The 3 / 2 Rule : Pilot Rule: 3 stores, 2 years
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All the rules of the establishment of a franchise chain go through a levered base: the reproduction of commercial success. The idea of reproduction suggests a no less important second idea: standardization.
The pilot is the "laboratory" that led to a mastering of all the difficulties of the formula or concept, the subject of the franchise. How could one seriously sell a success if it is fragile or weak?
To be considered a professional franchisor, ready to recruit franchisees and experience successful and rapid expansion of its chain, it needs to take at least three pilots, with a minimum of two years of activities. This rule does not claim to be absolute. For a sale to succeed, it must not only control its concept, but also know the whole market of where it intends to franchise (think again of "the lifetime” savings of the poor candidate franchisee).
It is important to note that, when the first pilot functions correctly, some experts said of "the franchisability of the Product", will answer that the chain can be launched; but if one expects a first operating account of the second pilot, some difficulties will appear that did not exist in the first pilot store.
Finally, when dealing with the operating account of the third pilot store, it is not uncommon to see that this concept is perhaps not in fact franchisable at all, because you will see that the concept is not standardized and repeatable across all markets of the country.
In conclusion, the establishment of a franchise requires a period of observation - or longer depending on the concept - in which the franchisor will investigate thoroughly and in detail the process necessary for the creation of the success, and how he may replicate this success: it is the industrialization of the means of marketing.
When the company has three pilots (three successes) for two years, it becomes apparent that the franchisor has begun to control its product and / or service, its concept, and market.
It will then have the experience that will feed its knowledge and make its initial training and permanent training a transferable reality. In other words, in order for the "know how" to be truly transferable in the field of commercial franchising, the franchisor must validate franchisability of the concept: three pilots of two years.
