Franchising: organising ongoing support for franchisees

When you turn an existing business into a franchise network, explaining how to open and operate a business is not enough. You also need to decide who will help franchisees when they encounter an operational problem. Ongoing support must be planned before you offer the first contracts: it needs to deliver practical help to franchisees, be sustainable for the franchisor and reflect the commitments made in the agreement.

1. Define which problems the support service should solve

In the original business, many difficulties are resolved directly by the owner, often without any record being kept. That personal availability does not automatically translate into a service you can replicate. The first step is to observe the requests coming from managers and staff in the existing business, recording the problem, the expertise required and the time spent.

Then group requests by type, for example:

• questions about applying sales procedures;
• difficulties using tools or equipment;
• problems with operational workflows and orders;
• questions about how promotional campaigns work;
• a need for updates on service delivery procedures.

For each group, clarify what the franchisor will do and where its involvement ends. Helping someone interpret a sales report, for example, is not the same as providing tax advice or guaranteeing a franchisee’s profitability.

The result should be a service catalogue, not a vague promise to be available. For each entry, specify who the service is for, how to access it, operating hours, any exclusions and the documentation needed to submit a request.

2. Translate the service into clear contractual commitments

In Italy, franchising is governed by Law No. 129 of 6 May 2004, which specifically addresses franchise arrangements. Article 3 requires the contract to be in writing, otherwise it is void. It also requires the contract to expressly describe the services offered by the franchisor in relation to technical and commercial support, design and fit-out, and training.

The law does not set a standard response time for all franchise networks. It is therefore up to the parties to agree commitments suited to the business format. Matters not covered by the specific legislation are subject to the general provisions of the Italian Civil Code.

Avoid wording such as ‘comprehensive and unlimited support’ if you cannot deliver it. Instead, distinguish between:

• services included in the contractual fees;
• additional paid support, with clear pricing and authorisation criteria;
• activities entrusted to external suppliers;
• services that remain the responsibility of the franchisee and their advisers.

The full contract and its annexes must be supplied at least thirty days before signing, in accordance with the pre-contractual disclosure period required by Article 4. Prospective franchisees must therefore be able to understand what support they are buying before they sign. Ask your legal adviser to review the arrangements for updating the service too: an internal procedure should not undermine the obligations assumed under the contract.

3. Assign responsibility and prioritise requests

Every request must have an identifiable person responsible for it. Even in a small organisation, specify who receives the request, who assesses it and who can call on specialist expertise. Appoint a deputy as well: the service cannot depend on the founder being available.

Set priorities according to operational impact. A problem that brings operations to a halt needs different treatment from a question about a procedure that will be used in a few days’ time. However, do not let every request become urgent simply because it comes through a personal phone call.

It is useful to distinguish between three stages:

• acknowledgement and assignment: confirmation that the request has been received and assigned;
• first useful response: an action to take, a check to carry out or a request for missing information;
• resolution: closure of the issue, where this is genuinely within the control of those involved.

Promising a response does not mean promising an immediate solution. If an external supplier is involved, clarify who will liaise with them and keep the franchisee updated. In safety-related situations or emergencies, support from the franchisor does not replace the relevant services or mandatory procedures.

4. Check capacity and quality before expanding

Before recruiting more franchisees, test the process using real requests from the existing business. Do not limit testing to straightforward cases: also check what happens when several problems arrive at once or the most experienced person is unavailable.

Measure the actual time spent handling requests, including checks, coordination and updates. You can use this data to estimate the workload and decide when additional staff will be needed. Do not adopt a fixed ratio of support staff to franchisees without considering the complexity, timing and frequency of requests.

Regularly review outstanding requests, recurring problems, reopened cases and how useful franchisees find the support. Speed alone is not enough: closing a request quickly without resolving it creates more work. Repeated difficulties, meanwhile, may point to a procedure that needs clarification or a service that needs redesigning.

In practice: before taking on your first franchisee, prepare a support catalogue, assign responsible staff and deputies, and check that you can sustain your contractual commitments. A franchise network is better placed to grow when every franchisee knows who to contact and what to expect.