Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in business workplaces has become an important priority in modern American enterprise. In the franchising industry, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2021, nearly a third of franchises were owned by minorities, compared to under 20% of minority ownership in non-franchised businesses. 

In this post, we want to examine a few strategies and offer tips for franchisors to continue to improve the trend of minority ownership of franchised businesses. 

Tips For Franchisors to Enhance and Promote Diversity & Inclusion

Create Diversity Enhancement Posts Within Your Company Structure

Many big companies have created a Chief Diversity Officer among their executives; someone who tracks and analyzes qualitative and quantitative data and creates programs to promote diversity and inclusion. For franchisors, your company size and structure may not afford you a full-time post; it may be part of someone’s responsibilities. But that doesn’t mean it can be attended to on a part-time basis. D&I still has a mile to go and the job has the potential of being a very difficult job. Such an individual must possess many competencies: an understanding of diversity issues, commitment to continuous improvement (LEAN principles especially), and talent management.

Don’t Forget Your Inclusion Statement

What is a Diversity & Inclusion Statement? It refers to your franchise business’s commitment to creating a welcoming environment for employees and franchisees of all different backgrounds. Yes, it helps to have this in writing, just as you would draft a strong business mission statement or creed. This will include why you value diversity and how you intend to pursue it.

Don’t Relegate it To Just a “Pet Project”

Diversity and inclusion endeavors should be a broader mission than mere economic success. It’s best to remember that there are numerous invaluable human benefits to committing to prioritize D&I, even if they aren’t always quantifiable.

Pizza Hut’s Chief Equity Officer, Chequan Lewis, puts it this way, “The elegance of trying to do equity as an enterprise project right now, is that it is the work,” Lewis said. “This isn’t a special pet project that has an equity bow on it. We’re really trying to solve problems like they matter to us and like it’s the purpose of what our business is because it must be part of the purpose of our businesses.”

Upward Mobility & Paths to Ownership

One of the best ways to empower minorities is to help them discover avenues toward upward mobility. One path might be ownership of a lucrative franchise with one, two, or more units. There’s a great example of this in the Pathways To Black Franchise Ownership program. This program receives financial support from PepsiCo to help develop aspiring black franchise business owners in the Food Service and Hospitality Industry. In fact, a goal is to create 100 Black-owned franchise restaurants by year-end 2023. You can establish yourself as a pillar of your community by embarking on projects like this.

FranSave is committed to building a diverse and inclusive broker network that is representative of the world around us.  To learn about opportunities with FranSave, feel free to contact us by e-mail or call us at 844-476-7776.