Buying a franchise in Belgium: check your on-site obligations

Buying a franchise does not automatically mean you can leave day-to-day management to a manager. Some franchise systems expect franchisees to run the business themselves. Others allow more scope for delegation. This distinction can shape your working week, staffing budget and business continuity. Before buying, establish what personal involvement the contract requires and whether you can realistically meet those requirements.

1. Turn ‘personal involvement’ into a clear agreement

A brand presentation may refer to entrepreneurship, commitment or a hands-on operator. That does not tell you how much time you must spend on site. Check the draft contract for clauses covering personal operation of the business, day-to-day management, opening hours and the appointment of a person in charge.

Then distinguish between three things: owning the business, having ultimate responsibility and actually being present on the premises. These roles do not necessarily have to be performed by the same person, but the contract may require it.

Ask the franchisor to clarify the following in writing:

• Must you be personally present during specific hours?
• Can an employee handle day-to-day management?
• Do you need prior approval to appoint a manager?
• Must that manager meet any training or experience requirements?
• Can you also run another business or outlet?

Check exactly who is bound by the obligation. Is your company signing the agreement, while the contract names you personally as the required operator? If so, have an adviser assess what happens if you become temporarily or permanently unavailable. A verbal assurance that cover ‘can always be arranged in practice’ is no substitute for a clear contractual provision.

2. Translate the obligation into a workable schedule

An obligation to be on site has a cost, even if you initially pay yourself very little. Otherwise, your own hours can easily disappear from the calculations, even though the business might need extra staff without them.

Draw up a schedule for a typical week. Include not just opening hours, but also preparation, closing tasks, ordering, administration, staff scheduling and compulsory meetings. For each task, note whether you must do it yourself, can delegate it or simply need to oversee it.

Then work through three scenarios: a normal working week, your holiday and an unexpected absence. This will reveal where the business depends on one person. Avoid counting the same hours twice: someone serving customers cannot simultaneously conduct uninterrupted job interviews or prepare the accounts.

Ask an accountant or a Belgian payroll and employment administration provider, known locally as a ‘social secretariat’, to check staffing costs against the applicable employment law and pay requirements. A franchise system that allows you to appoint a manager only offers a genuine alternative if you can afford that manager.

Assess the purchase against a sustainable schedule, not the assumption that you will routinely fill every gap yourself. If the business is only profitable when you take no holiday and arrange no cover, the plan needs reworking.

3. Arrange cover before it becomes urgent

Illness, parenthood or another personal event can affect your availability. Discuss in advance how a temporary replacement will be approved. The brand may need a suitably trained person in charge; you need a workable procedure.

Ask for clear arrangements covering the qualifications required, how requests for a replacement will be handled and emergency procedures if you suddenly become unavailable. Also discuss who pays for any training and how quickly it can be provided. A replacement who must first attend a course that will not run until much later does not solve an immediate problem.

Distinguish between temporary cover and a permanent handover of day-to-day management. Permission to arrange holiday cover does not necessarily mean you can subsequently act solely as an absentee owner.

Also check how the various obligations interact. Must the business remain open even though you are the only person authorised to be in charge? If so, there may be no workable solution for absences. Ask for a coherent set of arrangements, rather than separate assurances.

4. Use Belgium’s legal protections before signing

Belgium has statutory rules on pre-contractual information for commercial cooperation agreements, including franchise agreements. These appear in Title 2 of Book X of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, Articles X.26 to X.33.

The franchisor must provide you with the draft contract and the pre-contractual information document, known as the PID, at least one month before the agreement is concluded. Use this period to have your on-site obligations and cover arrangements reviewed from both a legal and a financial perspective. These rules do not automatically give you the right to appoint a manager: the specific terms of the agreement remain important.

General contract law and Belgium’s rules on unfair terms in business-to-business contracts also apply. An onerous obligation is not automatically prohibited. Have an adviser assess whether its wording and interaction with other clauses create a manifest legal imbalance.

Practical conclusion: only buy once you know how much personal involvement is required, who can cover for you and what that cover will cost. Put workable arrangements in writing before you commit.