How to Start Franchising
Franchising Operations Manual
Written by Ed Teixeira for Gaebler Ventures
An important step in creating franchises that can be sold to entrepreneurs is developing your Franchising Operations Manual. We walk you through how it's done.
In this fourth part of a five-part article on the steps to franchise a business, we discuss the nuances of creating a franchising operations manual.
Developing an Operations Manual and Training Program
A simultaneous step during the UFOC process is to write a franchise operations manual and design a training program for your new franchises. This information must be disclosed in the UFOC. The franchise operations manual has a specific format and it will serve as the reference, instructional guide and procedural manual for your franchisees.
You should use a franchise consultant or franchise trainer to perform this function. If you already have a manual, you can use your consultant to edit the manual to format it correctly.
You’ll need someone to do the training, and you may choose to use your existing location as a training site. At the early stages of a franchise start-up, many franchisors will use existing employees to perform the training. This may even include the founder of the company.
Training should include operations, marketing and other important components of franchise operations.
Ready for the next step? Learn about Selling New Franchises.
Ed Teixeira is President of FranchiseKnowHow, LLC, a franchise consulting firm; and a managing principal in the Bridge Business Broker Franchise Company. He may be reached at (631) 246-5782 or at www.franchiseknowhow.com.
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