As noted in the preceding column, start-up training has gained strategic importance in the race to spur franchise growth. It plays a key role in the prospective franchisee's decision-making process when considering franchise business opportunities. Overall, training is offered more widely in franchising than in any other segment of business and industry, but approaches vary from company to company.

The median number of training days provided to start-up franchisees in the U.S. is 15, or three weeks. Franchisees in the mid-market restaurant segment of the foodservice industry receive the greatest amount of initial training, an average of 31-35 days. At the other end of the spectrum are janitorial and maid franchises, probably because the skills sets required are comparatively easy to convey.

The two franchise companies with the most extensive (at least in terms of the time involved) initial training programs in Canada are both in the foodservice sector: Pizza Hut and Wendy's, each requiring new franchisees to attend 80 days of training.

There is also a range of practices in the timing of training with regard to opening dates. Many franchisors prefer a quick succession from training to actual production, the idea being that the recency of the training benefits the outcome.

Others prefer a phased approach, such as Carpet Network, where new franchisees attend an intense, one-week course at Carpet Network College, which is located at corporate headquarters.

After completion of that course, franchisees are asked to follow a supervised, five-week start-up plan to assure a smooth launch of the operation. In some cases, the lead time is even longer. Computer U Learning Centers, for example, open three months after training.

Training budgets are difficult to separate from general start-up costs. There are a few franchisors who charge for training separately, but for the most part, franchisees buy training as part of their total deal package. However, there is some data available on how much companies spend on training and the ways in which they make those expenditures.

From the available data and using the median figure for length of training, we can generally conclude that the average U.S. franchisor paid about $369 per trainee day for 15 days, or $5,535 per franchisee, in 2002.

Due mainly to the more-intensive training requirements of franchise companies in the foodservice industry, the average number of training days among all types of franchises is significantly higher: 19.4 days. Using that figure, average training cost per franchisee in 2002 comes in at about $7,160. In both scenarios, the assumption is that those costs are variable only, and do not include amortized fixed costs.

As far as the distribution of those funds is concerned, labor and outsourcing account for the largest portions, 32% for the former and 22% for the latter. Very little-just 2%-is allocated for learning technologies, despite the increasing popularity of that delivery method.

The numbers are different but the situation similar in the Canadian franchise community. The average Canadian franchisor paid $307 (U.S.) per training day for 15 days (using the median figure), a total of $4,605 per franchisee, in 2002. Using the higher average figure for training days, the outlay climbs to about $5,956.

The breakdown of spending is similar to that among U.S. franchisors, with a slightly higher portion going to outsourcing (28%). All told, training expenditures as a percent of payroll amounted to 2.2% among U.S. franchisors in 2002, 2.7% for Canadian companies.

Do higher franchisee fees buy more training? That would appear to be the case. The number of training days increases with franchise fees until fees reach the $40,000-$50,000 range.

Franchises with initial fees from zero to $20,000 offer a median of fewer than 10 training days. Among those with initial fees of $21,000-$30,000, median training days rise to just under 15, and they approach 20 when fees fall into the $31,000-$40,000 category.

New franchisees paying an upfront fee of $41,000-$50,000 are likely to get a median of 30 training days. The figure drops to about 25 days for franchises with fees of $51,000-$60,000 and to about 15 days for fees in the $61,000-$70,000 range, but then it spikes back up to about 30 days for companies with franchise fees upwards of $80,000.

The strong correlation of franchise fees to median training days should come as no surprise, since the immediate need for training and the immediate cash available to pay for it occur at the same time.

At least one Canadian company, a franchisor of pancake-house restaurants, does break out its training fee separately. It charges new franchisees $12,500 for training, in addition to its initial franchise fee of $37,500.

In exchange for those outlays, the franchisee is entitled to 35 days of classroom training and another 10 to 20 days of on-site instruction. The average cost to the franchisor works out to $252 (Canadian) per training day.

Whether the training provided to new franchisees by a franchisor is for one person or many is, to a large degree, irrelevant, other than for the variable costs of the training materials.

In other words, the only difference in cost between having a class of 10 and a class of 11 is the printed material for the one extra student, if that.

When franchise fees exceed $50,000, there is a dramatic drop-off in the number of training days provided, only to rebound when fees reach the $80,000 mark. This latter territory is almost exclusively populated by fast-food giants.

Do larger franchisors provide more training than smaller franchisors? There is a spike in the number of training days when the number of global outlets in a given franchise network exceeds 5,000.

Again, the evidence points to the fast-food industry as a leader in the provision of training. An unanswered question, of course, is, "Are they large because they train, or do they train because they are large?"

For franchisees operating in Canada, the location of the franchise headquarters does not appear to be a significant factor in training activity.

In our study sample, consisting of about one-third U.S. franchisors and two-thirds Canadian companies, the smaller Canadian franchisors offer more training support than do similar-sized U.S. companies. The difference dissolves once companies reach 50 units.

Median training days remain equal at 15 until the 250-unit mark. At that point, Canadian companies increase their training days to 22. Beyond 500 units, the Canadian data is influenced by the training-intensive fast-food sector, while the U.S. figures remain at the 15-day median.

One possible explanation for the disparity is that a company with 500 franchises is not all that big by U.S. standards, so the U.S. data is unlikely to be affected by fast-food franchisors, which typically have upwards of 5,000 units.

In summary, the five largest franchisors in our study sample tend to distort the data somewhat, but after accounting for their impact on the numbers, a picture of franchise start-up training activity does start to emerge.

In Canada, it is a picture of a typical franchisor with a total of 20 units and charging a franchise fee of $25,000 (Canadian). The company offers franchisees 15 days of training prior to launch.

It will cost the franchisor $6,140 (Canadian) for each franchisee trained, or 25% of the franchise fee. Of those costs, $1,350 will be spent on outside training resources.

The training picture in the U.S. franchise community would appear to be much the same as in Canada, with the exceptions noted above. Most of the significant differences are likely attributable to the greater number of very large (5,000 units or more) franchise systems operating in the U.S.