LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A local entrepreneur is among the Black business owners across the country finding success through franchise opportunities.
"We don't count calories in here," Robert Chandler says of the Yonutz franchise location he owns.
Chandler opened the dessert shop specializing in donut ice cream sandwiches late last year on Durango Drive and Sunset Road. He's a first-time franchise owner and the first Black franchisee of the company.
Chandler seized this entrepreneurial opportunity at a time of uncertainty for his family, he says.
"I have two boys, and it was right after quarantine. There was a lot of fear about what could happen next," he told Channel 13.
"I knew that I had to find something for them or something that I could teach them about business and life and how to be prepared and teach them about financial literacy."
Starting a new business doesn't come easy for anyone. But Chandler says it would've been even harder to start a brand new business from scratch.
"Being able to step into a franchise where, for the most part, they've done all the work for you, it's just a matter of you now just doing the business of it," Chandler said.
For Black entrepreneurs, franchising can be a lucrative way to get into business
Oxford Economics found that Black-owned franchises generate more than two times the amount of revenue that Black-owned independent businesses do.
But experts find that this path to financial success is a road less traveled.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the 2021 Annual Business Survey, between 2014 and 2020, franchise ownership in Las Vegas fell by 42 percent.
"Last year, out of all franchise owners, only about 8 percent were African American," says business attorney Shalisa Cumberbatch, who helps local entrepreneurs start their companies.
"We're always hearing people push LLCs: 'Get an LLC. Start your own business and leave that to your family.' And that's good," Cumberbatch said. "But with franchising, you get to buy into a business that's already there. It's an excellent opportunity to build generational wealth."
But is starting a franchise too expensive?
Cumberbatch believes many Black entrepreneurs are deterred from buying a franchise because of misinformation about the cost.
"When they speak franchise, they think McDonald's, Burger King, things like that, and those are on the more expensive end," Cumberbatch said.
"But there's a lot of other franchise opportunities. You can franchise a U-Haul business. You can franchise a Public Storage."
Or, in Chandler's case, a donut ice cream sandwich shop.
But Chandler says to thrive in business, he needed a reason bigger than the profits: helping his community through fundraising and in any other way he can.
"Community is everything. Family is everything. But family isn't only connected by your DNA. Family, for me, is about who you are supported by and who you are supporting," Chandler said.
