BlueGrace Logistics Franchise

BlueGrace Logistics Franchise.

BlueGrace Logistics Franchise is the fastest-growing third-party logistics provider in a booming industry. If you bought it, a truck brought it. Just about everything you see for sale was shipped at some point, and the amount of items shipped is growing at more than 5% a year, according to IBIS World . According to the American Trucking Association, freight transportation is a $600 billion a year industry. Within this enormous industry, the fastest-growing segment is third-party logistics — companies that provide shipping and freight solutions to clients, which makes it much easier for clients to manage supply chains and allows them to serve their customers without having their own fleets of trucks and warehouses. BlueGrace Logistics is a national franchise system with almost 200 locations across the country. We’re a business-to-business sales and consultation business; our franchisees are involved in helping small, medium and enterprise businesses find far more efficient or advanced shipping solutions. Based in Tampa, Florida, we have grown from a small system to one of the largest and most respected logistics franchises in the country. Ten years ago, third-party logistics made up less than 10% of the total market share in the freight transportation industry, but today it makes up more than 25%, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management’s State of Logistics report, which pegged 3PL revenue at $157.2 billion in 2014. Logistics research company Armstrong & Associates expects that number to grow to $195.8 billion — a 24.5% increase — by 2018. Within the 3PL segment, non-asset based domestic transportation management (DTM) companies like BlueGrace Logistics are growing even faster. These companies are business-to-business consultants that don’t own or manage trucks or warehouses but connect customers with carriers that provide the best solutions. Armstrong & Associates notes that DTM gross revenues grew 15.4% in 2014, while net revenues grew 20.5%. The numbers indicate enormous growth opportunities for entrepreneurs in 3PL transportation management. What do BlueGrace franchisees do? Every one of our customers is already shipping items. Our franchisees launch and manage a local consultative sales team that networks with and serves a wide variety of businesses that use shipping. These businesses range from small manufacturers to large enterprise corporations. Our franchisees help businesses better manage their shipping by providing high-level IT tools, crafting custom shipping solutions, finding better rates or faster providers, helping with carrier advocacy, or even helping a customer outsource its entire logistics department. Our customers spend millions of dollars on shipping, and we can often help them craft a logistics solution that is far superior to what they can do on their own, even with an experienced logistics coordinator. Franchisees benefit from this by earning a significant commission on the work. Depending on the size and scale of the client, this can amount to large revenue numbers over time. Costs and fees. BlueGrace Logistics is seeking ambitious, hard-working entrepreneurs who enjoy meeting and building relationships with business owners through business-to-business sales in markets where transportation services are at their peak. Total investment in a BlueGrace Logistics franchise ranges from $39,500 to $181,250, depending on the type of territory you purchase. Typically, franchise candidates have a net worth of $100,000 and about as much in liquid and working capital. What sets us apart. Freight and shipping are in the BlueGrace Logistics DNA. Almost all of our upper management has extensive career experience in the logistics industry, including our CEO who started out working on a freight dock. As a result, we have relationships with 95% of the asset-based carriers in the U.S., and our relationships are top-tier. Because of this, we can obtain far better rates than a typical customer could and often much better than any other vendor in the third-party logistics space. “Our executive team has years of experience in the transportation industry,” President and CEO Bobby Harris says. “The executives take the relationships they’ve made with many of the premier carriers in the industry and acquire lower prices and better service for our clients. That vast number of carriers in our network proves to our clients that we know the people who run the show, and we’ll find the company that suits them best. The carriers, from their standpoint, know they are one of our clients’ many options, so they will compete hard to get that job.” BlueGrace has developed unique, state-of-the-art software called BlueShip that makes shipping management easier for our clientele. It is a customized, web-based, transportation management system that saves clients time, reduces costs, and streamlines transportation needs. BlueShip gives our franchise owners a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace. Lastly, our franchise and sales support is best-in-class. Our franchise support staff have developed close working relationships with franchisees and stay in touch on an almost daily basis, thanks to our low support staffer-to-franchisee ratio. Unlike most franchise systems that support 50 locations through a single support staffer, each of our staff members supports only 10 to 12 franchisees. This means direct, customized, individual attention to your needs as you grow your business. Who are our clients? Most of our clients are manufacturers, distributors, and retail stores shipping from one business facility to another. Many frequently ship on a recurring basis but require far less than a truckload. BlueGrace combines these less than a truckload (LTL) shipments into a single truck scheduled to arrive at a distribution hub. Shipments are then consolidated with others that share a common destination. Sorting pallets and making sure everything gets to the right destination is a complicated process, and BlueGrace works with shipping companies to handle the complexity on behalf of its clients while removing potential headaches and allowing them to devote their energies elsewhere. Companies shipping large freight need third-party logistics providers because we can get them lower prices and quality service. Without us, our clients don’t have buying power, the right technology for shipping management, the experience to manage numerous recurring shipments, or a strong negotiator for recovering lost or damaged goods. Where are we growing? Pick a city with an airport, and you’ll find a market for BlueGrace Logistics. We’re growing along the East Coast — in Philadelphia, Hartford, Providence, and Newark — as well in the Midwest in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Chicago markets. Out west we’re looking to grow in Denver, Phoenix, and San Francisco.