The brand fundis a P&L.Run it like one.
Fitness, personal services, home and senior care, education and auto services. Multi-unit brands run a brand fund, approved-supplier programs and technology fees that franchisees watch closely. We make each one defensible, and cheaper to run.
Where it goes wrong.
Franchisees fund much of the system and they compare notes. A technology fee that runs ahead of what the stack costs, or a brand fund that spends heavily on agency overhead, becomes a franchisee relations problem before it becomes a finance one.
The franchisor’s own vendor base grows with every new unit and every new region, usually without anyone reviewing it as a whole.
Brand fund agency and media
Fees, scope and how much of the fund becomes working media.
Technology fees versus stack cost
What franchisees pay per unit against what the platforms cost the franchisor.
Approved-supplier pricing
Rebates and margins in supplier programs, and how they are disclosed.
Vendors sold to franchisees
Local marketing, lead and call-handling vendors recommended by the brand.
Franchisor software
Duplicate tools at head office as the system grows.
Lead handling
Call centers, booking tools and lead routing paid for twice.
How we help
The same approach as every engagement: a free call, a Second Opinion or a Diagnostic to size it, then the work run to the P&L.
An agency search planned in eight weeks, not eight months.
A growing QSR franchise group needed a media and digital partner that could support new-location openings across Canada and the US, and was open to compensation tied to performance.
Fix the fund before you pick the agency.
A franchise brand of about 400 locations asked what a fair agency retainer looked like. The bigger issue was the size of the ad fund paying for it.
Franchise brand funds, rebates and tech fees outside restaurants
In fitness, home care, education and auto service, the friction is not the royalty. It is the brand fund, the supplier rebate and the tech fee.
Where QSR franchise systems leak margin
Food and labor get the attention. The larger recoverable pools sit in brand-level vendor contracts and an ad fund built for a business the system has outgrown.
Straight answers.
Is this only for restaurant franchises?
No. We work with franchise systems across fitness, services, care, education and automotive. Restaurants have their own page.
Who do you work for, the franchisor or franchisees?
The franchisor, or the PE owner of the franchisor. Franchisee advisory councils are often part of the process.
Tell us about the business.
Fifteen minutes. We will tell you where we would look first in a business like yours.