Thousands attend Washington Franchise Expo

The International Franchise Expo held in Washington, DC earlier this month attracted thousands of prospective franchise owners from around the world to find out more about the 200 franchisors exhibiting.

The Washington Centre, a new and spacious facility with wide aisles and good rest and meeting spaces, proved to be a perfect venue for both exhibitors and visitors.

The expo was organised by MFV Expositions attracted more than 8,000 qualified visitors to meet with 200 franchisor exhibitors, who were looking for single unit franchise owners, area developers and, in some cases, International Master Franchise Owners.

As well as the chance to visit the exhibitors' booths, there were free seminars covering every aspect of buying, managing and marketing a franchise, which gave potential franchise owners an in depth unbiased view of the rewards as well as the pitfalls of investing a franchise operation.

There were a wide range of companies exhibiting, offering a wide selection of franchises - from care services to cookies, dancing to decking, and sushi to smoothies. Some had come from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East and gave a truly international picture of global franchising.

Professor Roy Seaman, CFE and the FDS team manned a booth for the three days and had a steady stream of enquiries from franchisors wanting help and advice about developing International offerings.

Roy said: "We will be very busy for the next few weeks following up all the leads and look forward to helping some really interesting US brands start UK and European operations. It has been an excellent show and we will certainly be here again next year."