Explaining the franchise option

Franchising offers a supported route into self-employment, well suited to those with experience in public service. The British Franchise Association explains how this proven model works—and why it could be the right fit for your skills and aspirations

Facing redundancy can be a worrying time, particularly if you’ve had a long career in one sector, e.g. the civil or public service and you may (wrongly) believe, you don’t have the skills to start another career, but with an average age of a new franchisee in the UK of 49, you’re in very good company to start your next, highly successful and enjoyable career with a franchise.

The BFA (British Franchise Association)

We are the BFA (British Franchise Association). A standards-based association founded in 1977, we are the home of franchising in the UK. Not only do we hold a list of over 300 accredited franchise brands, whose models have been tested to ensure they are ethical and professional, meaning you can choose a franchise safely, but we also provide regular educational events for franchisors and franchisees.  

Franchising facts

Before we go any further, we’d like to share some facts with you. According to the 2024 National Franchise Survey sponsored by NIC Services Group: franchising contributes £19.1 billion to the UK economy and the average turnover per franchise unit is £400,000. There are 1,009 franchise systems in the UK, with 50,421 franchised units. 89 per cent of franchised units are profitable and, a figure we are particularly proud of, franchising has a less than 1 per cent commercial failure rate. Compared to the 50 per cent failure of all start-ups within the first three years, this is a truly E F phenomenal figure and all down to our method of using tried and tested business models.

What is franchising?

If you don’t know what franchising is, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Let’s start with the basics: franchising is a supported form of self-employment.

How does it work?

You, the ‘franchisee’ buys a franchise from a ‘franchisor’, who owns the core business. This core business will have a proven track record of success and will have run at least a couple of trial franchise territories before it becomes a fully franchised business. Most will have been trading for many years before they decided to franchise. Franchise fees In return for your one-off purchase fee and a monthly contribution, (either a fixed fee or, more usually, a percentage of your profits), you will be given an exclusive territory, and the franchisor will train you how to run your own ‘branch’ of the business.

Training and support

As a franchisee you will attend intensive initial training, then possibly more training once you start trading.     

Franchising is based on support, and you’ll be fully supported by a head office team from the day you pick up the phone to the day you sell the business. The team will be on hand to answer your questions all day, every day, especially at the beginning.     

The only thing the franchisor won’t do for you is go out and get customers and ‘do’ the work. That’s 100 per cent down to the franchisee. You’re not buying a job, you’re buying a business, there’s a big difference.

Support works

Franchising works because people are very well trained and fully supported. It’s like being self-employed, but with a support team and infrastructures guiding you on what to do and this is why finding a supportive franchisor is so important, but more on that later.

Why franchise?

By franchising their business, the franchisor can expand their brand across the UK much more quickly, whilst also getting regular cash injections into the business, by selling new territories. The monthly income from all the franchisees goes towards paying head office salaries, maintaining national brand awareness through marketing, social media and PR, building and maintaining the website, software and systems and continuous support of the entire network.

Who is suited to buying a franchise?

We love entrepreneurs; behind every franchise brand is someone who had an idea and worked until they made it happen and without them, we wouldn’t have a franchise industry. However, those kinds of entrepreneurs don’t make great franchisees – and it’s important to recognise which category you fall into. Are you happy to follow a tried and tested model or would you be better going it alone? Flexibility within the model Now that’s not to say there is no room for independent thought in franchising; some of the best franchisees are those that are trailblazers, seeing the model and making it their own, expanding and improving in areas they can, whilst still adhering to the model.  

What background do franchisees come from?

A good question, that’s very easy to answer: Absolutely anybody. From dog groomers to social workers, university graduates and school leavers to retirees, nurses and teachers, from ambulance drivers to army officers and Brigadiers to fighter pilots, there is a franchise, at a price point and in a sector, that suits everyone. Our members’ listing pages are full of case studies about their top franchisees, take some time to explore their stories and see which resonate with you and your situation.

Six steps to buying a franchise safely

When you decide to investigate buying a franchise, the most important thing is for you to buy a reputable brand, safely. As with any sector, there are rogue operators out there and as the self-regulatory body for franchising in the UK committed to ethical, professional franchising, we’ve got some advice for you.

Step one: look for the BFA logo

To become a member of the BFA and have their business listed on our website, a franchise must have undergone a thorough inspection by our standards team, to ensure the business is profitable and ethically run. We want to make sure a franchisee can make a decent profit from their purchase and that they are entering into a fair partnership with the franchisor. We always recommend prospective franchisees to have any legal documents checked by a franchise specialist solicitor (we hold a list on our website) before signing anything.

Step two: educate yourself

The first thing we’d ask you to do is take our free ‘Prospect Franchisee Certificate’ available on our website. By the end of the course, you will have a much better understanding of what a franchise is, what it means to be a franchisee, the questions you might like to ask any potential franchisor and the funding options available.     

We also run monthly online sessions called ‘Invest in a franchise’, where, for the nominal price of £10, we will provide you with everything you need to decide if franchising is a viable option for you and help you plan your next steps to finding a suitable brand.     

These sessions are delivered by BFA accredited members, with a broad knowledge and practical experience in franchising, including specialists from the BFA together with legal and banking experts. A panel session will also feature guest franchisors and franchisees to really showcase both sides of the relationship.

Step three: research

Once you’ve identified roughly the kind of franchise you’d like to buy, it is time to start researching. Obviously, you’ll want to look at their website, download their franchise brochure and read about them on the BFA website. Then you’ll want to ring them, have an initial chat and maybe agree to your first meeting.     

On the Prospect Franchisee course, you’ll have come away with some questions you might like to ask the franchisor – during your own personal research, jot down any other areas that are important to you.

Research at a franchise exhibition

There are various franchise exhibitions throughout the year in Birmingham and London which give you an unprecedented opportunity to come face to face with multiple franchisors in one place. You should also read the hundreds of articles on our website and those of FranchiseInfo, What Franchise, Which Franchise and Elite Franchise, about how to choose and buy a franchise safely and read case studies from satisfied franchisees.

Step four: talk to their franchisees

Once you have signed an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with a brand, it is time to ask for a list of existing franchisees that you can ring for a chat.     

The franchisor will give you a few names that are in a similar position/territory location/background to you, but also, possibly a few that are very successful. It’s only natural. Whilst those are all great to talk to, you also want to talk to a few who aren’t on that list to.

Red flags

If at any time the franchisor tries to discourage you from speaking to their franchisees, that’s a major red flag. They should be 100 per cent transparent and happy for you to talk to them all.  

When you do talk to them, if you hear they aren’t making money or if their franchisor isn’t supporting them, be concerned.     

Talking to current franchisees is the single best way to tell if a franchise is a happy, well run business that you should invest in. No network is 100 per cent happy all the time, life rarely is, but if you are hearing the same very big problems from multiple franchisees, across different parts of the country, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Step five: specialist legal advice

So, you’ve identified the franchise for you, you’ve chatted to the franchisor, the franchisees and done your ‘Discovery Day, where you spent a whole day with a franchisee to see what it is really like ‘at the coal face’ and you’re ready to sign on the dotted line. Stop.     

The legal franchise agreement you are about to sign should be checked by a specialist franchise solicitor first. Franchising law is a very specialist sector and it’s imperative that your agreement is checked before you sign it. We hold a list of BFA recommended solicitors on our website.

The BFA – always here to help

Our experienced team are passionate about helping people ‘Discover their tomorrow’ through franchising. If you need any help at all, please contact us directly on press@thebfa.org or call us on 01235 820470. We wish you well on your search and even if now is not the time, we hope you’ll consider franchising at some time in the future.

Case Study – Kevin and Ann Booth - GoCruise & Travel

When did you join the forces/police? Ann 1979 and Kevin 1981

When did you leave the forces/police? Kevin 2013 (Ann still works part-time to date)

What regiment/unit/division were you with? Merseyside Police (Ann now Cheshire Police)

What role did you play? Mainly front-line uniform services including firearms/traffic/communications operations/strategic/plain clothes

What rank did you leave at? Kevin - Inspector (Ann - Constable though now civilian)

What attracted you to buying a franchise rather than going it alone? We mainly wanted a supportive network that could offer good training, easy to use systems and a back-up effective admin service. We knew our goal was to build a good database as soon as we could so we needed to invest our time into that, whilst the supportive franchisor could complete our back-office needs.

How did you find your franchise? Months of Google and checking out franchise websites. Looking at reviews and simply making a call which was answered straight away. We also rang one of their franchisees to see if they could give us some advice – which they kindly and freely did.

Which franchise did you buy? GoCruise (later GoCruise & Travel)

How did you know it was the right franchise for you? It fitted in with exactly what we wanted – no huge performance indicators, an excellent support network and the opportunity for knowledge development to enable our database to grow.

How did you finance your purchase? We invested part of our lump sum from our retirement pension. Our aim was to recoup this as soon as possible so that gave us the drive and we managed to recoup the costings within 18 months.

Why do you think ex-service/military people make good franchisees? What are the transferable skills? We have had experiences in life that the average person will NEVER have to deal with. This makes us strong and determined and gives the ability to make quick thinking, rational decisions. We also know how to talk to people. Police wise, we spent many years building up confidence from the public. This can be converted into our sales as without your client base having the confidence in you to perform and act, you will struggle to succeed.

What are some of the best things about being a franchisee? The franchise family itself (we are not too large so we tend to know each other quite well). It gives you your own freedom to do what you want at your level. You get opportunities to travel to places you never thought you would. There is an excellent social aspect to it all too and above all it keeps the cogs of your brain turning which to us personally is vital, as you leave your main employment and look to retirement (or in our case semi-retirement).

What advice would you give to someone about to leave the forces/police and thinking of buying a franchise? I am quite blunt about this – you ONLY get out of it what you put into it. Nothing comes to you on a plate but once you get yourself a decent database and you perform well for your clients, the bookings continue to come in and you are recommended to others. Research franchises like we did – try and speak to an existing franchisee for advice like we did… above all get yourself a good supportive franchise that is there for you when you need them.

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