I'm going to go with cornutt,here. In the US, the only people who care about competitive dance dance are competitive dancers, who are far outnumbered by social dancers.So I wouldn't' necessarily hold out for a household name, if I were setting up a new studio. For most people I know, nobody in ballroom is a household name. lol.
I'd also be careful about assuming that a good business model = success. I know someone (and I'm sure a lot of us do) I know someone who owned a franchise that went under, even though that studio offered quality instruction.
I also think its important to clarify your own values. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, a LOT of franchise studios have a staff comprised mainly of brand new, off the street teachers. Is that what you want to offer? Not judging one way or the other. Just posing a question. IMHO, the franchise model works because of the way it handles staffing,among other things. You can't take the parts of the model you like and throw away the parts you don't.
