A: We are looking for franchisees who share our commitment to opening strong and exciting bakeries. We are looking for people that embrace our "freedom franchise" concept and will be active participants in our Learning Community. Strong candidates should be able to meet our financial requirements, have a track record of success, and a history of community involvement. The best part: no previous baking experience required!

A: Absolutely not! And, better yet, there is no application fee. Submitting your application simply allows us to get to know you better. It gives us the chance to review your financial picture as well as your area(s) of interest. Your application is completely confidential. We will not share your information with anyone outside of Great Harvest without your permission.

If you have any questions while filling out your application, feel free to give us a call. Once we receive your application, you can expect to hear back from us within five business days.

A: The selection process can be completed in as little as 30 days, but generally takes 60-90 days. This allows you enough time to complete the telephone interviews, review the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), visit with some of our existing bakery owners, as well as come to Dillon, Montana, for your Discovery Day. A lot of it will depend on how quickly you want the process to move.

A: Your Discovery Day is typically the last step in the interview process, and a way for you to continue to get to know us. This is your day to come to Dillon, Montana, and meet the Great Harvest team in person. You will spend time with a representative from each department and learn about the different services we provide to our franchisees. In the afternoon, you'll wrap things up in a panel interview with your selection team. The next business day, someone from the franchise office will contact you with our decision. If all systems are "go", we'll send out the franchise agreement.

A: The average total cost to open a bakery is $245,758, with a range of $107,608 - $476,350. The start-up costs include the franchise fee, location hunt, site build-out and renovation, equipment, computer, and your initial inventory of ingredients and supplies. $35,000 is the franchise fee. $22,000 of it is paid when you sign your franchise agreement. The remaining $13,000 is paid three weeks before you open your bakery. This fee covers the cost of training (excluding your travel expenses) and getting you up and running.

A: The royalty is our license fee for the use of any and all Great Harvest systems, recipes, techniques, and other information. The ongoing royalty for first-time locations is 7% of gross sales, 6% after five years, and 5% after ten years.

A: When we review the Financial Information Section of your application, we look for at least 30% ($70,000 - $75,000) of the average total cost of opening a bakery (about $245,758) to be available as liquid, unencumbered cash. This is determined in the "Cash, Checking, and Savings & Securities" sections of your application. We do not consider retirement accounts to be liquid assets. In addition to the liquid unencumbered cash, you will also need to have the resources and/or ability to borrow the balance that will be needed to open the bakery. For example, if you have $250,000 of equity in your home, we will assume a bank will lend up to 80% of that amount (depending on your other liabilities, of course). Our actual investment ranges from $107,608 - $476,350. If you are receiving outside financial help, perhaps from family members or financial investors, please explain in your application how they will be involved and the payment plan you have in mind.

In addition, you will want to take into consideration personal living expenses if you quit your job to move or complete the start-up work. On opening day, you should still have at least $10,000 in cash reserves as a cushion for the first few months. Keep in mind, that budget is tight.

People are often unrealistic about where the start-up money, plus personal expenses, will come from. A substantial portion should be your own cash. After signing a franchise agreement, we can help you develop a business plan for a bank, but we don't like starting bakeries where the bank is carrying a major share.

We do not currently offer financing, but we have established a relationship with the Small Business Association (SBA) which helps expedite and streamline the SBA loan processing. Log on to www.franchiseregistry.com for more information.

A: This will probably be your biggest question, and we can't blame you. However, because every town and every owner is different, we'll never be able to tell you how much money YOU can make. We can only provide you with information on how our existing bakeries have done in the past. This historical information can only be provided through regulated disclosures in our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). These disclosures include gross sales information and average operating results from most of our bakeries.

A: After we review your application, we'll provide our FDD to all qualified candidates. This will take place prior to the first phone interview. Qualified applicants may choose to receive a paper copy of the FDD or download a pdf version (you’ll need Internet access and Adobe Acrobat in order to read the pdf file.

A: We place bakeries a healthy distance apart and our territory definitions are larger than your typical franchise. Once an owner has signed a lease, we use the bakery as the center point (generally speaking) and draw a circle to encompass the smaller of approximately 300,000 people or a 10-mile radius. That is known as the “hard line territory”. We cannot place a new bakery within an existing bakery’s hard line territory. Also, territories cannot intersect, and each bakery must be placed within the inner two-thirds of its territory definition. As a general rule, a neighborhood that is at least 15 miles from another bakery is more than likely available for new development. Our territories are large, and we believe this is a benefit to our owners.

A: If your area is within 15 miles of another GHBC, please email us at sallym@greatharvest.com with up to three intersections with corresponding zip codes (ex: Idaho St. and Glendale St., 59725) which represent retail areas in your town. These intersections are just geographic points for us to plot on a map, and do not need to correlate with locations that are available for lease. We'll get to the location hunting process later.

A: Your community should have at least 40,000 people within a 5-mile radius, a stable economy, and a high quality of life. Success is not necessarily driven by demographic factors. We have seen bakery owners that execute the fundamentals well and have strong community ties overcome some demographic challenges.

A: Periodically, Great Harvest Bread Co. owners decide to sell their bakeries. Those are both sad and happy times for us here at the franchise office. Though it's sad to see a member of our family go, we love the energy and excitement new owners bring to our system and to their bakery.

If you are interested in purchasing an existing bakery, you can e-mail us at sallym@greatharvest.com with a list of states you are interested in considering. She will provide you with the contact information for the sellers. Since our franchises are independently owned and operated, any discussions on the price need to occur between you and the owner.

Our role (the franchisor) in the transfer process is to bring you through the application and approval process. This process is similar to applicants for a first location as far as completing a series of telephone interviews, receiving our Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), possibly visiting with some of our existing bakery owners, and coming to Dillon for your Discovery Day.

A: Just like anything, there are pros and cons to buying an existing store instead of opening a new store.

With an existing store, there is an established customer base and a track record of financial statements to help a new owner estimate future performance. The initial fee for a transfer is lower than a new bakery and you assume the royalty (though not the timeline for future royalty reductions) of the existing bakery. There are also employees who are already trained. On the flip side, a new owner will need to handle employee transition issues and sometimes that can be difficult.

With a new bakery, you are involved in all the start-up decisions and the bakery is essential yours. Your personality is reflected in your bakery, you build your team of employees, and you are the one to introduce Great Harvest to your community. As we get further into the application process, we will encourage you to talk to some of our existing bakery owners to hear their point of view.

A: You will be assigned a tracker from our Bakery Operations department. Your tracker is like your personal coach, helping you step-by-step with all the aspects of taking over and running the bakery. You will complete two weeks (ten days) of training in designated host training bakeries in the system. This is where the majority of your hands-on learning will take place, from bread making to staff management and customer service. You have the option to replace one week of your host bakery trainings with a week of training in Dillon, MT referred to as “Bread Week”. This week consists of five full days of production-focused training. The purpose of this training is to become proficient in bread-making and sweets-making skills.

You will also attend Dillon Learning Week at the franchise headquarters in Dillon, Montana. The purpose of this week is to provide you with an overview of your bakery operations. You will be joined with a group of new franchisees just like yourself, building many long-term friendships by the week's end. You will learn more about accounting, wheat, our group buying program, marketing strategies, and how to hire great people in your bakery. At the end of the week, you will help the franchise staff with a bake day fundraiser to benefit a non-profit organization in the Dillon community.

And finally, you will train for at least one week in the bakery you are purchasing. We want you and the owner to focus on many of the administrative aspects of the business. We will provide the owner with an outline of the issues we feel are pertinent for you to know in operating that bakery.

During your first month as new owner of your bakery, we will send a trainer from our headquarters to help you with the transition from the seller. You and the trainer will determine the areas you would like to focus on while visiting your bakery. Our training goal is to help you implement all the fundamentals necessary to operating a successful bakery.

Because the transfer fee is lower than the $35,000 initial fee for opening a new bakery, the laptop computer is not included when you purchase an existing bakery. If you'd like to purchase the same computer we provide to owners of new stores, please let us know.

A: After you have signed your franchise agreement, you will be assigned a tracker from our Start-Up department. Your tracker is like your personal coach, helping you step-by-step with all the aspects of opening your own bakery.

You also will be assigned a location hunter to help you work through the location hunting process. After you have completed the preliminary work, your location hunter will come to your community and will evaluate the locations you have selected. He will provide you with feedback on the pros and cons of each location and prepare a financial analysis.

You will complete two weeks (each week consisting of five consecutive days) of training in two different host training bakeries of our choice (or one host training and one week in Dillon, MT for “Bread Week”). This is where the majority of your hands-on learning will take place, from breadcraft to staff management and customer service.

You will also attend Dillon Learning Week at the franchise headquarters in Dillon, Montana. The purpose of this week is to provide you with an overview of your bakery operations. You will be joined with a group of new franchisees just like yourself, building many long-term friendships by the week's end. You will learn more about accounting, wheat, our group buying program, marketing strategies, and how to hire great people in your bakery. At the end of the week, you will help the franchise staff with a bake day fundraiser to benefit a non-profit organization in the Dillon community.

And then, the day every owner waits for - opening day. After you and your tracker have agreed everything is in place, we will send an opening training team to help you get your bakery open. Generally, the team will consist of a two trainers from the Dillon office as well as an existing bakery owner.

A: You will work closely with your tracker to help you determine an appropriate opening product line. Typical opening menus feature diverse, but limited, offerings. This allows you to concentrate your efforts on quality, consistency, and perfecting your systems during the critical start-up phase.

Once strong fundamentals are in place, bakeries can begin to look at expanding their product lines. Recent partnerships and research & development efforts allow us to offer training in three complementary product line extensions: a full coffee and espresso program; a signature sandwich and panini program; and a hard crust bread program.

A: Unfortunately, no. We continue to research different policies that will allow us to benefit from a group rate. Because our bakeries are franchised units instead of company owned stores, we don't qualify for a typical group plan. However, there are some options for small business owners. Please ask us for more information.

A: We don't have a set timeline. What we look at is the health of your current bakery. It's important that your original bakery is running successfully before starting another one.

Keep in mind that while expansion is right for some owners, it's not right for everyone. In fact, most of Great Harvest owners own and operate just one bakery.

A: Think of the last time you walked into a business and the owner called you by name. Doesn't happen very often, does it? But when it does, it sure makes you feel good. It probably made you think, "Hey, I'm important here!" or "This place rocks—I should stop in here more often!"

Owner presence is a key to success in this business. Owners lead by example. They build a team. They set the pace. They connect with their community. And they have a good time doing it!