The Team You Need As A Franchise Owner.
At the core of every business are the people who dedicate each day to making that business thrive and become successful franchise in the restaurant industry. While it would be easy to throw a dozen random people in an office and call it a day, building out a well-rounded corporate franchise team tends to be a bit more complicated than that. Below we cover the most integral jobs and responsibilities that are necessary in order for your business to run smoothly.
At Crisp, we have seen how beneficial certain corporate team members are for operating a restaurant franchise. Each corporate team we have worked with has shown specific strengths through their employees and we want to highlight what those employees' job roles are and what responsibilities they carry. Note that some of the job roles listed below may be a full-time job if you have a large company, but if you are smaller, these roles may be more of a responsibility.
Corporate Trainer
The role of a Corporate Trainer is crucial to a franchise brands consistency and all-over operational excellence. Whether you are opening a new location or helping a current location to improve, a trainer is the key to success. Make sure your trainer likes to travel because this position will require physically being on location. They need to be a people-person and have strengths in team building, organization, and time management.
Menu Expert
A Menu Expert should be your go-to person for any menu changes, specials, and regional pricing. This position is often overlooked but really crucial for a restaurant franchise. They should especially know how to make any updates on both your Point of Sale system and any Third Party dashboards. Having a designated person in charge of this part of your business ensures any changes are processed smoothly throughout all locations and on all platforms.
POS Expert
From the perspective of a point of sale company, having a designated point of sale expert is crucial to your success with your point of sale. Knowing the ins and outs of reporting, team member management, and general operations will ensure you keep stress low when franchising a restaurant by removing unnecessary frustration from lack of knowledge.
Marketing and Branding
Having a corporate marketing and branding team is important and highly integral in the growth of your restaurant franchise. This person or team will be in charge of your social media accounts, website, online presence, and your branding which is vital to franchise owners. You will need to trust this person to make constant public decisions on behalf of your restaurant franchise. They should be well versed in technology, understand your market, and have a fun and creative outlook on your business.
Technology
Even with a comprehensive point of sale system, all restaurant franchises tend to have a large tech stack. Knowing the ins and outs of each piece of restaurant technology can get confusing and overwhelming quickly. To avoid the stress of restaurant technology on the whole team, it is important to have a designated team member in charge of knowing all technology in use within a company and making sure they are being used to their full potential. There is nothing that is more frustrating than paying for software that is not being utilized, especially at the scale of a large restaurant franchise.
Hardware
As well as restaurant technology being a large part of operating a restaurant franchise, so is handling hardware and equipment. Even with great support from equipment companies, having someone on-site to troubleshoot issues will make all the difference. This person should also know how any and all equipment in-store operates and basic troubleshooting steps. The biggest reason to have this person is for new store openings. Opening a new store involves a lot of equipment and general hardware installation. Appointing one person to this role ensures that all responsibility is taken on by one individual and will be completed correctly. They should also be the one in charge of writing and updating your “Build Out Manual”.
Accounting/Finance
We have seen quite a few restaurant franchises suffer from only using a 3rd party company to do all their financials and accounting. While we don’t recommend going as far as doing your own taxes, we do think keeping up on your finances in-house is important. Whether it’s the day-to day purchasing, invoices, lease management, or generating a P&L, your corporate team should be fully aware of your financial standing and not need to rely on a third party to give you access to that information.
Human Resources and Payroll
Employees are what make your business thrive. Without them, you don’t have a business. With that said, you need to have someone on your team managing the employee life cycle (i.e., recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, and firing employees) and administering employee benefits as well as ensuring payroll is done correctly and on time. This individual should also be good at mediation and de-escalating situations that arise between employees.
Franchising Sales
The franchise development process is not just about closing the deal. It’s about finding the right fit for both candidate and brand. Your Sales team will move your franchise prospects and candidates through your sales process to determine if there’s a match, while negotiating things like initial investment, franchise fees, business models, and presenting your franchise disclosure document.
Onboarding
You have a new franchise contract signed, and the initial franchise fee has been received, now what? Your Onboarding specialist will be in charge of walking new franchisees through every step from the franchise agreement to opening day! If this process is being juggled between multiple team members, things are bound to fall through the cracks and it will only become a frustrating and unsuccessful process when building a franchise system. This person is also who your new franchise locations will begin to form a relationship with and set the stage for their interactions with your company in the future.
Franchisee Support
Do you want to have a good relationship with franchisees? I bet that you do. We have seen both sides of the spectrum, one side being a great relationship with trust and the other side being not so great - full of frustration and disappointment. In order to avoid the latter, have someone whose sole job is supporting franchisees. It is this person’s job to establish a relationship with both you new, and existing franchisees, gain their trust, and make them feel heard.
All in All…
Running a franchise in the restaurant industry takes a lot of work. We wish you the best of luck and hope you find the dream team you are looking for! If you have a need for software that will help your franchise dream team succeed, come take a look at what we have to offer at Crisp.
