The Process

Schedule an Introductory Call

This 15 minute call with our Franchise Development Specialist will review the initial investment, operations and support resources available to you as a franchisee. It’s an opportunity to answer your questions and to learn more about each other. If we think there’s a good fit, we will get you scheduled for a Founder’s call.

A call with Our Founder

Ken Petersen will share some history over his past 30+ years in franchising, his vision for the future and his philosophy about franchising. He will answer any questions generated from your discovery process and be available through your diligence as new questions come up.

Financial Application

After the Founder call, we send you an Application to complete. The Application does not involve running a credit or background check, but does help us determine how to proceed to our next steps.

Informational Emails

Following the Introductory and Founder calls, you will receive a series of emails that reinforce what was discussed as well as provide additional information. The topics cover:

• Training – Pre & Post-opening
• Location, location, location…it really is that important!
• Boutique construction – Plans, buildout options, fixtures, plan-o-gram
• Technology – POS, tech support, private intranet resources, social media & more
• Buying – Open to Buy, merchandise planning, vendor network & discounts
• Staffing – Hiring, orientation, training & staff development
• Visual merchandising standards & support
• E-Commerce at store level
• In-house marketing agency – Collateral, promos, digital content, strategies & more.
• Ongoing support – Conferences, webinars and Seasonal Planning and much more!

Talk with Other Franchisees

You are now at the point in the Apricot Lane franchise process where you are learning a significant amount about us, our systems, resources, and support. The next key next step is to talk with other Apricot Lane Boutique franchisees.

Application Review

After we receive your completed Application, we schedule a 2nd call with our Founder to review it together. After we determine that there is both a financial pathway for you as well as fit within the Apricot Lane Boutique family, then the next step is to schedule a video call with our President of Retail.

A call with Our President

Our President of Retail will share with you more valuable insights about our franchise, including our training and onboarding process, discuss potential markets that would be suitable for opening an Apricot Lane Boutique, and assure from both your perspective and ours that we have a good fit. Once agreed, he delivers the good news that you have been awarded an Open License for an Apricot Lane franchise! You will then be sent a formal offer and remit the Open License fee.

Market Tour

Because the right location for your boutique is so important, we come out to meet you in person, in your market. We send our President of Retail, our Founder or our national real estate broker. We prepare in advance by researching location opportunities, obtaining center sales, and scheduling appointments with leasing representatives that we will tour together. You will learn MUCH about locations during this important day together.

Real Estate

After our Market Tour, we meet internally with our team to review everything we have learned about you and the market. We revisit with the landlords and share that you are an interested franchisee as we negotiate a Letter of Intent (LOI) on typically multiple locations. Nothing gets sent to a potential Landlord without your prior approval