Starting a franchise in Belgium: choosing your first franchisee

Turning your existing business into a franchise does not start with attracting as many applicants as possible. First, you need a reliable way to choose the right business partner. Your first franchisee will help set the tone for your franchise community. A standard assessment scorecard prevents enthusiasm, personal rapport or available funds from driving the entire decision.

1. Turn your day-to-day operations into selection criteria

Do not start with an idealised picture of an ‘entrepreneurial person’. Look at the work involved in running your existing business. What decisions does the person in charge make each day? What skills do they need to serve customers, manage staff and control costs?

Then distinguish between three types of criteria:

• Essential from the outset: skills or resources the applicant must already have, such as enough time to commit and a demonstrable understanding of their own financial position.
• Learnable: knowledge of your products, planning methods or administrative software.
• Incompatible with the partnership: for example, persistent unwillingness to follow agreed quality standards or share relevant information.

Limit the scorecard to criteria you can actually assess. ‘Fits in with us’ is too vague. ‘Can discuss a disagreement without unilaterally disregarding agreed commitments’ gives the conversation a clear focus.

A good franchisee does not have to be a copy of the founder. Look for someone who can run a business independently while contributing to a community with shared commitments.

2. Ask for evidence rather than persuasive sales pitches

Ask applicants the same core questions. This allows you to compare their suitability on substance rather than presentation skills. Always ask for a specific situation, the decision they made and the outcome.

Useful questions include:

• When have you helped an unhappy customer without simply offering a discount?
• How did you respond when income was lower than expected?
• What agreed commitment did you find difficult to meet, and how did you raise the issue?
• How do you organise day-to-day management when you are absent?

To assess financial capacity, ask for a substantiated overview of the applicant’s available personal funds, financing requirements and personal income needs. A verbal assurance that financing ‘will work out’ is not enough. Make it clear that your assessment is neither credit approval nor a guarantee of profitability.

Belgium’s Federal Public Service Economy points out that applicants must also provide relevant, truthful information on request under the principle of good faith. Explain why you are asking for particular details. Request only information needed for the partnership and treat it confidentially.

3. Use a short, fictional practical scenario

An interview does not always reveal how someone makes decisions. Supplement it with a clearly defined exercise based on familiar situations from your business. Use fictional customer details and simplified figures.

For example, ask the applicant to decide what should happen first when a member of staff is unexpectedly absent, a delivery is delayed and a customer complains. Then ask them to explain their reasoning. You are assessing priorities, communication and a sense of responsibility—not whether they already know your operations manual.

A simple income and expenditure exercise can also be useful. Can the applicant explain why sufficient turnover does not automatically mean there is enough cash available to pay invoices?

Explain in advance what the exercise involves and how you will assess it. Do not use it as unpaid productive work or a disguised trial operation. Nor should your first franchise be an experiment in which the applicant still has to discover whether your business model works at all.

4. Keep selection separate from contractual commitments

Belgium has no standalone law governing every aspect of franchise agreements. General contract law continues to apply. However, Title 2 of Book X of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (WER) contains specific rules on pre-contractual information for commercial partnership agreements, including franchises.

Under Article X.27 of the Code, the applicant must receive the draft agreement and the pre-contractual information document, commonly known in Belgium as the PID, at least one month before entering into the agreement. A selection interview or positive assessment does not replace this disclosure obligation.

In principle, no commitments may be entered into and no fee, sum or security deposit may be requested or paid before that period expires. Statutory exceptions exist, including for confidentiality agreements. Any documents that could create obligations should therefore undergo legal review.

During selection, avoid charging a fee to reserve a franchise opportunity or using a supposedly ‘non-binding’ letter of intent that contains binding obligations. Present a positive assessment as a step in the discussions, not as a final award of the franchise.

5. Record your decision and any outstanding questions

Assess every applicant using the same scale, for example: insufficiently supported, partly demonstrated or convincingly demonstrated. Record a concrete example alongside each rating. Where possible, have a second assessor review the applicant independently before you discuss your findings.

Then distinguish between rejecting an applicant, investigating further and proceeding to the next stage. Gaps in product knowledge can be addressed through training; uncertainty about available funds needs clarification first. Do not let commercial time pressure blur that distinction.

Practical takeaway: before your first recruitment interview, create a single assessment scorecard covering essential criteria, standard questions and supporting evidence. Use it consistently and keep a positive selection decision strictly separate from any contractual commitment.