With fast-evolving consumer technology and a broadening palate, the franchise world today looks very different from that of a decade ago. Cell-phone repairs. Hawaiian barbecue. Lobster food trucks. They’re all part of the movement toward anything new and everything mobile.
Opening a burger franchise is not easy, but at least there’s a template: Do what the other guys did before you, but do it better and don’t make the same mistakes. Pulling a whole new sector into the franchise industry or creating a concept from scratch? That’s a different challenge altogether.
Marcel Fairbairn knows this well. He recognized the potential of LED lighting more than a decade ago, despite underutilization by consumers and lackluster marketing by retailers.
The problem? People were using LED bulbs like incandescents—a 100-year-old technology—which is a bit like buying a supercomputer and using it only to play Pac-Man. LED bulbs are available in almost infinite combinations of color and warmth. Utilized with the right lighting systems, they’ve led to a new era of in-home lighting design, in which a room can have subtle violet hues, or the light intensity can change throughout the day. But go to a big-box store, and you’ll find LED bulbs almost all within the tiny spectrum of incandescents.
Back in 2005 when Fairbairn, who owned a lighting company, saw the prices of LED technology dropping and the migration of the tech into homes and businesses, he started Wellington, Fla.-based LED Source. Five years later he franchised the concept, bringing high-quality LEDs and professional lighting design to businesses.
It took another five years to build his brand to 15 units. Now, growing pains behind him, Fairbairn anticipates a burst of expansion in the next year, saying the public is finally ready to realize the potential of LEDs.
This story is from the October 2015 edition of Entrepreneur.
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This story is from the October 2015 edition of Entrepreneur.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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