Setting the Standard: How to Maintain Franchise System Quality Control

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Ensuring that quality is a commitment in your business will lead to the longevity of your franchise.

By Jason Callaway
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Quality control is essential to the success of any organization. And this holds especially true for franchises. A franchisor’s key objective should be to sustain quality standards throughout its entire franchise system. Failing to establish and maintain quality ultimately leads to the downfall of many franchise brands. But if done correctly, quality control can help improve a franchise system. 
 
At Bacon Bros. Public House, a new farm-to-table restaurant concept, quality control is indicative of the company’s success. As a business that is centered on locally sourced food, we rely heavily on fresh local ingredients to produce high-quality dishes. Our restaurants operate in four-season climates and due to environmental factors, what each location offers on its menu may vary depending on the season. This, however, does not affect the quality of our products. We put in place a foundation for quality control throughout the franchise system that ensures high-quality products regardless of the restaurant location or time of year.
 
That raises the question, how can franchisors ensure consistent quality throughout their organizations?
Identify All-Star Franchisees
The success of any franchise begins with the franchisee. A franchisee should act as an extension of the brand and, at the same time, bring his or her unique perspective to the team. It is important that franchisors look for potential franchisees that are not only committed to being franchise partners, but are also motivated to thrive. This in turn, will ensure quality, because an all-star franchisee will be driven to offer customers high-quality products consistent with the brand’s standards. 
 
Alternatively, franchisees that lack commitment to their business won’t be motivated by the pride of their ownership. And as a result, the quality of the product might suffer. Additionally, a sub-par franchisee can potentially hurt the reputation of other franchisees in the system or prevent new franchisees from joining.
 
Deeply motivated franchisees often pair their commitment with their drive to succeed. This ensures that their customers’ needs are met with quality products. Ultimately, a business is a reflection of the owner, and this holds true for franchisors as well as franchisees. 
Find the Best Market
The location of a franchise often depends on the type of product or service it offers. For example, a farm-to-table restaurant franchise, like Bacon Bros. Public House, operates best in a location with a relatively close farming community. We decentralized our food sourcing and production so fresh vegetables and other ingredients are shipped directly to each restaurant from nearby farms. Since suppliers play a large role in the products we supply, we strive to choose locations with farming communities within a 50-mile radius, and as a US-based franchise, this is not hard to find. If a franchise depends on the business’ proximity to a supplier or producer, franchisors should make sure to take that into account when selecting their markets. 
 
Additionally, the demographic of a franchise’s audience should also be a factor when identifying a new market. Just as a snow removal franchise would not well serve the residents of Miami, Fla., our family-oriented restaurants would not fit in communities that aren’t family-friendly. If franchisors select markets that aren’t a good fit for their concepts, they might find themselves trying to mold their business to fit the environment in which it is located. Much like trying to fit a square puzzle piece into a round hole — it doesn’t work and can lower the quality of what they offer.
 
In the end, a franchise’s location should be able accommodate the tools necessary for its business. Our restaurants contain glass-clad cure rooms used to smoke and cure our meats. Whether building a restaurant from scratch or undergoing a remodel, it’s important for franchisors to choose a location suitable for their services or products. 
Implement a Customizable Training Procedure
Once new franchisees are identified and the appropriate markets are selected, the next step should be to take new franchisees through a training process. For example, our franchisees undergo an intense six-week training course, which includes a lesson on how our menu items are prepared. Each new chef is taught by the executive chef of our flagship location, Anthony Gray, who is responsible for the franchise’s recipe development. 
 
This approach ensures that every menu item has the same high-quality across the board. We also teach our franchisees how to structure the menu based on seasonal changes in the weather. The climate in one market may be different than the climate in the next. With this in mind, it is important that franchisors, regardless of their industry, customize their training materials based on the franchisees’ markets. But it is important to do so with aim of providing a product or service that is consistent with the brand’s core identity. 
Offer Ongoing Support
Even though an intensive training process is crucial, it’s not the end-all, be-all. Franchisors need to provide ongoing support for their franchisees. Whether it is in the form of hands-on or remote support, it is important to maintain an open line of communication with the franchisees. We make sure to send an on-site team to our franchisees a few weeks before their opening date to ensure that everything runs smoothly as possible. And once they are open, we are readily available to answer any questions they may have or tackle any problem they may encounter. 
Start Day One
If standards aren’t put in place from Day One, it might be difficult to ensure quality across a franchise system. Quality requires commitment, both on the part of the franchisors and their franchisees. Ensuring that quality is a commitment in your business will lead to the longevity of your franchise.  
 
Jason Callaway is the Director of Operations of Bacon Bros. Public House. He began his culinary career in Palm Beach as a teenager and worked his way up from dishwasher to certified sommelier.
 

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