Defining What Your Irish Franchisees May Sell

An established business often sells more than its founder realises: core services, occasional extras, bespoke projects and products introduced for particular customers. Before franchising in Ireland, decide which of these belong in the franchise offer. A clear definition of the authorised business helps franchisees understand what they are buying and prevents customers receiving very different offers under the same brand.

1. Separate your core offer from your occasional work

Start with a list of everything your existing business charges customers for. Include add-ons, subscriptions, delivery, installation, consultancy and seasonal services, rather than relying on your main product list.

Classify each item into three groups:

• Required: products or services every franchisee must offer to deliver the core customer proposition.
• Optional with approval: activities suitable only where particular skills, facilities or permissions are available.
• Outside the franchise: activities that the franchise licence does not authorise.

This is a scope exercise, not a pricing exercise. You are deciding what the franchise business does, rather than setting the prices independent franchisees charge.

Look especially closely at work that depends on unusual circumstances. A profitable bespoke service performed by the founder may not belong in the standard offer if other operators cannot reliably deliver it. Equally, an apparently minor add-on may be essential because customers expect it alongside the main purchase.

Record a reason for each classification. That makes the eventual offer easier to explain to prospective franchisees and gives your solicitor a useful drafting brief.

2. Turn the list into a clear grant of rights

The franchise agreement should define the nature of the business the franchisee is licensed to operate. A general permission to trade under your brand can leave difficult questions unanswered if your current business has several distinct activities.

For example, a maintenance business might provide routine cleaning, specialist treatments and repair work. Do franchisees receive rights to all three, or only routine cleaning? Does permission to sell a product also include permission to install or repair it?

Prepare a scope schedule covering:

• The authorised product and service categories.
• Any mandatory elements of the customer offer.
• Activities requiring separate written approval.
• Excluded activities that must not be presented as part of the franchise.
• Relevant limits on using the brand to advertise or deliver those activities.

Distinguish permission from capability. Authorising a service does not establish that a franchisee has the qualifications, insurance or regulatory permissions to provide it.

Keep the agreement and operating materials consistent. The agreement should establish the rights and obligations; the manual can explain how authorised activities are delivered. Avoid using a manual entry to imply a commercial right that the agreement does not grant.

3. Check the Irish legal boundaries

Ireland has no franchise-specific legislation, statutory franchise disclosure regime or general franchise registration requirement. That does not make the scope of a franchise licence unrestricted: general contract, competition and intellectual property laws apply, alongside consumer protection and activity-specific requirements where relevant.

Contract law makes precise drafting important. Recruitment descriptions, schedules and the agreement should give a consistent account of what the franchisee may sell. Do not advertise a broad business opportunity and then quietly exclude a substantial revenue-generating activity in the contract.

Competition law also needs attention. Section 4 of the Competition Act 2002, as amended, prohibits anti-competitive agreements. Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union can apply where trade between Member States may be affected. Restrictions on products, competing activities or sales channels should therefore receive specialist review; describing them as brand standards does not automatically make them lawful.

Check intellectual property permissions too. Your right to use third-party content, software or branded materials in your existing business may not extend to use by independent franchisees. Obtain any necessary permissions before including those elements in the offer.

4. Establish a practical approval route

Franchisees will encounter customer requests that sit near the edge of the authorised offer. Give them a route for asking whether an activity is permitted rather than leaving them to guess.

A short approval form should describe the proposed activity, customer need, required competence, insurance implications and intended brand use. Identify who reviews it and require a written decision before it is promoted as an approved franchise service.

Keep an approval register recording any conditions and whether permission applies to one operator or the wider franchise community. An individual exception should not accidentally become a promise to every franchisee.

Before recruitment begins, test the scope schedule against realistic customer enquiries. If two readers reach different conclusions about what is allowed, clarify the wording.

Practical takeaway: Create a required, optional and excluded offer list, then have your solicitor align it with the franchise agreement. Every franchisee should understand exactly which business they are authorised to run.