What Does "Good" Look Like in a Franchise Advisory Council?

Let me start with what it's not.

Many emerging brands make the same mistake when launching their first FAC. They hand-pick strong operators - franchisees they trust, respect, and enjoy working with. It feels logical. Surround leadership with the best people in the system.

But here's the problem: when those members weren't elected by their peers, they often feel accountable upward - to corporate - not outward to the franchisees they're supposed to represent. And that changes everything about how the council functions.

The flaw isn't in the people. It's in the structure.

When Should You Build Your First FAC?

My recommendation: think about forming your FAC around 30 units.

Before that, you should be talking to franchisees one-on-one on a regular basis and honestly, you can. The whole point of an FAC is to consolidate feedback at the point when you simply can't have that individual relationship with everyone anymore.

Launch it too early and it becomes a formality. Wait too long and you've already got sentiment issues you're managing reactively instead of getting ahead of.

The core goals of an FAC:

• Give franchisees a formal voice in executive-level decisions

• Pressure test new initiatives before you roll them out system-wide

• Pilot half-baked ideas with a group that's raised their hand to do more

• Get ahead of sentiment issues before they become system-wide noise

• Create a two-way channel between the field and the brand

  
  

Start With an Election, Not an Appointment

It's tempting to pull in the franchisees you're closest to or the ones you think are the sharpest operators. I'd caution you against that.

Even from the very beginning, have the FAC voted on by the system. It matters, not just practically, but symbolically. When FAC members know they were chosen by their peers, they show up differently. They feel accountable to the people who elected them, not just to the corporate team sitting across the table.

And practically: elect an odd number. You'll thank me later when you need a tiebreaker.

Yes, You Need a Charter

Bylaws. A charter. Some governing document that outlines roles, responsibilities, and term limits. Call it whatever you want, just have one.

Term limits are non-negotiable. The same voice in the room year after year loses its effectiveness, and it can create an unhealthy dynamic where one franchisee becomes the de facto translator between corporate and the field. You want fresh perspective cycling through regularly.

A charter also gives you something to point to when things get gray. And they will get gray.

Set Expectations Before the First Meeting

Here's what I want FAC members to understand before they ever sit down at the table:

They are representatives, not just participants. That means talking to their fellow franchisees before meetings, opening a channel, whether it's individual calls, a group call, or even a WhatsApp thread, so they know what's actually on people's minds. The goal is to avoid a scenario where an FAC member shows up with their personal hot list that has nothing to do with what the system is actually feeling.

It also means this: when feedback or change requests come in from the field, the redirect goes back to the FAC member. If it's a real priority and the council agrees, it moves forward. But not just because one person said so.

The other expectation, and this is the one corporate teams find most frustrating because we rarely see it done well, is that FAC members advocate for decisions made by the group.

When the council has weighed in and voted on something, those members go back to their peers and back that decision. That's how you keep the us-vs-them mentality at bay. That's how the FAC actually functions as a bridge instead of a complaint escalation path.

What Good Meeting Content Looks Like

I've seen FAC meetings go a lot of different ways.

I've sat through ninety minutes of corporate presenting, convincing the council how well things are going. I've also sat through ninety minutes of awkward silence while corporate asks "so... what's important to you right now?" Neither is great.

The best meetings are a mix: corporate shares what's coming, new initiatives, decisions on the horizon, things the FAC should be reacting to, and then the FAC reacts. That's the part that matters most. You're not just informing them, you're pressure-testing.

Here's a real example. At Painting with a Twist, we were preparing to launch our first new product in four years: wood boards. The system had been asking for it, suppliers were lined up, and I was ready to go. The FAC stopped me cold. They said we needed a strong library of artwork before we launched, that without it, the product would fall flat. I had assumed the artwork would flow in naturally, the same way it had with canvas. They were insistent.

I was not happy. We delayed the launch by three months.

But we followed their advice, built the library, and launched with everything in place. That process eventually led to the development of an artist collective, a quarterly curation of artwork from the field, that we used to build libraries ahead of every major launch after that.

Had I ignored the FAC and pushed forward, I would have had a failed launch at the start of my tenure with the brand. That's not the kind of mark you want to make early.

The other thing great FAC meetings make room for: honest conversation. One of the best calls I've ever witnessed wasn't polished or structured. An FAC member started asking what felt like random, unrelated questions and the CEO answered every single one in plain language. No PowerPoint. No defensive posture. Just straight answers.

I don't know if that communication ever fully cascaded to the field. But that's a structure problem, not a conversation problem. And it's why everything above, the election process, the charter, the pre-meeting outreach, matters so much.

The Bottom Line

A well-run FAC is one of the most valuable assets a franchise brand can have. It creates alignment, it surfaces problems early, and when it's functioning the way it should, it makes franchisees feel genuinely heard, which is the thing most systems struggle to do at scale.

But it only works if the structure is right from the start.

Build it with intention. Start with an election. Set clear expectations. And then actually listen.