franchisees drive incremental sales on otherwise slow or down days of the week.

"It gives the franchisee the ability to bring guests into the restaurant that otherwise might not frequent the restaurant," he adds.

Friendly's corporate internal public relations department works with the franchisees to cover the events. In addition, the company provides franchisees with its local store marketing tool kit, which can be used for the Family Fun nights, or to support other types of activities, such as involvement with reading programs.

"We have a whole variety of programs that we've put into a local store marketing kit for franchisees to use," Sullivan states.

Support for local organizations such as baseball and basketball teams, and the Girl Scouts is often done through a joint venture, where corporate markets and franchise markets mirror each others' activities. This lends consistency to outreach efforts, which makes the campaign in question stronger.

On the national level, Friendly's is a large supporter of the United Way and Easter Seals. Both corporate-owned restaurants and franchisees raise money for Easter Seals through coupon books, which they sell to guests for $1. The dollar is donated to Easter Seals and the coupon book contains discounts for use during repeat visits.

Friendly's, which is based in Wilbraham, Mass., has 540 family restaurants in its system, 180 of which are franchised.

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill is also very active in the fundraising arena for both local and national causes.

"We believe in giving back to our local communities where our restaurants are located and where our employees live and work," states Becky Larsen, director of marketing for La Salsa. "We offer a fundraising program for a lot of different organizations where we will work with them as a partner in hosting a fundraising day at La Salsa on a specific date or a series of dates, and we donate 15 percent back to that organization," she says.

La Salsa also donates food and gift certificates to support local functions, such as a PTA auction, or national causes, such as the MS Challenge Walk for multiple sclerosis. The company has supported a bike team for the Santa Barbara, Calif. bike tour for MS for the past three years by feeding the participants in the event.

La Salsa is involved with the Dream Foundation, a grant-wishing organization, and works with its franchisees to address opportunities in their markets for involvement with the granting of dreams.

"For these large partnerships, like the Dream Foundation and the MS Society, corporate provides the means for that relationship and we help partner them in those local communities" says Larsen.

"We do all the press support, the PR support, we do the logistical support for them. The franchisees are just responsible for executing the program."

La Salsa, which is based in Carpenteria, Calif. has 105 restaurants, of which 43 are franchised.

Steak n Shake donates food to America's Second Harvest, a national food bank system, and runs a promotion every year tied to gift card sales. The company makes donations of food products based on food sales at both company-owned restaurants and franchise units.

"We will make a donation out of our pocket to food banks in our franchisees' markets, based on their sales of gift cards," says Brad Manns, vice-president of franchising.

Steak n Shake also has an advertising agency that is available for its franchisees to provide creative materials and help with targeting local opportunities.

"Our franchisees are all very active in their local communities" states Manns, noting that operators are particularly involved with the schools and frequently donate food or free products.