Friday, April 4, 2008

Bloomin' Crystal Rose
Events center is ready to franchise nationwide
Denver Business Journal - by Nicole Queen Denver Business Journal

A distressed bride called Jay Byerly, in tears, 22 years ago. She had just learned that she lost the hotel booking for her wedding, getting booted for a larger event.
Byerly, who was renting out a place at Lookout Mountain for private parties at the time, told her to stop crying; he'd help out any way possible. She told him that if he could take care of the food, deejay and dishes, he'd have her business.
"No problem," he told her, and that phrase is now a running family joke.
Byerly panicked as the list of wedding responsibilities grew. But he succeeded, with a little help from a former chef at Sysco Corp.'s Denver location. At the reception, "The bride came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, 'Best thing I've ever seen!'" Byerly said.
He decided the the multibillion-dollar wedding industry would be his niche. So he established his company, Crystal Rose.
Now Byerly, 61, and his sons, Bob, 39, and Brian, 34, oversee four Crystal Rose facilities (two on Lookout Mountain -- one being the historic Robin's Nest -- one in Highlands Ranch and one in Denver on East Hampden Avenue), 11 full-time and 400 part-time employees.
They offer more than an all-inclusive wedding package. Crystal Rose also handles corporate parties, casino nights, murder mystery dinners, sports team banquets, Mardi Gras parties, after-prom parties, anniversaries and birthdays.
"Really, if the customer can imagine it, we can do it," Byerly said.
And now, Crystal Rose is blooming, ready to sell franchises. Byerly said about 150 people have inquired about opening a franchise. He said he gets leads from online franchising marketing companies such as FranchiseGator.com and FranchiseExpo.com. Crystal Rose also will have a booth at the International Franchising Expo in Washington, D.C., April 11-13.
"If [CR] has the ability to franchise, the opportunities would become better, because then anyone could get married at any Crystal Rose in the U.S.," said Autumn Prothero, 24. She and her husband, Scott, got married on the fought-for wedding date of July 7, 2007, at the Crystal Rose's Lookout Mountain venue. "I would suggest [CR] to anyone, especially for someone who's on a budget or who doesn't have a lot of time."
The cost to open a franchise is $30,000, which includes five days of training: three days at the Littleton location, and two at Sysco Food Services in Denver to get certified to prepare and serve food. Training will also focus on sales, marketing, table setting, how to set up the sound systems, wedding coordination and planning corporate parties.
Publication Printers of Denver is a repeat customer of Crystal Rose, hiring Byerly to run its office parties for more than 15 years.
"So far, I think that [CR] has the best deal," said Mary Wood, director of facilities at Publication Printers. "It's hard to beat Jay and Brian and the rest of the people there. I've known them for so many years."
She said Brian Byerly always plans special surprises; one year, there was a huge ice sculpture with Publication Printers' name on it.
"They really go out of their way to make it a special party for us," Wood said. "So we're going to stick with them. Since they're franchising, they'll be able to find a place that's more roomy for us."
In the world of franchising, Byerly claimed that Crystal Rose is the only all-inclusive wedding and event venue complete with services. There are other wedding coordinator franchises, such as Canada's A Sweet Beginning -- which has a few franchises in the United States -- and Plan Ahead Events in Florida, according to the International Franchise Association (IFA) in Washington, D.C. But neither provides their own venues, as does Crystal Rose.
Franchising is running strong during the economic downturn, according to Dick Rennick, outgoing chairman of the IFA.
"Usually when recession and slowdowns set in, people don't have to go out and do a huge learning curve," he said. "They just automatically have an operation that immediately works. I wouldn't say [franchises are] recession-proof, but it's better than a mom-and-pop shop going out on a street with a cart to sell things."
Jay Byerly said franchises are one of the safest business models, even in an economic downturn.
He said franchisees can take the franchise's business model and grow with it, and be their own boss rather than leave their job stability in the hands of others.
"Especially in times like these, if a company is doing bad, they downsize," he said. "People think, 'Am I going to be the one laid off?' We're trying to provide a family business where Mom can be in the kitchen, Dad can be in the front of the house, and the kids can do the tables. They're pulling together to create stability instead of wondering, 'Am I going to get a pink slip in the mail?'"
Brian Byerly said he hopes that Crystal Rose will open between 40 and 75 franchises nationwide every year for the next five years.
Jay Byerly said that if its franchising is successful, Crystal Rose's revenue could jump between 60 percent and 75 percent every year.