Franchise Validation Calls: 45 Questions to Ask Franchisees Before You Buy

Franchise validation calls are the conversations you have with people who already own the franchise you are thinking of buying. A disclosure document tells you what the franchisor is legally required to say. A discovery day tells you what the franchisor wants to say. Franchisees tell you what actually happens, whether the brand is a café, a gym or a tutoring franchise.

This guide covers who to call, where to find their details, how to set up the calls, 45 questions to ask franchisees grouped by topic, the red flags to listen for, and how to weigh what you hear. We are a tutoring franchisor, so read our view with that in mind. These are the questions we would want any buyer to put to our own partners, and to every other brand on their list.

Our franchise due diligence checklist covers the wider research process and our 25 questions to ask a tutoring franchisor covers head office. The questions below are different: they are for franchisees, and they dig further.

Who to call on franchise validation calls

The franchisor will offer owners happy to talk. Call them, but do not stop there. A balanced sample includes:

• Recent openers (first one to two years), who remember training and launch clearly.
• Long-standing owners (five years or more), who have seen the franchisor through change.
• High performers and struggling owners. Ask the franchisor who its top and bottom performers are. If it will not say, ask franchisees; they usually know.
• Former franchisees. People who sold, closed or did not renew are the most informative calls you will make, and the hardest to arrange.
• Owners in markets like yours, by city size, rent and demographics.

Aim for at least eight to ten conversations, with at least two former franchisees.

Where to find franchisee contact details

United States: FDD Item 20

The Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) is your phone book. Under the FTC Franchise Rule (16 CFR 436.5), Item 20 must list the names of current franchisees with the address and phone number of each outlet; a franchisor may instead list those in your state, topped up with neighbouring states until at least 100 outlets are shown. Item 20 must also list former franchisees: anyone whose outlet was terminated, cancelled, not renewed or otherwise stopped operating in the most recent fiscal year, or who has not communicated with the franchisor within 10 weeks of the document's issue date, with name, city, state and phone number.

Two more Item 20 details are worth reading closely. The franchisor must disclose whether franchisees signed confidentiality clauses in the last three fiscal years, and it must list trademark-specific franchisee associations it created or endorsed, plus independent associations that ask to be included. An independent franchisee association can be a very candid call.

Australia: the disclosure document

Under the Franchising Code of Conduct, the disclosure document includes details of existing and former franchisees. According to ACCC guidance on the Code remade in 2025, from 1 November 2025 it must include a phone number and email address for former franchisees where available. The ACCC also notes that a franchisor generally cannot pass a former franchisee's personal information to a prospective franchisee unless it has told that person they can ask in writing for it not to be shared, so some names may be missing. Legal commentary describes the former franchisee list as covering roughly the last three financial years; check the exact wording in the document you receive.

Canada, the UK and New Zealand

In Canada's provinces with franchise laws, ask your franchise lawyer where franchisee information appears in the disclosure document you receive. The UK and New Zealand have no franchise-specific legislation; the British Franchise Association and the Franchise Association of New Zealand run member codes. Wherever no list is required, ask in writing for every current owner and everyone who left in the past three years. For more on reading these documents, see our guide to franchise disclosure documents.

How to set up the calls

• Pick names yourself. Choose from the full list, not just the suggested ones. Tell the franchisor you are doing this; good ones expect it.
• Make it easy to say yes. Send a short message asking for 30 minutes, and offer to call outside busy hours. For a tutoring centre, that usually means avoiding after-school sessions and Saturday mornings.
• Use the same core questions every time. You cannot compare answers otherwise. Pick 15 to 20 from the list below and add a few specific to each person.
• Take notes, and record only with clear permission. Write up each call the same day.
• Visit if you can. An hour on site during trading tells you what a call cannot.
• Close well. Ask who else you should speak to.

45 questions to ask franchisees

Choose by the person: training questions for recent openers, relationship questions for long-standing owners, exit questions for former franchisees.

Background and context

1. What were you doing before, and why did you choose this brand over the others you looked at?
2. How many other franchisees did you speak to before you signed, and what did they get right or wrong?
3. What does your market look like: population, rent, competition?
4. Are you running the business day to day, or do you have a manager?
5. What do you know now that you wish someone had told you on a call like this one?

Training

1. Which parts of initial training did you actually use in your first three months, and which did you never use?
2. What did training not prepare you for at all?
3. How long after opening did you feel competent, rather than just busy?
4. How good is the training for the staff you hire, and who delivers it once you are open?
5. When the system or software changes, how are you taught the new version?

Support

1. Describe the last time you needed urgent help. Who did you call, how quickly did they respond, and was the problem solved?
2. How often do you hear from head office when nothing is wrong?
3. Has your main support contact changed, and how many times?
4. Is the support you get today better or worse than in your first year?
5. How useful is the operations manual in practice, and how current is it?
6. What help did you get with site selection, the lease and fit-out, and what would you do differently?
7. Do franchisees share ideas with each other, and does the franchisor encourage that?

Marketing

1. What did your launch marketing look like in practice, and how did the result compare with what you were told to expect?
2. Where do most of your customers come from today?
3. How much local marketing do you do yourself each month, in time and money?
4. Do you see the benefit of the national marketing fund in your own area?
5. Are the brand's online reviews, website and social channels an asset or a problem for you?
6. How much say do franchisees have in how the marketing levy is spent?

Numbers

1. Which line of the estimated initial investment was furthest from reality?
2. How many months of working capital did you actually need?
3. Is the financial performance information the franchisor provided, if any, close to your own results?
4. What surprised you most in your monthly costs: rent, wages, fees or something else?
5. Which fees have been introduced or increased since you signed?
6. How seasonal is the business, and which months are tightest?
7. What do you pay yourself today, compared with what you earned before? (Some owners will not share figures; ask whether it met their expectations instead.)
8. If you were advising a friend, how much cash would you tell them to have in reserve?

The franchisor relationship

1. Has the franchisor ever changed the system in a way that cost you money without your agreement?
2. Have you ever disagreed with head office? What happened?
3. How does the franchisor treat owners who are struggling?
4. Has the franchisor kept the promises made to you during the sales process?
5. How has the leadership team changed since you joined, and has that changed how the brand behaves?
6. Is there a franchisee advisory council or association, and does head office listen to it?
7. Do you trust the franchisor's decisions on new territories and openings near you?

Would they do it again?

1. If you had the same money today, would you invest it in this brand, a different franchise or something else entirely?
2. Would you buy another unit from this franchisor? Why or why not?
3. Would you be comfortable with your brother, sister or best friend buying this franchise?
4. What type of person does well in this system, and what type struggles?

For former franchisees

1. What was the turning point when you decided to leave?
2. How did the franchisor handle your exit: sale approval, transfer fees, restraints and goodwill?
3. Knowing what you know, what would have to be different for you to have stayed?

Questions to add for a tutoring franchise

If you are researching a tutoring franchise, add some of these:

• How hard is it to recruit and keep good tutors in your area, and how useful are the franchisor's recruitment and training tools?
• How did enrolments move across school terms, holidays and exam periods in your first year?
• How do parents respond to the learning resources, and how often are they updated?
• What child-safety screening and policies apply, and how much of that administration falls on you?
• How many hours a week are you on site? A retail-style tutoring centre is a hands-on business, not a passive one.

You can compare what Success Tutoring describes on its tutor recruitment and tutor training pages with what our partners tell you. What is provided is set out in the franchise agreement and disclosure documents.

Red flags on franchise validation calls

• Only the franchisor's list. If the franchisor discourages you from calling anyone else, ask why.
• Scripted answers. Several owners using the same phrases may have been briefed.
• Reluctance to speak at all, especially among former franchisees. Check Item 20 for confidentiality clauses. Under an FTC policy statement issued in July 2024, US franchisors cannot use non-disparagement or confidentiality clauses to stop franchisees reporting possible law violations to the government. Silence is not proof of a problem, but note it.
• The same complaint from different people. One unhappy owner is an anecdote. Three describing the same support gap or surprise fee is a pattern.
• A high exit rate among recent openers. Count the former franchisees who left within their first few years.
• Owners who would not buy again. This is the single most telling answer.
• Claims that do not match the documents. If an owner repeats an earnings or launch figure that is not in the disclosure document, ask the franchisor about it in writing.

How to weigh what you hear

• Look for patterns. Put each call in a grid: owners down the side, topics across the top.
• Separate the system from the operator. Struggling owners may blame the franchisor for their own choices; top performers may credit the system for their own talent. Ask both what explains the difference.
• Weigh former franchisees fairly. People leave for health, family and retirement reasons as well as poor results. Ask, and record the reason.
• Match the sample to yourself. An owner with your background, budget and type of market is worth more to you than a star in a very different area.
• Test everything against the documents. Where a franchisee's account differs from the disclosure document or the franchisor's answers, take the question back in writing.
• Share your notes with your advisers. Your accountant can use them in your forecast and your lawyer can check the agreement against them.

Frequently asked questions

How many franchise validation calls should I make?

At least eight to ten, including two or more former franchisees. Keep going until the answers stop surprising you.

What questions should I ask franchisees about money?

Ask about experience rather than demanding figures: which costs ran over, how much working capital they needed and which fees have risen. Many owners will discuss ranges even if they will not share exact numbers.

Is it legal to contact former franchisees before buying?

Yes. In the US their details are in Item 20 of the FDD for exactly this purpose, and Australian disclosure documents include former franchisee details. Some former owners may be bound by confidentiality clauses or may simply decline, so be polite and respect a no.

Are validation calls different for a tutoring franchise?

The core questions are the same. A tutoring franchise adds tutor recruitment, school-term seasonality, child safety and parent perception of the learning resources, so add the questions in the tutoring section above.

Next steps

If Success Tutoring is on your list, we expect you to talk to our franchise partners, including the ones we do not suggest. Start with our franchise stories, read the investment schedule and potential earnings pages before your calls so you know what to test, and see the process for when validation fits between enquiry and signing.

This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. Laws and guidance change; verify current rules with official sources and seek independent advice before buying a franchise.