Franchise development in Europe

Franchise development is the work of turning a business that already works into a system that another owner can open under your brand and run to the same standard. For Europe the result is a set of documents and tools: the franchise model, a franchisee financial model, an operations manual, brand and unit standards, a training programme, a franchise sales kit and the business content of the disclosure document and agreement. Each country where you sell the franchise adds its own layer, because disclosure timing and mandatory content are set by national law.

Marketing MIX handles the business and marketing side of that package. The legal text of the franchise agreement and the disclosure document is drafted and signed off by a franchise lawyer in the franchisee's country; we prepare the content they work from and keep it consistent with the manual, the financial model and the sales material.

Who this is for

The package is built for three kinds of owners.

• A brand with units at home in Ukraine, Canada or another non-EU market that wants to sell franchises in Poland, Germany, the Baltics or elsewhere in the EU.
• A business already trading in the EU (a café, studio, school, service company) that keeps getting asked "can we open one in our city?".
• A master franchisee or area developer who has taken the rights for a country and needs to localise someone else's package.

A readiness test in five questions

Answer these honestly before paying anyone for a franchise package, us included.

1. Has at least one unit traded for a full year, with accounts you can show a stranger? The EFF European Code of Ethics for Franchising sets one year and one pilot unit as the minimum before a network starts in a market.
2. Could a new manager run the unit for a month without calling you? If the answer is no, the know-how still lives in your head and the first job is writing it down.
3. Is the margin left after royalty and marketing fee enough for a franchisee to earn a living and repay the investment? This is a calculation, and we do it before anything else.
4. Is your trade mark registered in the countries you are targeting?
5. Do you have the people to recruit, train and support franchisees, or a budget to hire them?

Three or more "no" answers usually mean the business needs a pilot stage first. The article on the pilot unit before franchising explains what to measure during it.

What the franchise package contains

Each block is described in detail in the related guides: franchise operations manual, franchise fees and royalties and what goes into a franchise agreement.

The legal layer in Europe

Franchising in Europe runs on two levels.

EU level. Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/720, the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation, sets the conditions under which vertical agreements, franchise agreements among them, are exempt from the ban on anti-competitive agreements. It matters for non-compete clauses, territorial protection and resale prices. It contains no disclosure rules.

National level. Several member states have their own disclosure laws with fixed waiting periods: France (20 days), Italy (30 days), the Netherlands (four weeks), Spain (20 days), Belgium (one month). Sweden requires written information "in good time" before signing. Germany and Poland have no franchise statute; general civil-law duties in pre-contractual negotiations apply. The country table with links to each law is in franchise disclosure laws in Europe.

In practice this means one master package and a country annex for each market: the disclosure document in the required language and structure, the agreement adapted by local counsel and the financial figures restated for local costs.

How the work runs

A typical sequence for a European franchise package:

1. Diagnosis. We read your accounts per unit, existing standards, brand assets and the target countries. Output: a written readiness assessment and the list of gaps.
2. Franchise model and financial model. Fee structure, territory and the franchisee's numbers. Everything else depends on this step, so it is agreed before writing starts.
3. Operations manual and standards. Written with your operations lead, tested by someone who has not worked in the business.
4. Brand standards and training. Unit brand book, training plan and onboarding materials.
5. Legal content with local counsel. We hand over the business inputs; the lawyer drafts the disclosure document and agreement for each country.
6. Sales kit and launch. Investor deck, franchise landing page, candidate funnel and the first outreach in the target market.

Durations depend on how much is already written down, so we set dates in the estimate after diagnosis.

Our experience with franchise projects

Fast Coffee. Fast Coffee is a self-serve bean-to-cup coffee brand in the Ottawa area, operated by a company in our own group. When the project started, the offer was built around a franchise. Our team built the website with franchise sections and prepared the operator package: business plan, presentation, unit economics, FAQ, one-pager and letters in English and French, plus location licence agreements in both languages. During the work we removed income promises and a "guaranteed money back" claim from the site, because those claims had no disclosure process behind them. We run the same check on every franchise sales kit we prepare. Read the Fast Coffee case.

Cookiddoo. Cookiddoo is a kids' cooking studio in Kanata, Ottawa, which our team launched from scratch with its founder. The four-language website includes a franchise page that invites partners across Canada with a launch playbook, staff training, a tested curriculum, and branding and marketing support. Read the Cookiddoo case.

Both projects are Canadian, and the team works for European clients from the same office. For brands moving between markets, see master franchise and international expansion and franchising in Poland.

Mistakes we check for first

• Income claims in sales material. A deck that shows "expected revenue" without the source of the figures creates liability under disclosure laws and under the EFF Code, which requires recruitment advertising to be free of ambiguity and misleading statements.
• A financial model built on the founder's unit only. Your unit has a paid-off fit-out and an owner who works for free. The franchisee's model has to include rent, a salaried manager, royalty and marketing fee.
• Know-how that exists only in conversation. If the manual cannot be handed over, a court or a candidate's lawyer will ask what the fee pays for.
• One agreement for all countries. Disclosure periods and contract law differ; the agreement needs local review.
• No trade mark in the target market. Check the register before the first talks.

Start with a consultation

We begin with a paid 30-minute consultation (100 €): we look at your business, the target countries and what is already written down, and agree the next step. If you prefer a written answer, we prepare a written review of your readiness from 200 €. The franchise package itself is priced after that, as a fixed estimate with a list of deliverables.

Send your website, the number of units and the countries you are considering through the contact form, or start with our market analysis if the target country is still open.