With KKP Canada Acquisition, Alliance Franchise Brands Has 630 Locations, Sales Near $500M

Joe Haddad

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — November 4, 2016 — Alliance Franchise Brands, based here, has acquired KKP Canada, a Canadian-based franchise organization with 50 franchise locations. The move triples Alliance Franchise Brands' presence to nine provinces in the Canadian market, where the franchisor had already been operating a corporate-owned location in Windsor, Ontario, along with 25 franchise locations across the country. This latest acquisition grows Alliance Franchise Brands to 630 printing, signage and marketing services locations in total with annual revenues approaching $500 million.

KKP Canada, which had been part of the ICED family of companies before breaking away, will retain its headquarters location in Richmond Hill, Ontario. KKP Canada CEO and Vice Chair Gigi Harding, whose father started the former Kwik Kopy Canada franchise 37 years ago, will remain active during the transition as a key advisor. Joe Haddad, an executive VP at Alliance Franchise Brands, has also been named president of KKP Canada.

Kevin Cushing, president of the Marketing & Print Division at Alliance Franchise Brands, told Printing Impressions that the two franchise organizations share very similar values and business philosophies. The family-managed KKP Canada is joining an organization managed by 11 owners who are fully committed to investing in the long-term success of Alliance Franchise Brands, he points out, in sharp contrast to the short-term and cost-cutting dynamics that can exist within businesses owned by private equity concerns.

The acquisition of the 50 KKP Canada locations shown above. (Click to enlarge)

Cushing says that KKP Canada franchisees will also gain access to Alliance Franchise Brands' wide breadth of franchise support and business-building services. This includes its Marketing Resource Center in Plymouth, Mich., which houses a full ad agency, including a staff of full-time digital marketing, graphic design and strategic branding experts. KKP Canada franchises will also have access to Alliance Franchise Brands' sophisticated business-to-business, Web-to-print ecommerce platform. In addition, they will be able to benefit from Alliance Franchise Brands' business opportunity programs designed to aid in succession planning and to attract independent printers that may seeking to become affiliates.

"We believe this move will support greater resource deployment for the success of all of our members and better partnership opportunities with Canadian suppliers,” Cushing notes.

Alliance Franchise Brands CEO Mike Marcantonio agrees that the KKP Canada acquisition represents a sound investment in the continued growth of the network. "Our organization began in the graphics communications industry with the quick print concepts of Speedy Printing in Canada and American Speedy Printing in the U.S. Over the past 40 years, we have aggressively invested in the areas with the most potential for long-term gains, including technology, signage, digital and print communications.

“While we have great reach and scale, it is a very personal business,” Marcantonio adds. “Our first core value is ‘Members First’ and we live that person by person, day by day.”

About Alliance Franchise Brands LLC
(Parent company of Allegra Network LLC)
Alliance Franchise Brands is one of the world’s largest business-to-business franchises, serving the multi-billion-dollar market for marketing, print, sign and graphic communication services. Through its subsidiaries, Alliance Franchise Brands’ 630 franchise members in North America and the United Kingdom provide businesses and organizations with a one-stop resource for technologically advanced and strategically sound solutions for their graphic communication needs. Its Marketing & Print Division includes the Allegra, American Speedy Printing, Insty-Prints, KKP, Speedy Printing and Zippy Print brands. Its Sign & Graphics division includes the Image360, Signs By Tomorrow and Signs Now brands. Its Corporate Operations Division includes Allegra locations in Plymouth, Clawson and Troy, Mich. and Windsor, Ontario. Corporate-owned Image360 centers are located in Columbia and Middle River, Md.; Plymouth, Mich. and Windsor, Ontario. For more information, visit www.alliancefranchisebrands.com.