What Is in a Franchise Operations Manual?

A Franchise Operations Manual is a document that has everything a franchisee needs to know about operating their business. Each document will vary depending on the business and the industry, but they will always outline the literal ‘operations’ that all franchise procedures are required to follow.

It is a legal requirement, through Item 11 of a Franchise Disclosure Document, that franchisors detail their obligations to franchisee support. As part of this requirement, an operations manual is loaned to all franchisees.

According to New York-based Lusthaus Law, these manuals are provided to business owners shortly after franchise sales are completed. The firm goes on to address that a typical operations manual will include the goals and visions of a franchisor, real estate insights, pre-opening procedures, equipment and inventory strategy, day-to-day operations and other insights for both employee and customer support.

A standard operations manual will be comprehensive enough to provide direction, but they will also be general enough for an individual franchisee to have freedom to operate their business.

When reading an operations manual, a fairly common strategy for prospective franchisees  is to evaluate how specific and detailed the operations manual is. If a business model does not require a lot of attention from a franchisee, the operations manual will often be extremely detailed when compared to a business that requires a significant amount of owner attention.

An operations manual is geared to outline the extent of support a franchisee can come to expect from a franchisor. It is often a perfect source of information for franchisees to find the exact business model they seek to find ownership within.