Franchise your restaurant. Without the chaos.
First we tell you honestly whether you're ready. Then we package the concept so it actually replicates — Operations Manual, legal FDD coordination, opening guide, and everything a franchisee needs to run it the way you built it. We do NOT sell you packaging you're not ready to use.
- 2+ operating units, OR 1 unit stable and profitable for 18–24+ months
- Unit economics that work without owner working 70 hours/week
- Enough brand strength to pull customers beyond the founder's network
Sound familiar?
Two kinds of owners come to us. Different problem, different answer.
Pick your stage below. Each has honest triggers we hear from owners in the first 15 minutes — and a different path forward.
01 Single unit — thinking about franchiseYou have one restaurant that works. You want to grow through franchising. You don't know if you're ready. ›
What we hear from owners
- "Everyone tells me to franchise. But is it too early?"Sometimes yes. A single-unit concept usually needs 12–24 months of standardization before it can be franchised responsibly.
- "I don't want to be one of those guys who sold franchises that didn't work."Neither do we. Selling a broken concept destroys your reputation faster than not franchising at all.
- "How do I even know if my numbers work for a franchisee?"Unit economics on paper vs. reality. A franchisee doesn't have your discounts, your suppliers, or your motivation. The model has to work without you.
- "What does it actually cost to franchise properly? I've seen prices from $10K to $500K."Real number for a proper package: $60K–$150K. Anything under is a template. Anything over is usually padding.
02 Growing group (2–10 units) — ready to packageYour concept works across multiple locations. You want franchise growth without losing brand control. ›
What we hear from owners
- "We have the units. We have the brand. We need the package."The package is the small part. The standardization behind it is the real work.
- "Quality varies location to location — how do we franchise if we can't even replicate ourselves?"You don't. Not until standardization is in place. This is the number one reason we hold up packaging.
- "We tried FDD templates. Our lawyer said it wouldn't survive audit."US franchise law is stricter than most templates assume. FDD needs a licensed franchise attorney, not a form.
- "We need a Operations Manual a franchisee can actually use — not decoration."Most Operations Manuals we see are decoration. Ours is what a franchisee references every week, indexed and searchable.
4 things we check before packaging — every time, no exceptions.
Selling a franchise on a business that isn't ready costs you your reputation and destroys the franchisees who buy in. So the first thing we do is honestly check whether the concept is transferable — before you pay for packaging.
Unit economics that work for a franchisee
Not for you. For someone without your discounts, supplier deals, or willingness to work 70 hours. The model has to work at arm's length.Most common failure we see: Owner works 70 hours/week and doesn't take a salary. When you back that out, the unit doesn't clear 12% EBITDA. Franchisees won't work 70 hours or skip salary — the model has to work at arm's length.
Replicability of quality
If your existing units serve differently on different days, franchisees will serve worse. We check whether current standards actually hold across locations.Most common failure we see: Owner walks the floor 5 days a week. When they don't, guest experience drops within 3 weeks. That's not replicable across franchisees.
Brand strength beyond you
Does your brand pull in guests, or do YOU pull in guests? Franchisees don't have you. The brand has to do the work.Most common failure we see: First 500 customers came from the owner's personal network. Next 5,000 will not. Brand has to pull independently.
Operations documented, not memorized
If it's in your head or your manager's head, it's not franchisable yet. Standards have to exist on paper before they can be transferred to a franchisee.Most common failure we see: When the head chef quits, six weeks of guest experience quietly deteriorates before anyone notices. That's tribal knowledge, not a system.
Franchise packaging "under the key" — everything a franchisee needs.
Not a folder of PDFs. A working system — Operations Manual, legal FDD coordination, brand book, opening guide — that lets a franchisee open your concept in a new city and run it the way you built it.
Franchise Operations Manual
The reason a franchisee can run your concept in a new city without calling you. 200+ pages, indexed, searchable, and referenced weekly — not filed away.
- Service SOPs — front-of-house, host, server, closing
- Kitchen SOPs — prep, line, expo, storage
- Back-of-house — inventory, purchasing, receiving
- Quality control system with audit checklists
- HACCP module aligned with FDA / state requirements
- Training program & Train-the-Trainer methodology
Legal FDD package (partner attorney)
The paperwork that lets you legally sell franchises in the US without personal liability from misfiled disclosures. Handled by a US-licensed franchise attorney (partner). We integrate their work into the overall package so nothing falls between operations and legal.
- Draft Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)
- Legal Roadmap for US franchise registration
- Franchisee agreement templates
- State-specific compliance guidance
Brand book & marketing playbook
So franchisee #7 in a different state doesn't quietly turn your concept into a different concept. Delivered via partner agency. Everything a franchisee needs to represent your brand consistently.
- Visual identity and brand standards
- Marketing playbook for franchisees
- Local marketing templates
- Reputation management guidance
Opening Guide + "10 mistakes" checklist
Turns first-location panic into a repeatable Week 1–12 process. Day-by-day opening plan plus the "10 mistakes" checklist — the traps we've seen destroy first openings.
- Site selection criteria
- Buildout timeline and budget templates
- Pre-opening training schedule
- Grand opening playbook
- "10 mistakes we've seen" — with fixes
Not sure if you're ready?
The free readiness check — a written verdict from Tatyana Mikheenkova — will tell you honestly before you pay for anything.
Get your free readiness checkYou already paid for the package. Nobody has bought a franchise.
This is the most common way a franchise programme dies in the US: the concept was packaged, the binder is on the shelf, twelve months have passed, and the count of signed franchisees is zero. The problem is almost never the manual. It is that nobody built the half that sells.
What it looks like from your side
- The package was delivered and then the consultant went quiet
- Enquiries arrive, but from people with no capital and no operating experience
- Prospects go silent after the first call — and nobody knows why
- A broker was hired, produced two dead leads, and invoiced anyway
- You have no idea what a signed franchisee should cost you to acquire
What we check first
A stalled programme has one of four causes, and they need different fixes. Guessing which one it is costs another year.
- Nothing to buy into — the offer itself is not competitive for the market
- No traffic — the concept is invisible to anyone actively looking
- Traffic, no qualification — the funnel fills with people who cannot buy
- Qualified prospects, no conversion — the materials or the process lose them
What we rebuild, in that order
We do not repackage what is already packaged. We build the missing half and fix what the diagnosis found.
- The offer — fee structure, territory, support, compared against what competing concepts put in front of the same buyer
- The materials — financial model, sales page, deck, franchisee FAQ built from the objections you are actually hearing
- The funnel — channels, qualification, CRM, cost per qualified lead measured per channel
- The process — discovery calls, Discovery Day, handoff to your attorney at signing
When we tell you to stop
Sometimes a programme is not stalled — it should never have started. If the diagnosis finds unit economics that do not survive a royalty, or a concept that only works because you personally run it, the answer is not better marketing. It is to stop selling franchises and fix the operation first.
You will get that in writing, with the reasoning, and we will say the same thing whether or not it costs us the engagement.
Already packaged and stuck?
Send us what you were given. We will tell you in writing which of the four causes is yours — before you spend anything on fixing the wrong one.
Get a written diagnosisA packaged franchise is not a sold franchise.
Packaging makes your concept replicable. It does not put a qualified franchisee in front of you. That is a marketing job — and it is the one ElevexMedia has been doing since before The Kitchen Architects existed. Ordered separately, after the package is delivered or alongside it.
Franchisee-facing financial model
The document a prospect takes to their bank. Investment breakdown, ramp-up assumptions, operating P&L template, cash-flow timeline by month.
- Total investment range by format and market
- Operating P&L template a franchisee can fill in
- Month-by-month cash flow through ramp-up
- Royalty and marketing-fund structure modelled
- Sensitivity view — what happens if sales land 20% low
Franchise sales page & investor presentation
Where a prospect lands, and what you send after the first call. Built on the same landing-page discipline used across this site.
- Franchise-recruitment landing page with lead capture
- Investor presentation — the deck for discovery calls
- One-page concept summary for brokers and portals
- Franchisee FAQ, written from real objections
Franchisee lead generation
Filling the top of the funnel and keeping the record straight, so you know which channel produced which signed deal.
- Channel plan — paid search, franchise portals, industry PR
- Ad accounts built and run, or handed to your team
- CRM pipeline with stages from enquiry to signing
- Qualification script — capital, experience, market fit
- Cost per qualified lead tracked per channel
First-deal support
The first franchisee sets the pattern for every one after. We run it with you, then hand you the process.
- Inbound handling and discovery-call structure
- Discovery Day agenda and materials
- Objection handling built from the concept's weak points
- Clean handoff to your attorney at disclosure and signing
Where the line sits, in writing
We build the model and the materials. We do not disclose earnings. Any financial performance figure shown to a prospect belongs in Item 19 of your FDD and is cleared by your franchise attorney before it is used anywhere — including on the landing page we build. We do not draft the FDD, we do not act as a franchise broker, and we do not sign franchisees on your behalf.
If the system already exists, the problem is a different one.
Owners with franchisees already open rarely need packaging. They need the brand to survive being run by other people, and they need the next franchisee to come from somewhere other than word of mouth.
Brand consistency audit across units
What your franchisees are actually doing to the concept. Menu drift, service standards, local signage, online listings, review handling — measured location by location against the standard.
Local marketing kit per franchisee
Templates and campaigns a franchisee can run in their own city without inventing their own brand — grand opening, seasonal, local partnerships, review generation. Central control, local execution.
Franchisee recruitment for a live system
Recruitment landing page, lead generation and first-deal support — applied to a system that already has proof. Real unit results, real franchisee testimonials, a track record a template concept does not have.
From readiness gate to launch-ready package — five steps, 12–16 weeks total.
Readiness Gate
Unit economics, replicability, brand strength, ops documentation audit. Go / no-go decision.
Deliverable: Readiness Gate Report + Go/No-Go recommendation with reasoning.
Operations Manual
SOPs, quality control, HACCP, training. The 200+ pages a franchisee will actually use.
Deliverable: Operations Manual v1 draft (200+ pages) + Train-the-Trainer methodology.
Legal FDD (partner attorney)
Draft FDD, franchisee agreement, state compliance. Coordinated with licensed US franchise attorney.
Deliverable: Draft FDD (from partner attorney) + franchisee agreement templates + state-specific compliance guidance.
Opening Guide + Brand book
Site selection, buildout, pre-opening training, grand opening playbook. Brand book via partner agency.
Deliverable: Opening Guide + Brand Book (via partner agency) + "10 mistakes" checklist.
Launch prep
Package review, franchisee onboarding process, first-franchisee prep. Ready to go to market.
Deliverable: Launch-ready package. Onboarding process for your first franchisee.
Transparent — because franchise consultants aren't usually.
Full packaging engagement pricing depends on the state of your operations before we start and the complexity of your concept. Here's the honest range.
Simpler operations or existing brand assets can reduce this to $60,000–$90,000. Exact scope after Readiness Gate.
- — 2–4 operating units, low variation: usually $60K–$80K
- — 5–10 units, some standardization needed: usually $90K–$120K
- — Complex multi-format or multi-brand: usually $120K–$150K
Optional success fee on first franchisees sold, negotiated case-by-case. Legal fees for FDD (partner attorney) are separate and quoted directly by the attorney (typically $20K–$40K).
Paid 2-week Readiness Gate
$8,000–$15,000. Fully credited toward the packaging fee if we move forward within 60 days.
Restaurant audit credit
If you already did the Hidden Profit Audit or Crisis Audit on /restaurants, that fee is credited toward franchise packaging.
What's NOT included
Legal filing fees, state registration fees, marketing agency retainer, real estate. These are separate — quoted by partners.
The person actually doing the work.
Tatyana Mikheenkova
25+ years in restaurants — from McDonald's system to franchise development across multiple international markets. Franchise packaging is a specific discipline — Tatyana leads it personally, with a US-licensed franchise attorney handling the legal block and a partner agency handling the brand book.
Every strategic recommendation on your franchise package comes directly from her. Fiorella is your single point of contact — everything reaches you through her, and she brings in whichever specialist your question belongs to.
See full bio on /restaurants →How franchise packaging typically gets done — and where we differ.
| DIY (owner + template) | Generic franchise consultant | The Kitchen Architects | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ops Manual quality | Template, rarely used | Generic, ~100 pp | Custom, 200+ pp, weekly reference |
| Readiness check | None | Rarely honest | Paid Gate, honest go/no-go |
| Legal (FDD) | Attorney separately | Bundled but junior | Coordinated with licensed US franchise attorney |
| Sells you packaging you can't use? | N/A | Often | Never — Readiness Gate prevents this |
| Typical timeline | 6–12 months of struggle | 8–10 weeks, rushed | 12–16 weeks, defined process |
| Typical cost | $5K–$15K + hidden costs | $30K–$60K packaging | $60K–$150K packaging + $20K–$40K legal |
Higher cost, but the concept survives contact with franchisees.
Want to see what's actually inside?
Table of Contents of a real Operations Manual + one sample SOP page — sent to your email after the free readiness check.
Prior franchise development work.
Chain-to-franchise transition, international markets (premium restaurant & café concepts)
- — 19 company-owned locations (15 cafés + 4 restaurants) before franchise development began
- — 2 franchise formats packaged — premium restaurant and café — both still licensed and operating today
- — First franchisee opened within 14 weeks of the readiness assessment
- — Operations Manual: 210+ pages, indexed by role and shift
- — Prime cost standardized across new franchise locations to within ±2 percentage points of the flagship
Because franchise packaging is a defined discipline with documented methodology, the work translates cleanly to the US market — with US franchise law and FDD structure coordinated through a licensed US franchise attorney (partner).
What owners actually ask before starting.
Is your restaurant franchise‑ready?
Answer 8 questions honestly. Each answer has points — add them up to see your score. No sign‑up required.
Also from The Kitchen Architects
Not ready to franchise yet? We also run full restaurant operations consulting — profit, cost control, standards.
Food cost, labor, waste, purchasing.
Quick wins with clear impact.
Where to begin the cleanup.