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Franchising your business concept

We build the agreement, the disclosure document and the brand protection before you sell the first franchise.

Franchising is how a business grows on other people’s capital and effort, and the trade is that your brand is then operated every day by people you do not employ and cannot direct like staff. What holds that together is the documents. The franchise agreement is the only mechanism you have to require consistency, protect the system, and deal with a franchisee who is damaging the brand. The Franchising Code of Conduct sets minimum standards for how you disclose, how you deal with franchisees, and what you must do before you can terminate one, and it applies from your first franchisee rather than your tenth.

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Ready before the first signature

The Code applies from your first franchisee, so the disclosure document and the agreement have to exist before you offer one.

A brand you can enforce

Registered trade marks are what let you stop a departing franchisee trading under something almost identical.

The same package every time

The agreement is built to be issued repeatedly, so franchisee ten gets the terms you designed rather than ones you improvised.

What does it take to become a franchisor?

A system worth replicating, and the legal structure to license it. The structure has three parts. A franchise agreement that defines territory, fees, operating obligations, the term and what happens at the end. A disclosure document in the form the Franchising Code requires, given to prospective franchisees before they can sign and updated each year. And intellectual property that is actually owned and registered, because the thing you are licensing is the brand and the system, and an unregistered trade mark is difficult to enforce against a franchisee who leaves and keeps trading under something similar. The Code also imposes a good faith obligation on both sides that runs for the life of the relationship.

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What does the Franchising Code require of a franchisor?

A disclosure document in the prescribed form, given to a prospective franchisee a set period before they can sign and updated annually. A good faith obligation in all dealings with franchisees. Specific content requirements in the agreement itself. A process that must be followed before terminating for breach, and particular obligations at the end of a term. Breaches carry penalties, so the documents need to be right before you offer the first franchise.

Do I need registered trade marks?

Effectively yes. The brand is the main thing a franchisee is paying for, and an unregistered mark gives you far weaker rights against somebody using something confusingly similar. The situation that exposes it is a franchisee leaving and continuing to trade under a slightly altered name in the same area, which is common enough that it should be planned for rather than reacted to.

Can I trial the model before setting it all up?

With care. If somebody is paying you to use your brand and system, the arrangement may already be a franchise and the Code may already apply, whatever you call it. That is worth checking before the arrangement starts rather than after, because the disclosure obligations attach at the beginning and cannot be satisfied retrospectively.

What are my ongoing obligations once the network is running?

Keeping the disclosure document current, which means an annual update and an update whenever something material changes. Dealing with franchisees in good faith. Following the Code’s process for disputes and for any termination. And meeting the specific requirements around renewal, transfer and the end of a term. The obligations grow with the network, which is why most franchisors keep a lawyer engaged rather than treating the setup as finished.

Build the system before you sell the first franchise

Tell us about the business and how you want the network to work. We will tell you what the Code requires of you as a franchisor, what your brand protection looks like today, and what has to exist before you can take on a franchisee.

Once the first franchisee signs, the documents are all the control you have

You have something that works and can be repeated, and the temptation is to start with one enthusiastic person and formalise the system afterwards. The difficulty is that the first agreement becomes the template. The terms you gave the first franchisee are the terms the next ones will expect and the ones you will be held to. It also engages the Code immediately, so disclosure obligations and termination procedures apply from the beginning whether or not anybody prepared for them.

We will work through the commercial design with you, including territory, fees, term, supply and exit.
We will prepare a franchise agreement you can issue repeatedly without amendment.
We will prepare a disclosure document in the form the Franchising Code requires.
We will register and protect the trade marks and other intellectual property you are licensing.
We will incorporate your operations manual so the system is a contractual obligation.

The concept works and people are asking how they could run one

The business has a system that works, a brand that means something locally, and a process you could teach somebody in a few weeks. People have started asking whether they could open one, and you can see the growth that comes from saying yes without carrying the cost of every new site yourself. What you do not have is any of the legal structure that makes it a franchise rather than an informal arrangement, and you are aware that a mistake at the first site is a mistake repeated at every one after it.

What's included in your franchise system setup service

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Commercial design of the franchise terms.
A franchise agreement drafted for repeated use.
A Franchising Code compliant disclosure document.
Trade mark registration and the IP licensing structure.
Operations manual incorporation and ancillary documents.

What an informal start costs at scale

Franchise networks that begin informally share the same set of problems, and each one compounds with every new franchisee. The first agreement was generous because the first franchisee took a risk, and now it is the benchmark everybody else negotiates against. Territories were described loosely, so two franchisees each believe they have the same suburb. The brand was never registered as a trade mark, so a departing franchisee keeps trading under a near-identical name and there is very little you can do about it.

The Code problems are worse, because they carry penalties. A disclosure document that was not given in the required form or within the required period, a termination that did not follow the process the Code sets out, or a failure to deal in good faith can each expose the franchisor to action. And all of it is harder to fix later, because fixing it means asking existing franchisees to accept terms that are worse for them than the ones they already hold.

From a concept that works to a network you can run

We start with the commercial design rather than the documents, because documents only record decisions somebody has to make first. What a territory means and whether it is exclusive. What the franchisee pays and on what basis. How long the term runs and what renewal depends on. What you can require them to buy and from whom. What happens when one wants to sell, and what happens when one has to go.

Then we build it. A franchise agreement that reflects those decisions and can be issued repeatedly without amendment. A disclosure document in the form the Code requires. The trade mark and IP work, so what you are licensing is genuinely yours and genuinely enforceable. And the operations manual incorporated by reference, so the system is a contractual obligation rather than a suggestion. What you end up with is a package you can hand to the tenth franchisee as easily as the first.

How we build the system

From a concept that works to a package you can issue again and again.

Design the system

We work through territory, fees, term, supply obligations, renewal and exit with you, because the documents can only record decisions you have made.

Build the documents

We prepare the franchise agreement and a Code compliant disclosure document, and incorporate the operations manual so the system is binding.

Protect the brand

We register the trade marks and put the IP licensing structure in place, so what you are franchising is yours and enforceable.

Franchise systems built by lawyers who also act for franchisees

You have built something that works and you are about to hand it to people who will run it their own way unless the documents say otherwise. That is the real anxiety in franchising and it is a reasonable one, because a single franchisee operating badly under your brand damages every other site in the network.

We establish franchise systems, and we also review agreements for prospective franchisees, which tells us where they push back and what a well advised franchisee will simply refuse to sign. That produces agreements that protect you and that people will actually sign, which is a more useful combination than a document drafted to win every point.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Get the system built before the first franchisee

Tell us about the business and how you want the network to work. We will design the commercial terms with you, build the agreement and the disclosure document, and get the brand protected, so the tenth franchise is as straightforward as the first.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590