Why Training Is the Real Growth Engine in Franchising: A Q&A with Hunter Stokes of Franchise.com
Franchise systems live and die by consistency. A brand can have the best product in the world, but if the person running the counter, managing the crew, or opening the doors each morning isn't equipped to lead, that consistency falls apart fast.
I sat down with Hunter Stokes, the President of Franchise.com, the most comprehensive franchise research platform that connects aspiring business owners with growing franchise systems across the United States and Canada. We discussed what actually separates thriving franchise locations from the ones that struggle, and why it almost always comes back to how well owners, operators, and managers are trained to lead.
Nick: What's the biggest misconception franchisors have about what makes a location successful?
Hunter Stokes: That it's mostly about the real estate, the marketing, or the product, as those things are line items in the budgeting for the business. Those matter, but I've watched two locations of the same brand, same market, same build-out, perform completely differently, and the difference was leadership. The owner who invested in developing their managers built a team that stuck around and delivered a consistent customer experience. The owner who didn't spent all their time being reactive instead of proactive.
Nick: Why does management training get overlooked in franchising specifically?
Hunter Stokes: Franchise systems are excellent at training people on operations, such as how to run the equipment, follow the recipe, or hit the checklist. What gets skipped most often is training people on how to lead other people. Most managers in a franchise system were promoted because they were great individual performers, not because anyone taught them how to coach a team, handle conflict, or build accountability. That's a real gap, and it's one a lot of franchise organizations are just recently starting to take seriously.
Nick: What does that gap actually cost a franchise system?
Hunter Stokes: Turnover, mostly. Poor management is one of the top reasons employees leave a job altogether, and in an industry with already thin margins, replacing and retraining staff is expensive. It also shows up in customer experience because teams led by undertrained managers are inconsistent, and franchise brands live or die on consistency across locations, especially those that are individually owned or operated rather than corporate locations. When you multiply that across dozens or hundreds of units, you're looking at a real drag on the brand's overall performance, not just one struggling store.
Nick: What does "good" leadership training actually look like at the franchise level?
Hunter Stokes: It has to be practical and ongoing, not a single onboarding session. The best programs I've seen give managers real tools about how to have a hard conversation, how to delegate, and how to build a team that wants to stay, then reinforce it with regular coaching over time, not just a one-and-done workshop. This is exactly the kind of gap companies like Oxygen are built to close. Their focus on training and coaching managers, not just the front-line staff, is the piece a lot of franchise systems are missing.
Nick: If you could tell a franchisor one thing about investing in manager training, what would it be?
Hunter Stokes: Your system is only as strong as the weakest-led location. You can write the best operations manual in the world, but if the person running day-to-day leadership at that unit hasn't been developed, that manual won't save you. Training your owners, operators, and managers to actually lead people isn't a soft investment; it's one of the highest-leverage things you can do for consistency, retention, and long-term brand and financial performance across the whole system.
To learn more about Franchise.com and the work they do to help match franchises with franchisees, visit their website.
About the Author
Nick Herinckx is the Co-CEO of Oxygen, a management development system helping high-growth companies close the execution gap. A former fast-scaling CEO and longtime executive coach, Nick has helped hundreds of leaders build stronger, more effective teams. Follow him at @NickHerinckx.
