Franchising – A Hand To Go Solo

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Sally Stone and her husband Mervyn founded Les Bon Voisins in 2002. The company provides an all-round service for homeowners in France from helping them to buy, to fixing broken windows.

The name Les Bon Voisins is now carried by 33 franchisees across France – 10% of whom are French. Mrs Stone believes setting up a franchise is ideal for people unfamiliar with French bureaucracy but warns that it is not an automatic key to success.

“Several couples on our network have said they would not necessarily have been a franchise in the UK but it was exactly that hand-holding that they needed in France,” she said. “It’s a way of setting up a business and becoming your own business without all the risks,” she added.

Franchising is strictly regulated in France by the 1989 Loi Doubin. Among other things this dictates that a franchisor must hand over a file containing the business accounts for the past two years, a list of franchisees, conditions of the contract, initial cost projections, a general market study and a local market study.

Mrs Stone said that a good franchise should also provide concept, know-how training and support. After the initial buy-in fee franchisees pay an annual charge to use the name.

There are no regulations about droit d’entree (buy-in fee) or ongoing returns to a franchiser. Mrs Stone said: “We have been advised by the French franchising consultancy that we have under-priced what we provide.

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