Meal Assembly Watch

Anyone out there heard of iSold It? Basically it’s a store where you drop off your items you want to sell on eBay and the company takes pictures and lists the item for you and takes a small percentage of the profit when it’s sold.

With so many people working the eBay angle and store fronts popping up all over the place it seems like this might be a good idea.

Now, while I’m not trying to draw any parallels between iSold It and the meal assembly industry, I have to admit I do see some similarities.
- A lot of hype.
- Low entry fee.
- “Everyone needs this” mentality.
- Low startup, huge profits.
- Unproven franchise concept.
- Multiple store closings.
- Uncontrolled expansion.
- Dozens of disgruntled owners.

Again, I’m not drawing a parallel, but it does make you think. A startup company that has a meteoric rise and lands itself right in the middle of the Entrepreneur 500 hottest franchises. But then after only a year things start to crumble and one by one the business start to go under. People lose their life savings, fall massively into debt and realize there is no buyer for their franchise.

If nothing else this is a good read to perhaps remind us that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is…

Read the whole article here:

Other Articles of Interest:

• 2007 Fastest-Growing Franchises Rankings
• Buying a franchise is as easy as 1,2,3…
• Who will sneak across the border first?
• Is this part of the problem?
• Are These Businesses Still a Good Idea?
• Do Franchises Know What They’re Doing?
• Dinner by Design, Midwest’s Largest Meal Assembly Company, to Expand In Michigan
• Laying down a roadmap
• Dinner by Design Announces Expansion Into Iowa
• Chef Dane makes it’s debut in Arizona, with more stores to come.

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