Pop-A-Lock

Pop-A-Lock was established in 1991 to provide unlocking service for automobiles’ doors. Now they have grown to serve a wide range of locksmith service customers from any business, home or auto. Now Pop-A-Lock is the market leader in the mobile security industry. The company started franchising in 1994 and currently has more than 4000 service centers nationwide.

Pop-A-Lock provides mobile security services with all new modern technologies, proprietary tools and opening techniques to ensure secure access. They also provide emergency services like Emergency Car Door Unlocking (EDU) Program when human life is in danger such as a child locked inside car. This free-of-cost Pop-A-Lock service has rescued over 280,000 children from locked vehicles since the company began its journey.

(*Franchised numbers above are by Agreement, not Franchise service areas; i.e., one Agreement could be 40 franchise territories.)

Investment Required

The initial franchise fee for a Pop-A-Lock franchise is $15,500 for an exclusive territory population of 125,000. (Multiple territories may be awarded, based on exclusive population density.)

Pop-A-Lock  provides the following range of investments required to open your initial franchise. The range assumes that all items are paid for in cash. To the extent that you choose to finance any of these expense items, your front-end investment could be substantially reduced.

On-going Expenses

Pop-A-Lock franchisees pay a royalty fee equal to 6% of monthly gross sales, an advertising and marketing fee equal to 1% of gross sales, an employee training fee, and others. Franchisee Orientation Training is included in Franchise Fee.

Franchisee Satisfaction

A critical component of the due diligence process is that you, as a prospective franchisee, have a strong sense of existing franchisee satisfaction. Click here to download a summary of a recent independent survey of Liquid Capital's existing franchisees conducted by the Franchise Research Institute. You can also click here to download direct quotes from franchisees about their experience with Liquid Capital, taken from the same survey. Please note that, in order to ensure that the comments were candid (both good and bad), franchisee names were intentionally withheld.

What You Get–Training and Support

The Pop-A-Lock Franchisee Training Program introduces the various facets of operating one of their franchises, including operations, standards, human resources, administration, accounting, and advertising and marketing. New Franchisee training is conducted at the corporate offices in Lafayette, Louisiana. This program is followed by technical training for staff. This training demonstrates how to use Pop-A-Lock’s proprietary equipment and techniques to open vehicles. The course includes comprehensive, high tech locksmith instruction and is conducted at the national training facility in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Franchise compliance specialists will periodically contact or visit each franchise location to perform a field inspection. They will solicit input and feedback, try to assist with any operational problems, and share best practices throughout the franchise system. Pop-A-Lock regularly posts updated vehicle information and lock diagrams for the Confidential Manual to a secure website for downloadable updates. The franchisee and technicians will also be able to contact a research and development specialist 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the event there is a need for technical assistance to open a vehicle in the field.

Territory

Pop-A-Lock does grant exclusive territories.

Note: The tables and information regarding the number of operating units, investment required, on-going expenses, training and territory grants were taken from the company’s 2011 FDD. The 2011 write-ups will be incorporated into the 2012 Edition of Bond’s Hottest New Franchises publication.