February 9, 2025

You’re the Boss: A Franchisee Decides to Take Charge

William BurrisLuke Sharrett for The New York TimesWilliam Burris

Case Study

What would you do with this business?

Last week we published a case study about William Burris, one of 10 franchisees who learned that their Australia-based franchiser, Rent Your Boxes, had gone bankrupt. Mr. Burris, who had invested more than $100,000 to purchase three territories in the Washington area, rallied by creating a new company, Rent Our Boxes, for himself and his nine fellow franchisees.

But getting the franchisees to agree on how to run the new company proved problematic, and Mr. Burris started thinking about going it alone. There seemed to be safety in numbers, especially if the jilted franchisees wanted to continue pursuing legal action against their original franchiser, but relations among the franchisees continued to go from bad to worse. “You had 10 franchisees who had paid money to follow someone else’s system and who expected someone else, me in this case, to do the work for them,” said Mr. Burris, a former director of advertising and media sales at the International Franchise Association. “In my time at the I.F.A., I learned that the No. 1 reason franchises fail is because their owners fail to market their own business.”

Mr. Burris decided to make a move. Because he owned all of the new company’s intellectual property, he called his fellow nine franchisees together and told them they needed to pay a new franchise fee to him, from which they would receive marketing and supply channel support, or they could leave — which is what all but two did. “I had a year’s worth of experience and about 1,000 happy customers that told me this business works,” Mr. Burris said. “I knew that everyone needed boxes to pack, and I was giving them a way to get them delivered without having to go dumpster-diving at grocery and liquor stores.”

He also saw an opportunity to sell new franchises. He brought on Mike Drumm, a franchise lawyer and former colleague at the franchise association, as a business partner to help him sort through the legal requirements necessary to become a franchiser. “As a franchise attorney, it’s rare that you get brought in as an investor,” said Mr. Drumm, who has the title of chief operating officer and operates a franchise in Boulder, Colo. “But I have known Bill and his family for several years and it became an easy decision because boxes are a unique new concept and market.”

Mr. Drumm helped convince Mr. Burris that they should offer more than just boxes. They changed the name of the company to The Box Buddies; it now provides everything from packing tape to padding. “We want to be involved in all aspects of the moving industry short of packing and doing the physical move,” Mr. Burris said.

So far, Mr. Burris and Mr. Drumm have converted one former Rent Your Boxes franchisee. In addition, Mr. Burris said he had received dozens of inquires from prospective franchisees around the country. “It’s only been just more than a year that I’ve been in business, but it feels like a lifetime,” he said. He and Mr. Drumm discussed the company in a recent interview.

Q: Did you get legal counsel when you decided to create your own company? And, if so, did the lawyers raise concerns about taking intellectual property from the Australian company?

Mr. Burris: Yes, I did get legal counsel — from the guy who is now my business partner.

Mr. Drumm: Bill reached out to me early on. I told him that he had a lot of factors working in his favor, particularly that he had resigned from the other franchise, which meant he wasn’t contractually obligated to the franchiser. He also wasn’t using any intellectual property from the other company, including the name, which can’t be trademarked because it’s a descriptive brand.

Q. One reader wondered if you tried to make a claim in the Australian bankruptcy court. Do you still hope to recover your initial $100,000 investment?

Mr. Burris: I am one of the discharged creditors in the insolvency. But no, I don’t expect to get any of my money back.

Q. What kind of due diligence did you do before buying your franchise?

Mr. Burris: I knew there had been other box rental businesses in the U.S. and I knew there was a need for the service from my own personal experience. But I did spend three weeks in Australia with the franchise’s founder, asking questions and analyzing the numbers. I believe I did the best due diligence any American who bought an international franchise could do.

Q. What impact has the turmoil had on your business?

Mr. Burris: My month-over-month sales are 200 percent to 400 percent higher this year compared to last. All of my customers from last year are calling back. Really, it’s not rocket science. Everyone needs boxes, and it’s easier for somebody to deliver them to you.

Q. Have any competitors been springing up?

Mr. Drumm: We know of at least two other franchise competitors, but they cost three times as much as we do.

Mr. Burris: Look, this business is easy to do, and you could do it from your garage. But we use proprietary boxes that cost a lot more than the ones you can get at Home Depot. If you try to start a business using boxes like we have, it would cost you about $30,000 to get started. We also have a great reputation. Half of my business comes from people typing “rent moving boxes” into Google.

Q. Has it been an adjustment going from running a piece of someone else’s business to running your own?

Mr. Burris: My days are twice as long and I have twice as many problems to contend with. But I’m loving it.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=36716c25476ef3e0f9866d7f6097698b