Is Franchising Worth It? | Franchise Sidekick

From Franchise skeptics to Bar-B-Clean Believers

Live from SKIP Summit in Scottsdale, Tyler sits down with Amanda and Frank Lorenz, Bar-B-Clean franchise owners in the East Valley of Arizona. They’re a married couple, both still in full-time careers, who set out to buy anything but a franchise … and ended up owning four Bar-B-Clean territories.

In this conversation, they walk through how they went from “absolutely not a franchise” to building a growing grill cleaning and repair franchise that’s on track to eventually replace Frank’s corporate banking job.

• In this episode, you’ll learn:
  
  How a couple with prior business experience still chose a franchise over starting from scratch
  What it’s really like to run a home services franchise while keeping full-time jobs
  The role a franchise advisor can play in reducing risk and expanding your options
  The pros and cons of franchising vs. independent business ownership
  How to think about competition, seasonality and hiring in a local service business
  The mindset shift from “I’d never buy a franchise” to “I’m so glad we did”
•  

• “We don’t want food, we don’t want employees, and we definitely don’t want a franchise”

• A couple of years ago, Amanda and Frank made a commitment:
  
  This is the year we’re buying a business. Their criteria:
  
  No food
  Not a ton of employees
  And absolutely not a franchise
  
  They’d already built businesses from scratch before and assumed franchising would mean giving up control. They wanted autonomy, flexibility and the ability to do things their way.
  
  But as they started looking for existing businesses to buy, reality hit:
  
  The good ones were overpriced
  The numbers often didn’t make sense
  Nothing really fit what they wanted
  
  Then they stumbled on a franchise opportunity. The territory they wanted wasn’t available … but that franchise discovery introduced them to Franchise Sidekick – and into a conversation with their advisor, Desiré.
•  

• How an advisor shifted their entire path

  From day one, Desiré Stephens became more than just a guide – she became the guardrails.
  
  She helped them:
  
  Take the Sidekick survey to clarify their goals
  Narrow down brands that matched their budget, lifestyle and risk tolerance
  Filter out concepts based on their non-negotiables (no food, lean teams, strong economics)
  Challenge their assumptions about franchising and control
  
  Des didn’t just send links. She was active in their discovery process by:
  
  Asking the questions they didn’t know to ask
  Challenging them when they were too quick to say “no”
  Re-centering them on their objectives, not just their initial preferences
  
  Being a franchise owner herself, Des could speak in real examples: what surprised her, what she didn’t expect and where the real work shows up. That perspective gave the Lorenzes confidence and helped reduce their fear of risk.
  

•  

• The brand that hooked them: Bar-B-Clean

• When Des started showing them options, one concept stood out:
  
  “I saw the logo and thought, I would be a customer of this … and I’ve never seen it before,” Amanda said.
  
  That concept was Bar-B-Clean, a grill cleaning and repair franchise.
  
  Why it clicked:
  
  The logo and branding were sharp and memorable
  The service itself was something they’d personally buy
  There wasn’t much visible competition – but enough to prove demand
  It’s lean: not a huge staff, no advanced certifications required
  They could be early in the brand’s growth and choose prime territories
  
  They then took the next steps and did their due diligence:
  
  Multiple calls with the franchisor
  Conversations with the development team
  Joining every validation call they could
  Talking to other franchisees
  Firing off “a gazillion emails,” as Amanda put it
  
  By the time they flew out for Confirmation Day in California, they’d done the work. They met founder Brian in person, spent time with his team and family and even got hands-on with real grill cleanings.
  
  On the way to the airport, Amanda told the team:
  
  “We want all the territories.”
  
  Frank, the risk officer and banker, tapped the brakes – but only slightly. They ended up initially signing for two territories and upgraded to four within a couple of months.
•  

• Launching the franchise: Training, first calls and early chaos

• Once funding was lined up through FranFund, they signed on December 31 and met their goal of buying a business that year.
  
  December 31: Franchise agreement signed
  February: Training
  Early March: First paying clients and first jobs
  
  They found success by:
  
  Bringing their first technician with them to training
  Practicing on friends’ and family’s grills to build confidence
  Answering all their own phones from day one
  Scripting every call and keeping it taped to the wall by the phone
  
  Seeing that first credit card transaction come through and watching their wrapped van roll out to a job? A game-changing moment. They “looked legit” right out of the gate, which is one of the benefits they noted about buying a franchise brand vs. starting from scratch.

•  

• Building a business while keeping their full-time jobs

• Both Amanda and Frank still work full-time. Here’s how they make it work:
  
  Group text threads with each technician
  Whoever can respond first, responds
  Nightly “power hours” to handle emails, parts ordering and follow-ups
  Clear division of responsibilities – but both can step into any role
  
  They’re also intentional about systems:
  
  Started with whiteboards in the home office
  Graduated into more tech-enabled follow-up and tracking
  Documented scripts, processes and workflows as they learned

•  

• Franchising vs. starting your own business

• Ryan asked the question everyone’s thinking:
  
  “Why not just start your own grill cleaning company?”
  
  Why they’re glad they chose a franchise
  
  Speed to launch: No need to invent branding, logo, website or operations from scratch.
  Proven playbook: They can see the model working in other markets.
  Brand credibility: Wrapped vans, professional branding and a polished website make them look established from day one.
  Vendor relationships: The franchisor already has relationships with manufacturers and suppliers.
  Community: Access to other franchisees for pro tips, pricing input and problem-solving.
  
  That community has already paid off. When they expanded into fire pit services, they leaned on another franchisee for help with: 
  
  Pricing guidance
  How to approach HOAs
  How to talk about the service
•  

• Competition, trade shows and their big turning point

• At first, Amanda was nervous seeing other grill cleaning companies in local magazines – she thought Bar-B-Clean was totally unique.
  
  Now? She loves competition.
  
  It proves the service category is real
  It increases consumer awareness of the need
  It validates that people are willing to pay for grill cleaning and repair
  
  One of their biggest “we’re really onto something” moments came at a multi-housing trade show where they showcased their services to property managers, HOAs and maintenance directors.
  
  They set up a basic booth and raffled off a pizza oven (a tip from another franchisee) and the results were great.
  
  People lined up saying, “I need this. When can you come out?”
  Major management companies they’d been trying to reach came straight to them
  Their raffle box overflowed with leads
  
  Amanda opened an ad for technicians from the booth because demand was so strong.

•  

• Their advice for future franchise owners

1. If you’re thinking about opening a business or a franchise, here’s their advice:
   
   Frank: “Use your own judgment. Take feedback from other people, but there are going to be many who tell you it’s too risky or not a good idea. Make an educated decision based on facts, not just someone else’s opinion.”
   
   Amanda: “We thought we were dead set on what we wanted … and we didn’t even have the right idea yet. Be open. Listen. Look at what’s available. Having someone like Des to present options and challenge us was huge. Be willing to look at the thing you didn’t plan on – because that might be the one.”