About AR Workshop Franchise

AR Workshop® was founded in 2016 by Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff. After spending 6 years raising their children and building the online platform, Anders Ruff, the two dreamed of creating a space where their popular graphic design and celebrity-endorsed DIY party printables could come to life! A leap of faith, lots of heart, and gallons of paint later the flagship location opened in Pineville, NC  in June 2016! 

After just a few short years, the AR Workshop concept has spread across the nation into over 150 locations in 32 states! The vision to create an inspiring and charming place for all things DIY has now been shared with over one hundred new business owners and thousands of guests.

Our Mission

To lead a DIY movement that inspires and empowers others through creativity.

Why Franchise?

Be the boss. If you’ve ever dreamed of business ownership, it may have been overwhelming knowing where to start. Opening a business is a lot of work – joining a franchise provides a fast track to start-up and removes some of the guesswork going forward. Our network of franchise partners along with the leadership team will help you along the way and share knowledge so you can focus on growing your local DIY workshop.

Franchise Benefits

• Guided buildout and opening process
• Well-established and growing brand
• Support! You’re joining the ARW family of owners and seasoned leadership.
• Versatile and robust streams of revenue. A wide variety of classes, specialty projects, and product lines
• We’re a leader in the DIY franchise space as one of the fastest-growing in the country!
• Ranked #1 via Entrepreneur Magazine for 2021 in the “Best of the Best” for DIY/Paint and Sip segment! 

Training and Support

When you join our AR Family, we prepare you with all the tools to operate your AR workshop. Leading up to your workshop’s Grand Opening, you will join us at our flagship store and headquarters in Pineville, NC for a 3-4 training session. During training, you will learn all the components to running your business, from AR Workshop culture to specific techniques required to operate a workshop with the AR standard of excellence.

During training you will learn:

• Project Methods
• Workshop Facilitation
• Delivering excellent Guest Experience
• Management and Leadership
• Staffing Strategies
• Design Editing for Customization
• Technology & Systems Operations
• Operations and Marketing
• Retail Management
• Shadowing a workshop

Our Continous Support Program

We know that the success of the AR Workshop brand is dependent on the success of each one of our franchise pARtners. That means that our support starts with helping you identify the perfect location for your store and continues with ongoing programs to help you grow.

• Location Support

Our franchise support team helps you to select the optimal location for your AR Workshop based on your site search, market, and preferences. We pair our knowledge of what makes a successful location to assist with negotiation steps, space layouts, and build-out planning. 

• Marketing Support

Our marketing team continues to drive innovation to increase sales and maintain our position as a leader in the DIY workshop category. We strive to stay on top of the latest digital advertising trends to develop market-specific plans that drive new guests, keep existing ones coming back and keep the brand on the top of your guests’ minds. We understand that each market has different needs and work for hand in hand with individual regions and owners. 

• Vendor and Chain Supply Support

We strive to make the Build Out and Operations process as seamless as possible by providing reliable vendors and suppliers that we have created loyal relationships. From equipment, fixtures, opening inventory, and supplies, we know where to locate the best in products and services.

• Operations Support

Operations start behind the scenes and continue all the way through to the workshop. We have systems in place that will allow you to work efficiently and give you the extra time you want to focus on the customer experience. We are constantly developing our technology with both the owner and customer experiences in mind. 

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