{"id":31797,"date":"2026-06-26T12:57:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=31797"},"modified":"2026-06-26T12:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:57:26","slug":"not-local-not-cheap-the-bfa-busts-franchisings-biggest-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/not-local-not-cheap-the-bfa-busts-franchisings-biggest-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Not local? Not cheap? The BFA busts franchising&#8217;s biggest misconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div>The BFA (British Franchise Association) has recently revealed the most common myths about franchising in the UK today.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Franchising remains one of the safest ways to own your own business with a less than 6% commercial failure rate.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In a poll of their members, that includes franchisors, franchisees, advisors and suppliers, the association, considered to be the self-regulatory body for franchising in the UK, asked its members:<\/div>\n<h3>What is the biggest misconception about franchising in the UK?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It\u2019s not a local business \u2013 43%<\/li>\n<li>You need serious money to start \u2013 41%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><b>Myth Busting<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Pip Wilkins, CEO of the BFA said: \u201cThe myth that franchise businesses are not real local businesses is one that has plagued the industry for decades; but it is the very fact that they are franchises, that makes them such successful, local businesses.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>What is a franchise?<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A franchise is like a branch of a national brand, except it is wholly owned by the franchisee, who can sell it at any time. It employs local people and delivers goods and services to local customers, but at a competitive advantage to their start up counterparts.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>National survey statistics<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>According to the 2024 British Franchise Survey, sponsored by NIC Local, franchise businesses have a less than 6% failure rate, compared to 50% of all start-up businesses, which will fail within the first three years.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>From Burgers to swimming lessons<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Franchises can range from high street brands such as McDonald\u2019s Restaurants to commercial and domestic cleaning companies, dog walkers, gardeners, children\u2019s activity providers and domiciliary home care providers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cOne thing\u2019s for sure, if all the franchises in a town disappeared, they\u2019d leave an enormous hole in the local economy; would they be considered \u2018local\u2019 then?\u201d said Wilkins.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Negative bias against franchises<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The poll also revealed some instances of exclusion of franchisees for their lack of \u2018localness\u2019.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Kate Ball, franchisor owner of Mini First Aid said: \u201cFranchisees can be excluded from local business events as they are not considered \u2018local\u2019, forgetting that the franchisee is a local person providing employment and delivering services to their local economy.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Financial barriers to franchising<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The second largest myth revealed by the poll was \u2018you need serious money to start\u2019 which received 41% of the vote.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The BFA currently has over 350 franchisor members, offering franchises from under \u00a310,000 and going upwards. The BFA\u2019s national survey revealed that about 60% of franchisors estimate the initial investment for their franchise opportunities to be less than \u00a350,000. This suggests that many franchises are accessible with relatively modest start-up costs, providing ample opportunities for prospective franchisees.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Wilkins explained: \u201cIt is a misconception to think you need hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy a franchise. Some are less than \u00a310,000 but the cost of entry will vary widely based on the franchise\u2019s operational scale and nature. The important thing to note is that financing is readily available from high street banks, many of whom have existing relationships with the brands, making the process so much easier.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><b>Capital and credibility<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Tracey Cockerton, head of franchise sales and development \u200bfrom Metro Rod said: \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be wealthy (to buy a franchise); you need to be credible. Strong franchise systems open doors to funding because they reduce risk for lenders. What matters more is your mindset, work ethic and ability to grow the business. Capital helps, but capability is what really drives success.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BFA (British Franchise Association) has recently revealed the most common myths about franchising in the UK today. Franchising remains one of the safest ways to own your own business with a less than 6% commercial failure rate. In a poll of their members, that includes franchisors, franchisees, advisors and suppliers, the association, considered to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":31800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1632,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bfa","category-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Tracey-Cockerton-head-of-franchise-sales-and-development-from-_from-Metro-Rod-scaled.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31797"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31801,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31797\/revisions\/31801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}