Franchising your business: checking the required qualifications

Your business relies on your know-how, but sometimes also on a diploma or professional qualification that you hold personally. Expanding through franchising does not remove that requirement. To build a sustainable franchise network, you need to distinguish between what your brand passes on and what each franchised business must legally have in place to operate.

1. Separate know-how from permission to operate

Training in your business concept teaches franchisees to replicate your methods. It does not automatically replace the professional qualifications required for certain activities. Bpifrance Création, the French business start-up information service, notes that, depending on the activity, the franchisee or their employee must hold a professional qualification.

Before offering your business as a franchise, break down the services you sell in detail. A single brand may cover activities subject to different requirements. Do not simply check the general trading description of your business.

For each service, prepare a record setting out:

• the precise nature of the activity carried out;
• any qualification required and the accepted ways of demonstrating it;
• who must hold it and the conditions under which they must be involved;
• the supporting documents to retain;
• the authority or organisation with which to confirm the applicable rules.

Have this overview checked by a professional with expertise in the activity concerned. Requirements may relate to the business operator, a qualified employee or the provision of effective supervision. These arrangements are not interchangeable.

The crucial point: a qualification held within your original business is not, in itself, available to future franchised outlets.

2. Assess whether your operating structure can be replicated

Review how your current business is organised and identify the tasks you perform because of your personal qualification. Then ask who will carry them out in a franchisee’s business, and under what conditions.

This analysis may reveal a dependency you had not previously noticed: your business model may rely on your daily presence, even though you intend to recruit entrepreneurs whose main role will be commercial management.

Develop a realistic operating plan. If the rules allow the business to rely on a qualified employee, the plan must account for recruiting and paying that person, and ensuring their presence when required. If the operator must personally hold a qualification, internal training alone will not make the concept accessible to every applicant.

Also test everyday scenarios: holidays, illness, the departure of the employee concerned or an expansion of the service offering. Depending on the applicable rules, some services may have to be suspended for as long as the legal conditions are no longer met.

The aim is not to guarantee that no difficulties will arise. It is to check that your concept remains viable in another business without implicitly relying on your own diploma.

3. Inform prospective franchisees before they commit

In France, there is no general diploma required to become a franchisee. However, this never removes the obligation to meet the requirements specific to the activity concerned. A franchise agreement is not an administrative authorisation to operate.

Pre-contractual dealings are governed, among other provisions, by Article L. 330-3 of the French Commercial Code, introduced by the law of 31 December 1989, known as the Doubin Law. This provision concerns arrangements in which a trade name, trade mark or trading identity is made available alongside an exclusivity or near-exclusivity commitment for carrying on the activity.

Where the conditions for its application are met, the pre-contractual disclosure document and draft agreement must be provided at least twenty days before the agreement is signed or, where applicable, before any advance payment is made. Article R. 330-1 specifies the contents of the document.

Keep this statutory disclosure separate from your qualification documentation, while clearly communicating the professional requirements essential to the project. In particular, explain that your initial training covers the business concept and does not necessarily confer a recognised qualification permitting the franchisee to carry out the activity.

Avoid promises such as “no qualifications needed” unless you have checked every activity offered and the precise operating conditions.

4. Prepare a compliance file for each outlet

Before opening, gather the evidence needed to check that the proposed operating arrangements are actually in place. Depending on the activity, this file may include proof of qualifications, checks that those qualifications are recognised and evidence establishing the qualified person’s role.

Assign responsibility for each step and set a date for verification. Clearly distinguish legal obligations from any additional requirements imposed by your brand: they have different sources and may have different consequences.

Have the agreement specify each party’s responsibilities, the changes that must be reported and the action to take if an operating requirement ceases to be met. The franchisee remains responsible for their business; your support must not be presented as official regulatory certification.

Key takeaway: before marketing your franchise, draw up a matrix covering “service, qualification, qualification holder, evidence, replacement arrangements”. This will show whether your concept can be replicated legally and what practical operating structure is needed.