When Mike and Deborah Parisi were looking for a franchise opportunity, they had only broad parameters in mind. They wanted something unique that would be good for the community, and they wanted to feel good about the products they sold. Doing some online research, they came across Pizza Fusion, a green restaurant franchise based in Florida that uses environmentally friendly practices in everything from building designs to food prep to waste disposal.

It was the product that really spoke to us. It is the closest thing Ive tried on the West Coast that tastes like the food you can get in Italy, says Mike. The green aspect showed us that the company was forward-thinking by taking Americas favorite food and modernizing it.

Since the Parisis opened their first Pizza Fusion franchise in Clovis, Calif., last December, theyve garnered a level of attention that they believe restaurants without such a commitment to green practices would not have seen–including coverage on most of the local broadcast news programs. The couple is planning to open another Pizza Fusion franchise within two years.

While no one is yet tracking numbers on how many green franchises exist or how many are coming down the pike, Alisa Harrison of the International Franchise Association–the industrys largest trade group–says the green corner of franchising is definitely growing. The association has seen an increase in external inquiries about green franchises, as well as a bigger presence at industry events, she says. Were seeing it across the board, from existing franchises that are becoming greener to those who are building their whole concept around being environmentally conscious, Harrison says. The green trend has been growing for about 25 years now, but it has only recently become mainstream.

Franchise consultant and blogger Joel Libava, the self-proclaimed Franchise King, agrees that green franchises are a growth sector. He founded the Green Franchise Directory last year to house information on what he sees as the future of franchising. Im not a save the whales kind of guy 24 hours a day, but its important that we all think about the future, Libava says. People are choosing to spend their money with businesses that follow green practices.

Going Green, With Care
One major challenge to the prospective green franchisee is that some of these business opportunities are part of established categories and others are relatively new types of businesses. That can make it tricky to evaluate the company, because newer products and services may not have the objective success criteria that more established business sectors have, Libava says. For example, while green restaurants can typically be evaluated based on traditional benchmarks for eateries, prospective franchisees of services like energy auditing or waterless car washes may have a more difficult time measuring how enthusiastically customers will embrace these concepts. Libava worries that some franchisees may ignore good business practices if they become too enamored with the green concept.

Rick Bisio, author of The Educated Franchisee, agrees. Whatever business you get into, there have to be customers and there has to be demand, he says. The business has to be viable first, then the green considerations come in.

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