Bed Bath & Beyond is launching a national franchise system to recruit local entrepreneurs who would own and operate the company’s namesake stores, offering them the ability to raise capital via tokenized securities.
Franchise location deals offered will include a turnkey Bed Bath & Beyond store package that enables operations across core Home, Kitchen, Living, Storage and Organization, and Holiday Shoppe departments. Bed Bath & Beyond will curate about 80% of the store assortment with 20% localized by franchisees, enabling them to feature products and designers that have particular appeal to their communities. Franchisees also can tap into Bed Bath & Beyond’s suite of AI-powered tools and data analytics capabilities to forecast demand, manage inventory and optimize merchandising and staffing decisions. They can use available dashboards to measure promotional effectiveness, pricing performance and local market trends that can help drive higher sales, reduce waste and enhance customer engagement through data-driven decisions, Bed Bath & Beyond asserted.
In addition, franchisees will share in the economics of bedbathandbeyond.com to unify in-store and online customer experiences under one brand, the company noted.
Bed Bath & Beyond will provide franchisees with access to its tokenized infrastructure through the tZERO platform in an effort to provide capital efficiency, generate equity more easily and democratize ownership, the company maintained. The access will complement, and in some cases may replace, traditional Small Business Administration financing, Bed Bath & Beyond added, providing franchisees with more flexibility to raise capital and engage local investors through digital infrastructure.
Bed Bath & Beyond stated that it expects to finalize franchise documentation within six months.
“Our goal is to grow Bed Bath and Beyond in the most capital efficient manner,” said Marcus Lemonis, Bed Bath & Beyond executive chairman and principal executive officer, in announcing the franchising program. “This system enables local owners to deliver personal service and local flavor while leveraging our national infrastructure, marketing and technology. Our team, led by Ron Taylor, vice president of franchise development, is collaborating with Amy Sullivan from the retail omnichannel organization, Tom Spadea, co-founder of Spadea Lignana Franchise Attorneys and Brian Luciani, chief growth officer at SMB Franchise Advisors. Together, they will provide franchisees with expert guidance, operational support, and oversight to ensure brand standards and execution remain consistent nationwide.”
