Owning a restaurant is fun – a balance of food, service, environment and brand. But taking a restaurant from one location to multiple locations is a different story. That is where a franchise consultant for restaurants comes in.
At Curry Craft, we work with restaurants making this transition and taking it from a single unit to a full franchise network. In this article we will look at the following:
– Why franchising is a fantastic growth avenue
– The typical challenges encountered when franchising
– The value of a franchise consultant
– The process Curry Craft employs
– How to choose the best consultant
– The FAQ’s & closing
1. Why Franchising Is a Powerful Growth Path
Reduced capital pressure
You do not have to finance every new location yourself. Instead, franchisees put up their own equity, easing the financial load on you.
More rapid expansion
With the right systems in place, you can implement your model more quickly across cities than developing your own company stores.
Increased brand exposure
Every time a franchise opens, they are also a marketing arm for your brand. The more stores, the more exposure, and positive word of mouth, and new customers.
Shared risk & workload
Franchisees are responsible for everyday execution, and you are responsible for managing the standards and quality. This spreads the workload and risk while maintaining central control of your brand.
Revenue from royalty fees & margins
A very successful franchise model not only creates sales, but can also create, reoccurring revenue from royalty fees, marketing fees, and supply margins.
However, franchising does not equal success and there are stumbling blocks to avoid — poor planning, lack of systems, and lack of standards will put you sideways. This is why many restaurant brands hire a qualified franchise consultant to walk alongside them as they explore franchising.
2. Common Challenges in Restaurant Franchising
Before exploring what a consultant contributes, let’s first describe the common dangers:
- Inconsistent operations: Each outlet starts to drift from standards (food, service, hygiene).
- Weak documentation: If manuals, SOPs, legal agreements, etc. have not been clearly defined, you have a recipe for conflict.
- Poor franchisee selection: Picking wrong partners to grow the system, (= commercial partners) who do not follow the concept standards or become disengaged
- Supply chain inefficiencies: The challenge is how to grow on the supply procurement side, or maintain ingredient consistency.
- Brand dilution: If new outlets do not deliver the same experience, the brand suffers.
- Regulatory confusion: Each city, state has its own food, labor, health, licensing, etc. regulations.
- Training & support lack: This is when new teams may not provide quality unless there are solid training systems in place.
A restaurant franchise consultant anticipates and helps mitigate the above risks and most importantly ensures that growth is both sustainable, and manageable.
3. How a Franchise Consultant Adds Value
Here’s how engaging a professional consultant alters your experience with franchising:
a) Feasibility & Strategy Assessment
The consultant will review your business, including operations, your menu, finances, customer data, and brand DNA, to analyze if it is suitable for franchising. In some cases, your franchisable model is not ready or there are adjustments required first.
b) Franchise Model Design
You will need to determine which model works, whether single unit, area development, master franchise or multi-units. The consultant will assist your brand in determining investment ranges, royalties, territories and growth models.
c) Legal & Documentation
The legal sophistication of drafting franchise agreements, disclosure documents, intellectual property policies and exit clauses may require legal expertise – and consultants will handle the coordination again for the franchisor and franchise development out of consideration for all parties involved.
d) Standard Operating Procedures & Operations Manuals
A consultant evaluates and develops all of the operating functionalities within a business. From kitchen standards and standardization of recipes, to service expectations from staff and checklists to maintain equipment, a good consultant will specify automobiles that can be replicated, to allow for the same level of quality and experience at each location.
e) Site Selection & Launch Support
A consultant may help to select and evaluate sites based on lease terms, as well as check in (or consult) on the buildout of the restaurant. You may have specific thoughts around layout, kitchen setup, interior design, or branding/marketing. An experienced restaurant consultant will naturally help with all of these spaces because they have experience with/have helped other businesses buildout their restaurant from the ground level.
f) Training & Education
The consultant may development training modules, be present during the opening, or check in on training and or support the franchisee and their team to be on brand with the business.
g) Vendor Integration & Supply Chain
A scalable / franchises model requires a vetted list of suppliers who are capable of delivering high quality product, maintain margins and logistics through different locations.
h) Ongoing Support & Audits
Following the launch, a consultant can provide support in the form of periodic audits, feedback strategies, comparisons to operational benchmarks, and refresher training to assist operations to stabilize.
4. Curry Craft’s Franchise Consulting Process
Here’s how Curry Craft facilitates the journey of your restaurant from a stand-alone outlet to a franchised brand:
Phase 1 – Discovery & Audit
- Interrogating your existing restaurant: menu, financials, operations, customer feedback
- Benchmarking to your competitors
- SWOT & risk assessment
Phase 2 – Franchise Strategy & Model Design
- Decide franchise format(s) singular, area development, master, etc.
- Define franchisee profiles, territory mapping, fees and royalties model
- Create growth breakpoint mapping
Phase 3 – Documentation & Legal Setup
- Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)
- Franchise Agreement templates
- Operations Manual & Kitchen SOPs for franchisees
- Policies around IP and brand usage
Phase 4: Franchise Launch Preparation
- Site for evaluation and lease signing
- Interior and design compliance
- Kitchen design compliant with brand standards
- Supply chain alignment
- Pre-launch support and marketing
Phase 5: Training and Onboarding
- Franchisee and staff training modules
- On-site support during initial days
- Quality assurance checklists
Phase 6: Continued Support and Scale
- Performance audits
- Brand refresher programs
- New site rollout plan
- Supply chain scaling
Curry Craft provides the structure to ensure that your franchise journey is not ad hoc — but instead a carefully constructed, fashioning, scalable, brand-centric growth mechanism.
5. How to Choose the Right Franchise Consultant
All consultants are not equal. Here are criteria to help you evaluate:
| Criteria | Considerations |
|---|---|
| Track Record | Have they franchised restaurants before? Ask for success stories. |
| Operational Experience | Understanding of F&B operations (kitchen, service, standards) is essential. |
| Industry Network | Good contacts with vendors, legal experts, real‑estate, etc. |
| Documentation Quality | Sample manuals, templates, legal documents to review. |
| Transparency in Fees | Clear breakdown of consulting, success fees, per‑outlet costs. |
| Support Model | Will the consultant support you post-launch (audits, refresher trainings)? |
| Cultural Fit | They should align with your brand’s values, vision, and working style. |
At Curry Craft, we blend deep restaurant operations know-how with franchise strategy, ensuring that our consulting is not theoretical — it’s grounded in what works.
6. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q: When should a restaurant start to consider franchising?
A: Typically, you will want to consider franchising after you have 2–3 stable outlets with proven margins and standardized operations with established brand equity. Franchising a single outlet is very risky unless your model is easily replicable.
Q: How much does it cost to hire a franchise consultant?
A: That is going to vary by consultant based on scope of work and the brand size. Some are going to have a fixed fee per project basis, while others may ask for a retainer plus success fees (capped fee to open new units). You want to make sure you understand what deliverables you will be getting in writing.
Q: How many manuals and SOPs will I need?
A: At a minimum: at least a kitchen SOP, service SOP, frontline service manual, procurement and vendor manual, HR and recruitment manual, and maintenance and cleaning SOPs.
Q: What are the usual royalty rates?
A: The common rates that restaurants typically use is 4–8 % of net sales for their royalty fee. There is usually also some type of contribution to a marketing fund. However, it depends on how strong the brand is and what type of support was provided to the franchise operators. It varies from brand to brand.
Q: How will I ensure consistency across my franchises?
A: Franchisees will usually get audits to see how they are performing regularly in addition to the standard training and education protocols. Other methods to ensure consistency, is to provide a mystery guest system in addition to the normal checks for performance. Additional assessments of performance can include statutory incentives for performance and a standard procurement approach.
Wrapping Up
Franchising is one of the most powerful levers for restaurant growth — but without the right planning, it can backfire. A dedicated franchise consultant for restaurant helps turn a single-successful outlet into a scalable, brand-consistent network.
At Curry Craft, we bring deep operational experience, design sensibility, legal coordination, and growth strategy to the table. From strategy and documentation to launch support and scaling, we walk with you every step.
If you’re ready to take your restaurant brand to new cities and audiences — let’s talk.
