![]() These franchise owners have access to Hunter Douglas’ hundreds of window-covering products including sheers, shades, blinds and shutters plus PowerView® motorization and other advanced operating systems.īudget Blinds is North America’s largest network of franchised window covering professionals, with more than 1,150 locally owned franchises serving 10,000 cites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. were eligible to join the Hunter Douglas Aligned Dealer Program and add the Hunter Douglas brand to their signature in-home design consultation and installation service. 1, 2018, Budget Blinds’ nearly 1,000 franchisees in the U.S. ![]() to sell the popular Hunter Douglas line.Īs of Oct. Budget Blinds®, the signature window covering brand in the Home Franchise Concepts (HFC) family, has finalized an agreement with Hunter Douglas, the world’s leading manufacturer of window coverings, that will allow Budget Blinds franchisees throughout the U.S. “It was time to cash in.Deal between the industry’s two premier window covering brands is a win for homeowners throughout North America “The five of us had worked so hard and so long and put our hearts, sweat and tears into the business,” Hallock says. All of the five original founders retired, though Chad Hallock maintained a spot on the board. ![]() When Trilantic acquired the firm in 2015, Jackson, Lewis, Forbes and the Hallock brothers sold all but 10% of the company, which they split five ways. Behzadi, who had been the company’s CFO since 1999, came away with 1% ownership and stayed on to assume the CEO position. “The business needed a remodel,” Jackson concurs. “The business had now gotten so big, and the next step to make it bigger was over most people’s heads.” Growth, they figured, would come through acquiring and building new brands, which they had little experience with, as well as an upgrade to the technology systems with which it tracked and supported its franchisees. “There was definitely some burnout,” Hallock says, looking back. The decision to sell to a private equity firm stemmed from a realization that a home improvement network like HFC could be an attractive target, and the idea of exiting for a healthy sum appealed to the five guys, each of whom had been toiling at the business for more than 20 years. The response to owners who complained they could not afford the up-charge was, “you either need to sell your business or go sell some blinds today-and we can help you do either.” The strategy also motivated franchisees to work to make the ad fund payments, Jackson says. “Sure enough, we reached the larger numbers.” “It was all part of this vision to say ‘I’m going to teach how to do business right now with a small advertising fund, but look what it’s going to be when we reach larger numbers,’” Hallock explains. The reasoning, Hallock says, was that more money could buy more internet, magazine and TV promotion for the greater number of franchisees. HFC collected a set dollar amount, based on the total number of franchisees in the system, initially collecting $100 per month, then $500, then $1,000, as unit counts grew. Many franchises collect a small percentage of a franchisee’s sales to add to a regional or national ad fund. Home Franchise Concepts most recently added AdvantaClean, a cleaning franchise, to the mix.Īlong the way, the organization adopted a slightly different approach to collecting advertising and marketing fees from its franchisees. The company subsequently grew its roster of companies by launching home storage and organization franchise Tailored Living, and acquiring Concrete Craft, a flooring business. By the late 2000s, the company was selling locations at a healthy clip and Home Franchise Concepts (HFC) was launched as an umbrella company under which several home improvement brands could operate. By 1998, Budget Blinds had sold 50 locations, and the following four years saw another 150 added to the tally. In 1995, to spur growth, Budget Blinds raised its franchise fee to $25,000 in order to incentivize franchise brokers, whose job was to lead prospective franchisees to the brand in exchange for a cut of the franchise fee. Franchisees, most of whom worked out of their homes, would visit clients, takes measurements, then install the chosen products. They sold a handful of franchises in short order, largely by word of mouth, in their home territory southeast of Los Angeles, as well as in Utah-then a hot market for window treatments.
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