Franchisers: L.A. County-based firms, ranked by number of franchised units.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HILTON Hotels Corp, took over the top spot from Merle Norman Cosmetics on the list of Los Angeles-based franchisers, with 2,050 franchised locations worldwide. Merle Norman, No. 2, reported 1,940 franchised locations, up 16 from the previous year. IHOP Corp. remained No. 3 on the list with 1,242 franchised locations, up 67 locations from the previous year. The biggest jump on this year's list was made by It's A Grind Coffee House, No. 7 this year, up 16 spots from the previous year. The Long Beach-based franchiser reported 267 locations, up 222 from the previous year. It's A Grind has 45 franchised locations in L.A. County. The biggest increase in the number of locations was made by the No. 4 franchiser, iSold It. The Pasadena firm has sold 800 locations, up from 100 the previous year. Founded in 2003, the franchiser received $7.3 million in venture capital growth funding in December. It also recently announced plans to enter the European market by opening 200 locations in the U.K. and Ireland. Mathnasium Learning Centers, No. 13 this year, made the highest debut on the list, with 115 franchised locations. It was founded two years ago and is in eight countries.--David Nusbaum THE PACESETTER HILTON HOTELS CORP. HILTON Hotels Corp. is the largest franchiser in L.A. County with 2,050 franchised locations including 20 in L.A. County. Hilton has an additional 306 company-owned locations including six in L.A. County. Founded in 1919, Hilton's portfolio includes Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Hotel brands. The Hampton Inn brand is the company's largest with 1,325 properties totaling 133,226 rooms. The Hilton Hotel brand has 236 properties totaling 90,535 rooms. Flagship properties include The Waldorf=Astoria and Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa. The company has announced that it will launch a new luxury hotel line called "The Waldorf=Astoria Collection" by re-branding some of its existing hotels, building hotels and by seeking out management contracts for hotels in select markets. It also announced in December it will acquire Hilton Group PLC, the London-based company that owns the rights to the Hilton name outside of the United States, for $5.7 billion. When the transaction is completed, the company will have a total of nearly 2,800 hotels totaling 475,000 rooms in 80 countries. The deal unites the North American and international brands for the first time in more than 40 years. "This reunifies the brand under one ownership. It also gives us the opportunity to take all of our brands and grow them outside the United States," said Tom Keltner, president of brand performance and development group at Hilton Hotels Corp.--David Nusbaum
Rank Company (Ranking in 2005) Units
* name * franchises total/
* address L.A.
* company-owned
total/ L.A.
1 Hilton Hotels Corp. (1) (2) 2,050/20
9336 Civic Center Drive 306/6
Beverly Hills 90210
2 Merle Norman Cosmetics Inc. (1) 1,940/14
9130 Bellanca Ave. 4/2
Los Angeles 90045
3 IHOP Corp. (3) 1,242/66
450 N. Brand Blvd. 6/0
Glendale 91203
4 iSold It (12) 800/40
129 N. Hill Ave., Suite 202 1/1
Pasadena 91106
5 Gold's Gym Franchising Inc. (4) 592/8
358 Hampton Drive 46/3
Venice 90291
6 World Gym International Inc. (5) 320/9
3223 Washington Blvd. 0/0
Marina Del Rey 90292
7 It's A Grind Coffee House (23) 267/45
6272 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite E 8/6
Long Beach 90803
8 Wetzel's Pretzels (6) 255/22
35 Hugus Alley, Suite 300 4/2
Pasadena 91103
9 Sizzler (7) 240/96
15301 Ventura Blvd., Bldg. B, Suite 300 42/NA
Sherman Oaks 91403
10 Tacone (6) 201/38
950 S. Flower St., Suite 105 0/0
Los Angeles 90015
11 My Gym Enterprises (10) 160/15
15300 Ventura Blvd., Suite 423 10/5
Sherman Oaks 91403
12 Child I.D. Program Inc. (9) 143/120/0
705 Lakefield Rd., Building G
Westlake Village 91361
13 Mathnasium Learning Centers 115/5
5120 W. Goldleaf Circle, Suite 130 2/2
Los Angeles 90056
14 Color Me Mine Enterprises Inc. (11) 106/14
5140 Lankershim Blvd. 1/1
North Hollywood 91601
15 Relax the Back Carp. (13) 106/6
6 Center Court Drive, Suite 350 0/0
La Palma 90623
16 Postal Connections of America (17) 103/7
213 S. Robertson Blvd. 0/0
Beverly Hills 90211
17 Collegiate Sports of America (15) 93/2
22900 Ventura Blvd., Suite 100 0/0
Woodland Hills 91364
18 Closet Factory (7) (14) 90/NA
12800 S. Broadway 27/NA
Los Angeles 90061
19 Robek's Carp. (19) 85/40
1230 E. Rosecrans Ave., Suite 400 0/0
Manhattan Beach 90266
20 Tapioca Express Inc. (16) 65/18
1908 Central Ave. 1/1
South El Monte 91733
21 Shakey's USA Inc. (18) 63/49
2200 W. Valley Blvd. 18/17
Alhambra 91803
22 Fatburger North America Inc. (25) 55/14
301 Arizona Ave., Second Floor 26/9
Santa Monica 90401
23 West Sanitation Services Inc. (20) 48/2
3882 Del Amo Blvd., Suite 602 1/1
Redondo Beach 90277
24 Pizza Man (21) 48/48
6930 1/2 Tujunga Ave. 0/0
North Hollywood 91605
25 Ameci Pizza & Pasta (22) 45/22
6603B Independence Ave. 3/3
Canoga Park 91303
Rank Description of Franchise Operation Cost
* initial investment
* franchise fee
* royalty (%)
1 hotels and resorts ranging from N/A (2)
luxurious full-service to all-suite to $50,000-$100,000
focused-service properites. 4%-5%
2 retail sale of Merle Norman $28,614-$155,862
Cosmetics products 0
0
3 family restaurants 880,000-3,500,000
40,000-50,000
4.5
4 eBay drop-off store and online 85,500
business liquidation 22,000
4
5 fitness centers 500,000
25,000
3
6 fitness centers 400,000-2,000,000
13,000
N/A (3)
7 specialty coffee houses 248,500-466,000
36,000
6
8 hand-rolled pretzels, lemonade, hot 129,650
dogs 30,000
6
9 casual dining restaurants N/A
30,000
4
10 quick-service restaurants serving 200,000-400,000
sandwiches, salads and smoothies 25,000
6
11 children's gyms for ages 3 months 125,000-230,000
to 13 years old 49,500
6 (4)
12 child identification and safety 23,500
program 23,500
0
13 math-only after school learning 41,600
centers for second grade through 12,500
SAT math N/A (5)
14 paint your own ceramics studios 110,000-155,000
25,000
5
15 retailer of ergonomic and comfort 237,000-377,000
products 49,500
5 (6)
16 postal and copy service centers $113,000-$148,000
$20,900
4%
17 athletic recruitment services for high 25,000
school student-athletes 18,500
0
18 custom storage solutions designer 200,000-297,000
and retailer 43,500
5.8
19 quick-service restaurants offering 220,000
fruit smoothies, health food and 25,000
nutritional supplements 7
20 tea-based beverages, coffee, juice, 160,000-250,000
food quick-service stores 15,000
N/A (8)
21 pizza chain 461,500
25,000
5
22 hamburger restaurants 441,500-768,000
50,000
6
23 restroom deodorizing services 7,000
6,000
NA
24 pizza, chicken, ribs and Italian 100,000
dishes 25,000
4
25 pizza, pasta, salads and subs 225,000-250,000
25,000
4
Rank Contact Information Top Local Executive
* company contact * name
* Web site * title
* phone
1 Bill Fortier Stephen F. Boilenbach
hiltonfranchise.com ceo
(310) 278-4321
2 Carol LaPorta Jack Nethercutt II
merlenorman.com chairman
(310) 641-3000
3 Jess Sotomayor Julia Stewart
ihop.com ceo, president
(818) 240-6055
4 Ken Sully Ken Sully
i-soldit.com ceo
(626) 584-0440
5 Courtney Minor Courtney Minor
goldsgym.com director, franchise development
(310) 392-3005
6 M. Uretz/K. Michael Michael A. Uretz
worldgym.com president
(310) 827-7705
7 Steve Olson Steven Shoeman
itsagrind.com ceo
(562) 594-5600
8 Bill Phelps Bill Phelps
wetzels.com ceo
(626) 432-6900
9 Brad Ritter Kenneth Cole
sizzler.com ceo, president
(818) 662-9900
10 Craig Albert Craig Albert
tacone.com president
(877) 482-2663
11 Arnold Embuido Cory Bertisch
my-gym.com ceo
(800) 469-4967
12 Chris Schlopy Marc R. Bakerman
4childid.com president
(805) 557-0577
13 Andre Johnson Peter Markovitz
mathnasium.com president
(323) 389-1100
14 Michael Mooslin Michael Mooslin
colormemine.com president
(818) 505-2100
15 Stephanie Fleming Richard W. Palfreyman
relaxtheback.com ceo
(714) 523-2870
16 David Hurley C. Andy Thomson
postalconnections.com executive officer
(619) 294-7550
17 Jeff Duva Jeff Duva
csaprepstar.com ceo, president
(800) 600-7518
18 NA John LaBarbara
closeffactory.com ceo
(310) 715-1000
19 Corey Remington Mitch Baker
robeks.com v.p., marketing
(310) 727-0500
20 NA Kevin Fang
tapiocaexpress.com franchise director
(888) 877-1616
21 Joe Remsa Arthur Gunther
shakeys.com ceo, president
(626) 576-0737
22 Keith A. Warlick Keith A. Warlick
fatburger.com ceo, president
(310) 319-1850
23 Graham H. Emery Graham H. Emery
westsanitation.com president
(310) 793-4242
24 Robert Ohanian Robert Ohanian
N/A ceo, president
(818) 766-4395
25 Nick Andrisano Nick Andrisano
amecipizzaandpasta.com president
(818) 712-0110
NA--Not Available
N/A--Not Applicable
(1) Includes Hampton Inn & Suites, Homewood Suites, Doubletree, Embassy
Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Hotels brands.
(2) Varies by brand.
(3) $7,000 annually.
(4) Plus 1 percent ad fund.
(5) $25 per student per month.
(6) Plus 2 percent national ad fund.
(7) Information obtained from World Franchising.
(8) 6.5 cents per container sold in the licensed store.
Note: Information on this list was provided by representatives of the
franchises themselves unless otherwise noted. Franchisers are ranked by
number of franchised locations companywide and number of company-owned
locations companywide, respectively.
Information for this list was provided by the companies themselves.
Numbers that appear to be tied have been rounded. Firms are ranked by
2005 and 2004 LA County billings, respectively.
To the best of our knowledge, this information is accurate as of press
time. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and
thoroughness of the list, omissions and typographical errors sometimes
occur. Please send corrections or additions on company letterhead to
the Research Department, Los Angeles Business Journal, 5700 Wilshire
Blvd., Suite 170, Los Angeles 90036. [c]2006 Los Angeles Business
Journal. This list may not be reprinted in whole or in part without
prior written permission from the editor. Reprints are available from
Wright's Reprints, (877) 652-5295.
Researched by David Nusbaum
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