The process
Application to Grand Opening in about 90 days.
The first month is qualification. The next two are build, train and stock. Two of the ten steps exist purely to protect you, and they are not optional.
The ten steps
Application
You complete the application and e-mail it with your supporting documents.
Owner: You
Initial screening
We measure it against our threshold criteria and come back to you within five business days.
Owner: Franchising team
Qualification interview
Ninety minutes, at Alberton or by video. This is where we give you the precise investment figures, the franchise fee, the royalty, the marketing levy and the operating economics for your format.
Owner: Both
Background and financial checks
Credit check, criminal check, qualification verification, reference calls and a review of your financial documents.
Owner: Franchising team
Site and format discussion
Your preferred locations, whether the territory is open, and which of the four formats fits your circumstances.
Owner: Both
Disclosure Document delivered
The statutory Disclosure Document required by Regulation 3 of the Regulations to the Consumer Protection Act, delivered to you in writing.
Owner: Franchising team
Fourteen days to read it and take advice
At least fourteen days before you are asked to sign anything. Use them. Take independent legal and financial advice, and speak to the franchisees listed in the document.
Owner: You
Site visit to Alberton
A full half-day at the flagship. Meet the team, watch the operation, ask anything.
Owner: Both
Franchise Agreement signed
Subject to your ten-business-day cooling-off right under section 7(2) of the Consumer Protection Act.
Owner: Both
Ninety-day on-boarding to opening
Site fit-out, training, stock delivery, IT setup, soft opening and Grand Opening.
Owner: We lead
Before you go any further
Your rights when anyone sells you a franchise in South Africa
These are not our concessions. They are your statutory rights under the Consumer Protection Act, and you should hold every franchisor you talk to — including us — to them.
Take advice. We would rather you took independent legal and financial advice before you sign, and spoke to existing franchisees, than that you did not.
Nothing on this website is an offer, a projection, a forecast or a guarantee of the performance of any outlet. No statement made here may be relied upon unless it is repeated in the Disclosure Document or in the Franchise Agreement itself.
What slows applications down
Four things account for almost every delay. All four are avoidable.
- Incomplete supporting documents. Use the checklist on the application.
- Funding that is not pre-approved. Get a lender letter or bank confirmation before you apply.
- An unrealistic location preference. We will tell you on the first call whether your preferred area has an open territory.
- A passive-investor structure with no operator. We need a hands-on owner from day one.
A word about the fourteen days
Some franchisors treat the fourteen-day disclosure period as an administrative hurdle and chase you through it. We would rather you used it properly. Give the Disclosure Document to an attorney and to an accountant who has read a franchise agreement before. Phone the franchisees listed in it and ask them what surprised them. Go back through your own assumptions about the town, the site and the rent.
If that process changes your mind, the fourteen days did exactly what the legislature designed them to do, and we would far rather lose an applicant at day twelve than carry an unhappy franchisee for ten years.