"Franchising is sometimes underestimated."

The vision of Koelewijn & Partners on franchising: 
‘Franchising is sometimes underestimated’

The franchise market needs further professionalization. Not just the front end, but also the processes at the back end of a formula need to be in order.

Since 1988, Koelewijn & Partners has been assisting franchise organizations and other collaborations with strategy determination, practical implementation, and the recruitment and selection of franchisees. During this period, much has changed, but a lot has stayed the same. “In the past, more and better thought went into making the step toward franchising. It was a well-considered choice, whereas nowadays a concept is created, a random franchise contract is downloaded from the internet, something is adjusted, and the organization is born.”

Wrong development

A wrong development in our opinion. “If you try to repair a Volkswagen with a Peugeot garage manual, it won’t work, will it?” We also critically look at the franchisees, who need to make more conscious choices and also need to professionalize. “Recently, we had a conversation with someone who wanted to bring a franchise concept from the United States to the Netherlands. The entry fee was $50,000. Astronomical by Dutch standards. And what was in return? Nothing, no business case, no profit potential, no profit model. That’s not possible; before you start anything, you need to know what the formula is worth. Sometimes this is underestimated, and yes, then you are heading for a fiasco.”