Franchise Graveyard: Fratelli Ravioli
December 17, 2006 by Richard Quick
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce awarded the founders their 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Entrepreneur Magazine named Fratelli Ravioli one of their “Hot for 2006″ franchise concepts. Their concept was celebrated with positive media coverage from Crain’s New York Business to the Food Channel. Even post-mortem, the Fratelli Ravioli website showed happy franchisees, promised “success and fun all under one roof” and stated “‘Our success is your success’”
November, 2006, all five Fratelli locations reportedly closed, five families lost their investments, and the franchisor moved to Arizona to be a “business consultant.”
FRANCHISE AUTOPSY: The cause of death is not entirely clear. In news articles from the New York Post and The Brooklyn Papers, and in comments on Franchise Pick, Fratelli Ravioli Co-Founder Larry Vivola blamed the franchise industry for brainwashing him into thinking franchising his business was “safe,” and blaming his franchisees for not running the stores well and for skimping on “quality and portions.”
Comments left on Franchise Pick and A Brooklyn Life question the founders’ business ethics and practices. On the Brooklyn website, Fratelli customers bemoaned the closures, praised the food, but complained of increasingly poor service and rudeness.
Moral of the Story: Even after Fratelli Ravioli went to that big pasta bowl in the sky, the Entrepreneur website still celebrated Fratelli Ravioli as a hot concept, and the company website still stated “Success will be assured… The company builds a strong lasting relationship with it’s [sic] franchisees, employees and the local community.” So… Look behind the hype… even seemingly credible hype.
R.I.P. Fratelli Ravioli
If you know more about the cause of death of Fratelli Ravioli, and the lessons to be gleaned, feel free to leave a comment.
Great site, wish I would have known about it prior to franchising my families popular Brooklyn pasta shop. I simply bought into the franchising hype as did my franchisees that franchising was the safest way to go into or grow a business. Franchisors and franchisees are losing billions every year trying to be the next McDonalds. It was a nightmare from day 1 the worst decision my family ever made and we made plenty over 28 years in business. If you don’t make mistakes your not trying hard enough. We ventured into franchising with rose colored glasses(normal) and left with 2 black eyes. There’s not enough space to list all the specifics. I am rare,I take my share of the blame, most people only point blame and think they are correct 100% of the time. The bad experience has blessed me with great knowledge about franchising and people. The problems with Royalties,Advertising Funds,Expansion,Sales and most of all getting all parties to agree on any one topic. We live in the best country in the world and only half the people at any one time agree with their elected officials. The franchise industry distorts(lies)about the success rates simply because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry plain and simple. I started a blog wwww.franchiseknot.com to bring this to light as does your site. 95% of businesses should not franchise their concept and 95% of people should not become franchisees. The 5% that do and should, are the EXCEPTION not the rule as we are led to believe. Live and Learn.