Business partner
ekelly, wherreabouts are you looking to set up? I've done quite a bit of research into the food & retail sector, both as self-employed and as a franchisee.
As discussed very frequently on this forum, there are pros and cons to franchising. Personally, I've come to believe that if you have a partner to share profits (or losses) and responsibility with, you're better off going down the self-employed route rather than franchising as it costs less but you still have support from your partner.
I'm looking at the west, preferably Galway, so if anyone is looking for business partners in that area, let me know.