Buying a franchise: agree service levels for ongoing support

An entrepreneur joining a franchise network buys not only a business concept but also access to support in putting it into practice. Yet a brochure promising “ongoing support” does not tell you who will help when the till system fails or how declining sales will be addressed. Before buying a franchise, turn that general promise into a clear service specification. This article focuses on day-to-day operations after opening, rather than initial training.

1. Establish what ongoing support includes in practice

Brand recognition and an established operating model do not, on their own, tell you what help an individual franchisee will receive. Ask the franchisor to describe its ongoing support services separately. The aim is to distinguish between network-wide development, advice tailored to your business and help purchased from external providers.

Services to consider might include operational guidance, reviews of financial figures, IT support, quality improvement and further training. Do not assume, however, that all of these are included in the offer. For each service, record what the franchisor will do and what you must prepare or carry out yourself.

Ask for answers to at least these questions:

• Will your business have a named contact and someone to cover their absence?
• Does support include regular meetings, or are these arranged only on request?
• Will meetings examine your own business data or only the network’s overall position?
• Are site visits included, and who pays the travel expenses?
• How are further training needs assessed, and how is training arranged?

Also distinguish advice from decision-making authority. For example, the franchisor may help improve staff scheduling practices without taking responsibility for your obligations as an employer. As a franchisee, you remain responsible for your business’s obligations and commercial risks. A support service does not, in itself, transfer these to the franchisor.

A good service specification also sets out the limits. If financial advice means interpreting performance indicators but does not include bookkeeping, this must be clear. Otherwise, you may fail to arrange professional services that your business needs.

2. Agree availability and how support requests will be handled

The scope of a service alone does not determine how useful it will be. If your outlet operates in the evenings or at weekends, support available only during office hours may leave a significant gap. Check availability against your own business’s opening hours and ways of working.

Ask for a description of contact channels and how issues are classified by urgency. A routine business development query can wait, but a system failure that prevents all sales needs a different response. The agreement should distinguish between acknowledging a request, starting work on it and the target for resolving it. An automated acknowledgement does not mean the problem is being investigated.

It is not possible to guarantee a solution to every problem within a fixed time. Even so, you can agree who will take responsibility for co-ordinating the response, how progress updates will be provided and when the issue will be escalated. If support comes from an external IT supplier, establish whether you will deal with that supplier directly or whether the franchisor will handle communication.

Before signing, work through a realistic disruption scenario together. If payment processing stops on a busy day, who do you call, where do you get temporary operating instructions and who keeps you updated? This exercise exposes unclear responsibilities more effectively than general assurances of good co-operation.

Also establish how absences and staff changes are managed. In practice, the service should not depend on a single person being available, even if a personal contact is an important part of the relationship.

3. Make support costs transparent and delivery measurable

Ask for a written breakdown of the support included in regular franchise fees and the services charged separately. The purpose is not to examine how the fee is calculated, but to establish what you receive in return. Unclear service boundaries may mean that help you assumed was included turns out to cost extra.

Pay particular attention to the terms for additional site visits, specialist work, further training and urgent assistance. If an extra service is charged by the hour, agree a cost estimate and an approval procedure before work begins. Also check whether the franchisor can require you to use paid support services, and on what grounds.

Put the services into a simple tracking table. Record the scope of each service, the person responsible, agreed availability, price and how delivery will be monitored. This allows you to compare offers from different franchise networks on more than the wording of their support promises.

Keep brief notes of regular meetings, recording agreed actions, responsibilities and deadlines. Documentation helps both parties: you can see what assistance is due, and the franchisor can monitor delivery of its support.

Also ask for a procedure to follow if an agreed service is repeatedly not provided. Written notification, a remedial action plan and an agreed follow-up meeting offer a practical starting point. Any credits or compensation must be agreed separately; do not assume they apply automatically.

4. Check the contractual status of the support promise

Finland has no specific franchising legislation, compulsory franchise agreement registration system or statutory franchise disclosure document in a prescribed format. The scope of ongoing support therefore depends largely on the agreement. Legislation does not provide a standard service level that every franchisee can demand from a franchisor.

The relationship is governed by general contract law and the Finnish Contracts Act. Under the Contracts Act, an unreasonable contractual term may be adjusted in certain circumstances, but you should not rely on this possibility to address an unclear support promise. Finland’s Unfair Business Practices Act prohibits, among other things, conduct contrary to good business practice and the false or misleading statements covered by the Act.

The Finnish Franchising Association’s Code of Ethics is a form of industry self-regulation, not legislation. Check whether the franchisor has committed to following it. That commitment does not, however, replace a support service specification tailored to your business’s needs.

Ask a lawyer to check whether the service specification creates binding obligations or merely sets out aspirations. At the same time, establish whether the franchisor can change the service unilaterally and what happens if essential support is withdrawn. Do not assume that a missing service automatically entitles you to stop paying franchise fees.

Practical checklist: before buying, confirm in writing what help you will receive, when it is available, who is responsible, what it costs and how shortcomings will be remedied. This turns ongoing support from a promise into a part of the franchise relationship that you can assess.