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The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® Is Disrupting the Transactional Café Space, Prioritizing Craft Over Commodity

Why Mellow Mushroom Is Targeting Louisville, Kentucky, for Multi-Unit Franchise Growth 

Neighborhood Barre Celebrates Three New Franchise Openings Within Just Two Months

Jollibee Is Setting Its Sights on San Antonio and Wants Local Franchise Partners to Lead the Way

Express Employment Professionals Signs 29 New Franchise Agreements Through Midyear of 2026

The $4.9 Million Chicken Story: What Jollibee's 2026 FDD Reveals About Unit Economics

Franchise Opportunity Deep Dive: Newk’s Eatery is a fast-casual restaurant brand serving made-from-scratch sandwiches, salads, soups and pizzas rooted in Southern hospitality.

Newk’s Eatery Franchise Costs, Fees, Profit and Data for 2026

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Big O Tires Franchise Costs, Fees, Profit and Data for 2026

Franchise Opportunity Deep Dive: Big O Tires is a full-service auto care franchise offering tires, brake repair, alignments, oil changes and preventive maintenance under a nationally recognized brand.

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1851 Franchise Deep Dive graphic with Sparkle Squad logo

Franchise Opportunity Deep Dive: Sparkle Squad is a tech-forward, founder-led window cleaning franchise revolutionizing a century-old industry.

Sparkle Squad Franchise Costs, Fees, Profit and Data for 2026

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When preparing to transition from founder to franchisor, building your operations playbook and documenting SOPs is a crucial step. Franchises are built on systems, and your own instincts as the person who built the business cannot be the backbone of franchisees’ businesses across multiple markets. So, taking what’s in your head and getting it on paper in a clear, actionable way should be one of the first things you consider when you think of franchising.For&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amygerlacherreed">Amy Addington</a>, founder and president of&nbsp;<a href="https://ownawoofies.com/">Woofie’s</a>, considering the playbooks and SOPs was top of the list after she decided franchising would be the way to grow.“It became very clear that franchising was the right way to scale the&nbsp;<a href="https://1851franchise.com/woofies/info">Woofie’s</a> model, so we started putting everything together,” she said. “When we knew we were going to franchise, we made a real effort to document all of our processes because we knew, if we’re going to franchise, we literally need to document every single scenario. Every single thing. And it’s a much bigger task than you realize when you think about all the day-to-day things that you do!”<h2>How to Approach the ‘Brain Dump’</h2>Once you decide to begin the documentation process, it can be easy to take a “brain dump” kind of approach, writing down everything that comes to mind, maybe in no particular order. This is a starting point, but it can’t be the backbone of the operations playbook.&nbsp;For Addington, the choice to franchise came from organic demand as clients moved away from Northern Virginia and wanted a Woofie’s location in their new neighborhoods. Meeting that demand meant making the Woofie’s experience repeatable, even without her on-site. This is true for any franchised business.It’s not enough to just document what needs to be done. You have to detail the “how,” and maybe even the “why.” Providing brand standards with this level of detail ensures franchisees in markets nationwide can not only execute on the basic promises of the business, but they’ll also be positioned to deliver the key differentiators and intangibles that make people love the brand.&nbsp;Providing this additional layer of context in a clearly documented format can also give franchisees guidance that will help them navigate potentially unexpected scenarios over the lifetime of their business.“Having almost 22 years of running a Woofie’s, we have so much anecdotal experience. It’s rare to find a scenario that I haven’t seen before, but the key is documenting&nbsp;everything and constantly updating,” Addington said. “Owners need that guidance. They’re going to encounter situations that they haven’t seen before, and it’s really critical that, as the franchisor, we prepare our owners as best we can.”<h2>Turning Experience Into SOPs</h2>Staring down the demand of creating an operations playbook and set of SOPs can be intimidating, but Addington recommends the strategic use of AI when building out the operations manual.“I think of how many hours and months we spent documenting… manually writing everything for the operations manual,” she said. “Today, people have such an advantage with the advancement of technology. You’ve got to use it. It’ll make things much more efficient and much more thorough for you.”There are also a few key points to consider as you begin to gather the information you’ll include in the manual.<h3>Audit Your Anecdotes</h3>Use your history to understand what your franchisees’ futures may look like. Addington relied on her boots-on-the-ground experience when developing the Woofie’s operations playbook, and this allowed her to document guidelines for scenarios that a new franchisee might not even know are possible.&nbsp;Even if a mistake happened a decade ago, there’s an opportunity to document it. Provide a protocol in the manual to prevent it from happening again next year.<h3>Define the Non-Negotiables</h3>Part of creating the operations manual and SOPs is deciding where the brand should be rigid and where franchisees may have some flexibility.&nbsp;“There are some things where franchisees absolutely have to adhere to the brand standards, no matter what,” Addington said. “Woofie’s should always be that premium, upscale, highly professional image. But one thing that’s unique to our brand is that each of our franchisees has the van wrap. When you see it, you see Woofie’s, but we give owners the option to swap out the picture of the dog on the van. Most of our owners put their own dog on their first van!”Outlining these expectations clearly from the start ensures franchisees understand the standards they must uphold and that there’s no overreach by local owners looking to use their discretion.<h3>Document With the Real Demands of the Business in Mind</h3>The aspects of the operations manual that will help a franchisee be more efficient or understand a bit more of the “why” behind business operations are crucial, but in many cases, the ops manual represents so much more.Especially in service industries, SOPs can be a crucial risk management tool. For Addington, this comes in the form of taking care of people’s beloved pets, but a similar sentiment can be applied to child care and home services brands, too.“When you’re taking care of someone’s baby, a live animal, there is so much responsibility and liability,” Addington said. “So it’s really critical that, as the franchisor, we prepare our owners as best we can.”<h2>What to Do After the First Ops Manual Is Complete</h2>One of the most dangerous traps for a new franchisor to fall into is viewing the operations manual as a “one-and-done” kind of project. Putting together the first iteration is a lot of work, and it’s an important step in your franchising journey, but it can’t be the only time you think about operations or documentation. Realistically, the manual should consistently evolve as franchisees encounter unexpected scenarios and ask new questions, and it should also be updated as new tools and processes become available.“We have our core ops manual, but we also use FranConnect, which houses all the documents for our franchise owners,” Addington said. “We’re constantly updating, creating new SOPs and putting everything in there.”Operations manuals should look different from how they have in the past. Rather than a physical binder, for example, using digital hubs allows franchisors to make real-time updates to the manual and consistently push new resources out to the network as needed.<h2>Why Documentation Has to Keep Evolving</h2>Moving from tribal knowledge to clear SOPs is the only way to ensure your brand’s quality stays consistent as you grow. While it requires a heavy lift, it’s the best way to turn a successful local business into a national franchise. By treating your manual as the source of truth and maintaining a consistent feedback loop and update cadence, you ensure the expertise in your head can become standard for each new location opened.Growing and selling franchises is difficult. Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisors grow their franchises with confidence? Visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.1851growthclub.com">www.1851growthclub.com</a> and see what we can do for you.

Standard Operation Procedure SOP From Founder to Franchisor

As you prepare to franchise your business, compiling your instincts and insights into a clear document and creating repeatable processes is key to early franchisee success.

Creating an Ops Manual: From Tribal Knowledge to SOPs

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Iron Tribe Fitness Franchise Costs, Fees, Profit and Data for 2026

Franchise Opportunity Deep Dive: Iron Tribe Fitness offers a community-driven, membership-based training franchise with strong unit economics and diversified programming. 

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Franchise Legal Player:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-curran-28b877b/">Leslie Curran</a> Firm:&nbsp;<a href="https://plavekoch.com/">Plave Koch PLC</a><a href="https://plavekoch.com/attorney/curran-leslie-d/">Leslie Curran</a> has built a reputation as a trusted advisor to franchise brands navigating growth, compliance, and long-term risk. With experience advising emerging and growing franchisors across a wide range of consumer-facing and service-based brands, Curran brings a practical, business-minded approach to franchise law. Her work focuses on helping brands scale responsibly while protecting both the franchisor and franchisee experience.1851 Franchise connected with Curran to discuss what franchisors often overlook, where legal risk hides during expansion, and the lessons that continue to shape their advisory philosophy.1851: What originally drew you to franchise law, and what has kept you engaged in the space over time?Curran: I found my way into the franchise practice by accident. At a large D.C. law firm, my office was with the lawyers in that practice group, but I didn’t start out working with them. I got to know the lawyers who sat near me, and they were great people, as well as talented lawyers. The practice was very interesting. They were working with brands I knew, and they were helping those brands grow and expand into new markets.And 25-plus years later, I am still working with franchisors and other brand owners to achieve those same goals of growth and expansion, alongside building great legal and business systems to support that growth. I have stayed engaged because of the people who have crossed my path along the way — the people I work with at Plave Koch, the clients who have trusted me to be part of their teams, suppliers I have built relationships with and, yes, even many franchisor-attorney competitors and franchisee attorneys I have had the pleasure of collaborating with over the years in a variety of contexts. For me, this practice and what we do is about building great relationships all around and helping build up an industry that knows no limits in terms of growth with integrity.1851: As franchising continues to evolve, what legal issue do you see brands most often underestimating today?Curran:&nbsp;Franchise sales have gotten tighter and tighter from an absolute numbers perspective. Each year, we see more brands enter the market that want to sell franchises. However, there does not seem to be a corresponding increase in the number of prospective franchisees who want to buy franchised businesses. In a competitive franchise sales environment, in addition to traditional in-house franchise sales teams, we see a variety of outside franchise sales organizations and other third parties pushing to help franchisors close deals.&nbsp;The legal challenges presented by this intersection include ensuring disclosure documents are not only legally compliant but, where possible, also provide information that can assist with the franchise sales process. It also includes ensuring all franchise sales groups are following legal requirements, including possible upcoming broker regulation, and indemnifying the franchisor for any issues arising from sellers’ actions. It also means ensuring the brand is actually ready, from a legal and business standpoint, to onboard prospects. Brands should be aware of the legal and business issues that surround the various players in the franchise sales process and carefully review the agreements with all third-party sellers.1851: In your experience, where do emerging franchisors tend to get tripped up from a compliance or documentation standpoint?Curran: They fail to do due diligence on the legal, financial, business, franchise sales and other advisors they bring on board to help them get started. Each aspect of the startup is important, and mistakes can be very costly for an emerging franchisor. The franchisor team should take time to vet and interview each service provider and get comfortable with the people you will be working with. It’s an expensive endeavor and it’s not quick, so you’d better like those folks. Also, reach out to other franchisors and service providers for advice and recommendations.For the legal documents, franchise agreements often have a term of 5 to 10 years, so documentation that is poorly drafted is going to stick with the brand for a bit.1851: How should franchisors be thinking about risk management as they scale into new markets or add new unit growth strategies?Curran: First, ensure that the brand is able to enter the market from a franchise sales and disclosure law standpoint, either by use of registration or exemption or exclusion. From the business side, some considerations are: Does the franchisor have the operational systems in place to support the new markets or growth strategy? Has the franchisor assessed the financial viability of the new market or the growth strategy? Does the franchisor know what possible brand changes may be necessary for the franchisee to succeed in the new market? Have systems standards, including supply chain issues, been reviewed and updated as necessary?The risk of failure in a new market, especially for an emerging brand, is very significant. Failure in one growth market beyond a brand’s core current market can make it very difficult to expand further in later efforts. In addition, a lack of planning can lead to increased complaints from franchisees who sign up and assert that the franchisor’s foresight and support may be less than anticipated. Those failures and complaints can divert resources and are likely to make additional growth plans take a back seat.1851: What distinguishes your approach or philosophy when working with franchise clients?&nbsp;Curran: Hospitality is important to me. By that, I mean focusing on what is important to each client. I strive to meet clients where they are in terms of knowledge and expertise. No two clients are equal in that sense. While every client is different, at the simplest level, every client wants to be heard and helped when they need you.It sounds simple, but we must listen first to what the client is trying to achieve and only then formulate a reply with all of the options, along with the risks. Never assume you know better than your clients or dismiss their concerns. The advice needs to be relevant, practical and actionable.1851: Looking back, what lesson from your legal career has had the greatest impact on how you advise clients today?&nbsp;Curran: It’s a lesson that sounds simple: Smart lawyers keep clients by being useful. Figure out how to be useful. That will impress your clients and more will follow.Every great franchisee had help buying a franchise. Want to learn more about how 1851 helps franchisees find the right franchise opportunity? Visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.1851growthclub.com/">www.1851growthclub.com</a> and start your journey.

2026 Top Franchise Lawyers You Should Know: Leslie Curran — Plave Koch PLC

1851 Franchise’s annual roundup of the Top Franchise Lawyers You Should Know is back for 2026, spotlighting the legal minds helping shape the future of franchising. 

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