Chris Cynkar, a Pittsburgh-area professional services/staffing entrepreneur, private equity investor and educator, has a new career — matchmaker. He’s out to find the right franchise for potential business owners.
Cynkar’s actual title at Minneapolis-based FranChoice is franchise consultant, and he’s working with candidates across the country. He’s based in a home office in Pittsburgh’s Swisshelm Park neighborhood.
“My role is to understand the characteristics they want in a business, create a model to evaluate opportunities based on their needs and then match them with franchise opportunities that perfectly fit their goals,” Cynkar told me.
Cynkar has been an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business since 2006 and is teaching a course titled Entrepreneurial Alternatives. Yes, that includes franchising.
I was hoping to get a tip about a Pinkberry fro-yo store coming to town but no such luck. Cynkar wouldn’t say which industry sectors are the hottest tickets in franchising, but offered a different take.
“Many of the franchise concepts that have been growing most rapidly within the past couple of years focus on three key items — low upfront investment, quick time to break even and large margins,” he said.
“Because it is still difficult to borrow money to start a business, these types of opportunities that enable individuals to start a business quickly and with a relatively low capital investment are the ones that have attracted the most attention and have had the most success.”
But speaking strictly as a consumer, sans scoop so to speak, Cynkar would root for Pinkberry here.
