Franchisee support: a plan for franchisors in Croatia

Running a successful business does not, in itself, prove that you can support other entrepreneurs. When you begin expanding through a franchise network, you take on franchisees as well as your own customers. They expect ready access to answers, technical help and clearly defined commitments. Before signing your first agreement, draw up a plan for ongoing support: what you will provide, who will deliver it and how many franchisees your team can realistically support.

1. Turn your promise of support into specific services

Phrases such as “ongoing assistance” or “comprehensive business support” sound appealing, but do not tell franchisees what to expect. They are particularly risky for franchisors when sales discussions promise more than the existing team can deliver.

Create a support catalogue, separate from initial training. For each service, specify its scope, communication channel, availability and limits of responsibility. For example:

• Operational queries: explaining standard procedures and helping with unusual situations.
• Technical assistance: reporting problems with required software and coordinating with the system supplier.
• Marketing support: providing templates and feedback on local proposals.
• Business reviews: periodically reviewing results and agreeing on potential improvements.

Distinguish between tasks the franchisor carries out and those on which it only provides advice. For example, help with staff rotas does not mean that the franchisor takes over recruitment or the responsibilities of an employer. The franchisee remains an independent business owner, and support does not guarantee profitability.

For each item, state whether it is included in the standard contractual support or requires a separate agreement. This prevents an occasional goodwill service from becoming an ill-defined expectation across the network.

2. Calculate your team’s capacity before signing new agreements

The most common bottleneck is not a lack of knowledge, but the fact that only the owner knows how to apply it. If you handle every request personally, each new opening makes the network more dependent on your availability.

For each service, estimate the time required based on actual tasks in your existing business. Assess the opening period separately from day-to-day operations. A new franchisee may need intensive help just as another outlet experiences a technical problem and your own business enters its busiest period.

Create a simple table with five columns: service, expected frequency, handling time, person responsible and cover. Do not count time that employees already spend serving your own customers, handling administration or managing outlets as available support hours.

Support capacity is not the sum of all your team’s working hours, but the time genuinely set aside for franchisees. Allow for unexpected issues and annual leave. If there is no spare capacity, slow down new openings or bring in an additional team member before expanding.

Check the financial implications too. The franchisor’s recurring revenue should be sufficient to cover the ongoing support promised. Relying on income from new franchisees to fund existing commitments is a warning that the plan needs reviewing.

3. Set out support obligations in the contract under Croatian law

Croatia has no dedicated law comprehensively governing franchising. A franchise agreement is an innominate contract—a type of contract not specifically defined in legislation—to which the Civil Obligations Act applies, including its rules on good faith and fair dealing, performance of obligations and liability for breach of contract. Freedom of contract is not unlimited: contractual terms must comply with mandatory legal provisions.

Depending on the nature of the relationship, Croatia’s Competition Act and applicable European Union competition rules are also relevant. Where support involves customers’ or employees’ personal data, the General Data Protection Regulation and Croatia’s Act on the Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation apply.

The agreement or an appendix should clearly specify:

• which services the franchisor is obliged to provide to the franchisee;
• when and through which channels requests are accepted;
• how urgent cases are distinguished from routine queries;
• what information the franchisee must supply;
• how the matter is escalated if no response is received;
• how additional work and changes to the scope of support are agreed.

Distinguish between the deadline for acknowledging receipt and the deadline for resolving an issue. A franchisor can promise to handle a report promptly, but should not unconditionally guarantee to fix a fault when the solution depends on an external supplier. A lawyer should check that contractual promises reflect how the work is actually organised.

4. Establish one main channel and monitor the workload

Requests scattered across private messages, calls and emails quickly become untracked obligations. Choose one main channel for submitting requests and keep a record of each case, the person responsible, its status and the next step. An urgent phone call can remain an exception, but its outcome should also be recorded.

Track the number of open requests, initial response times, recurring problems and actual hours spent. These figures show whether you need an additional team member, a better technical system or a clearer explanation of a service. Give franchisees a quick way to provide feedback on how useful the help was, not just how fast they received a response.

When a problem is reported, ask only for the information needed. Photographs of receipts, screens or staff rotas may contain personal data; restrict access to records according to people’s actual responsibilities.

Practical takeaway: before signing your next franchise agreement, prepare a support catalogue, a schedule showing who is responsible and a system for logging requests. Expand your franchise network only when you can deliver the promised help consistently, rather than relying on the owner’s personal efforts outside working hours.