Franchising your business: organising ongoing support

Turning a business into a franchise involves more than passing on a method when a new outlet opens. The franchisor must support franchisees throughout the term of the agreement. To build a strong franchise network, that support needs to become an organised service, rather than a succession of calls to the founder. Here is how to prepare it before signing your first agreements.

1. Define what support should actually cover

Start with the difficulties encountered in your existing business: using tools, organising orders, applying sales methods, understanding performance indicators or dealing with technical incidents. Identify those that a trained franchisee might still face after opening.

Then divide these needs into three categories:

• Routine support: discussions about day-to-day operations, analysis of recurring difficulties and advice on putting the franchise concept into practice.
• Incident handling: a fault in a shared tool, difficulty following a procedure or a problem requiring a coordinated response.
• Specialist support: help from a service provider or expert when a request falls outside the franchise support team's expertise.

For each category, specify the service provided and its limits. Helping someone understand a dashboard is not the same as keeping the franchisee's accounts. Advising on how to organise work does not mean managing their employees.

Support must remain consistent with the franchisee's status as an independent business operator. It is neither a guarantee of profitability nor an undertaking to take responsibility for all their decisions. Equally, a vague phrase such as ‘continuous support’ does not adequately explain what you will actually provide.

2. Translate support into consistent contractual commitments

In France, franchise agreements are governed, among other things, by general contract law, commercial law and competition law. There is no single statutory framework bringing together all the applicable rules. Support throughout the term of the agreement is one of the franchisor's defining obligations, and its scope must be carefully specified.

Pre-contractual disclosure, however, has a specific legal framework. Article L. 330-3 of the French Commercial Code, originating in the law of 31 December 1989 known as the Doubin Law, applies when a business makes a trade name, trade mark or trading identity available while requiring an exclusive or near-exclusive commitment for the activity concerned. It requires the pre-contractual disclosure document and draft agreement to be supplied at least twenty days before the agreement is signed or any payment is made. Article R. 330-1 specifies the document's contents.

Your presentations to prospective franchisees and your agreement must therefore describe support that matches your resources. In particular, ensure they specify:

• the areas covered and how support will be delivered;
• contact channels and hours of availability;
• scheduled meetings or visits, where these form part of the commitment;
• the services included and any additional support charged separately.

Distinguish an internal response or handling target from a contractually guaranteed deadline. Do not promise an immediate resolution when it depends on an external supplier. Have a legal adviser review these commitments before presenting them to prospective franchisees.

3. Set up a system that does not depend on the founder being constantly available

Assign each type of request to a named person and designate someone to cover for them. Even in a small team, this division of responsibilities prevents one person's absence from holding up the entire network.

A simple system may be enough initially: a dedicated email address, a shared request log and a contact responsible for follow-up. What matters is being able to find the question, its urgency, the response given and the next action. Avoid scattering requests across personal messaging accounts and telephone conversations with no written record.

Define an escalation procedure: who steps in if the first point of contact cannot answer? Who coordinates an incident affecting several outlets? Who keeps franchisees informed of developments?

Then test this system using real situations from your business. Measure the time spent on diagnosis, discussions, travel and follow-up. This will help you estimate the support workload before bringing new members into the network. If the system still depends entirely on the business owner, strengthen it before stepping up franchisee recruitment.

4. Monitor the service provided and address persistent difficulties

Keep proportionate records of the support provided: requests received, responses, visit reports and agreed actions. This documentation helps maintain continuity of support and demonstrates what has actually been delivered.

Do not measure only the number of calls. Look at unanswered requests, recurring issues and actions that have genuinely been completed. A repeated question may point to a faulty tool or an inadequate explanation, rather than a lack of engagement from the franchisee.

When an outlet faces ongoing difficulties, propose a joint assessment and a support plan with clear dates. Distinguish the franchisor's actions from those that remain the franchisee's responsibility, without promising a guaranteed turnaround.

Key takeaway: before signing your first agreement, prepare a support outline specifying the services, responsible team members, contact channels and limits. Then check that your team can genuinely fulfil each commitment.