Starting a franchise in Belgium: build your initial training programme

Running a successful business is not the same as teaching someone else how to do it. If you want to franchise an existing business in Belgium, you therefore need more than a tour and a few days of shadowing. A focused initial training programme makes your business model transferable and gives new business owners a solid foundation within your franchise network. Rather than starting with a timetable, ask: what should participants be able to do independently by the end?

1. Turn everyday tasks into learning objectives

Much of a founder’s knowledge is instinctive. You spot an unusual order, sense when a customer needs more explanation and know which mistakes require immediate attention. For a new franchisee, those decisions are not obvious.

Start by observing the work at your existing outlet. Record not just the tasks, but also the decisions behind them. Then identify the skills needed to follow your franchise model correctly.

Examples include:

• matching a customer’s needs to the right offering;
• processing an order and correcting errors;
• delivering products or services to the agreed standard;
• handling a complaint within the limits of their authority;
• completing end-of-day procedures and explaining discrepancies.

Define each learning objective as observable behaviour. ‘Understands the service’ is difficult to assess. ‘Can conduct a customer conversation, summarise their needs and explain a suitable proposal’ gives a trainer something concrete to work with.

Distinguish between franchisees and their employees, too. The business owner may need to interpret reports, for example, while an employee may mainly need instructions on entering data correctly. This avoids giving people with different responsibilities an identical training package.

2. Build a learning pathway with real opportunities to practise

Divide the training into preparation, demonstration, supervised practice and independent practice. Someone who has only watched a task has not yet demonstrated that they can do it themselves.

Introduce participants to terminology, the product or service range and the systems they will use before they arrive. Then use time at the outlet for tasks that require practice and feedback. Where possible, provide a training environment so that mistakes do not affect real orders or customer data.

Ask an experienced employee to demonstrate a task and explain aloud why they make particular decisions. The participant then performs the same task, first with guidance and then without prompts.

Practise exceptions as well. A quiet sales day teaches little about an unavailable product, a failed payment or an unhappy customer. You do not need to create actual problems: role play and simulated situations may be enough.

Set aside dedicated time for the trainer. Someone who is also managing a busy outlet is likely to interrupt training. Budget properly for preparation, supervision, staff cover and repeat practice as demands on your business’s resources. Ideally, have someone other than the founder deliver the first training programme as well. This will show whether the knowledge can genuinely be passed on.

3. Make training arrangements clear in advance

Set out exactly what you offer: content, participants, location, language, schedule and included support. Specify who pays travel and accommodation costs and what happens if additional practice is needed. Avoid vague promises that someone will be ‘fully trained’ without defining the scope.

Belgium has specific rules on pre-contractual disclosure for commercial cooperation agreements. These are set out in Title 2 of Book X of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, notably Articles X.26 to X.33. Under Article X.27, the prospective franchisee must receive the draft agreement and the pre-contractual information document, known locally as the PID, at least one month before entering into the agreement.

This disclosure requirement matters for your training offer: promises made during discussions must match the documents governing the relationship. Have key training obligations and any associated costs properly incorporated into the draft agreement and, where required, the PID, with legal advice.

Do not use compulsory paid training as a back door to bind a candidate before it is legally permissible to do so. Have the timing and terms reviewed by a legal adviser in advance. Also distinguish between training in your franchise model and any legally required professional knowledge, certificates or safety training. Your own certificate of attendance does not automatically satisfy those requirements.

4. Assess skills and improve your programme

An attendance register proves participation, not competence. For each core skill, create a short assessment sheet setting out the task, the expected performance and any mistakes that must be corrected.

Discuss these criteria before training begins. After each practical assessment, record what is going well, where support is still needed and when reassessment will take place. Agree in advance who will carry out assessments and how disagreements will be handled.

Use the first round of training to improve your programme. If several participants misunderstand the same step, the explanation may be falling short. Gather feedback from both participants and trainers, and adapt the exercises accordingly. Share useful lessons across your franchise network without unnecessarily identifying individual participants.

Practical takeaway: choose five essential tasks from your existing business and create one learning objective, one exercise and one assessment criterion for each. That is a more workable starting point than a packed training calendar with no demonstrable results.