Conversational form
Franchise application form that asks about capital before it asks about coffee
A franchise group can only assess three things from a first application: where the applicant wants to trade, what they can fund without borrowing, and whether they intend to stand in the store. This form asks those three in its first three screens and spends the other eleven on history, partners and timing.
The form itself
The first screen of the form. A conversational form shows one question per screen, so the remaining screens are listed in the field table below. Nothing here can be filled in or submitted, so read it as a reference and build your own from the button above.
Every field, and what it collects
The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.
- Which territory are you applying for?DropdownRequired
- One territory per application. Applying for a second one later is a separate form, because the capital question is answered per store.
- Options: Riverside East, open · Riverside West, open · Harbour North, open · Harbour South, under offer · Old Mill Quarter, open · Station Row, waitlist only · Eastfields, open · Lakeview, open · Airport precinct, expression of interest · Somewhere not listed
- Are you applying as an operator or as an investor?Single choiceRequired
- An operator stands behind the counter in year one. An investor funds the store and hires a manager, which is a different agreement and a higher capital requirement.
- Options: Operator, I will run the store day to day · Investor, I will fund it and appoint a manager · Operator now, investor once a second store opens · Still deciding
- How much liquid capital can you put in without borrowing?Single choiceRequired
- Liquid means cash, shares you can sell this month, or a redraw already approved. It does not mean equity in a house you have not refinanced.
- Options: Under 100,000 · 100,000 to 174,999 · 175,000 to 249,999 · 250,000 to 399,999 · 400,000 or more
- How would the rest of the fit out be funded?Single choiceRequired
- Options: No borrowing needed · Bank loan, not yet applied for · Bank loan, pre approved · Equipment finance · Family or partner contribution · Not worked out yet
- Tell us about any business you have owned or runLong textRequired
- Running a department inside a large company counts, so say so plainly. If you have never owned a business, write that instead of leaving the box empty.
- What hospitality or retail experience do you have?Long text
- Have you held a franchise agreement before, with any brand?Single choiceRequired
- Options: No, this would be my first · Yes, and I still hold it · Yes, and it ended by agreement · Yes, and it ended in dispute
- When would you want to open?Single choiceRequired
- Options: Within 3 months · 3 to 6 months · 6 to 12 months · More than 12 months away · Whenever the right site comes up
- Anyone applying with youTable
- Leave rows blank if you are applying alone. Every named partner is checked separately before an agreement is offered.
- Columns: Full name · Role in the business · Share of ownership
- What do you do now?Short textRequired
- How many stores would you like to be running in five years?Number
- An honest one is a better answer than an ambitious three. Multi store applicants are assessed on a different capital band.
- What drew you to this system?Multiple choiceRequired
- Options: The roasting and supply arrangement · The store format and fit out cost · Training and the first ninety days of support · The size of the territory · I am already a customer · Someone who runs one told me to apply
- How can the territory manager reach you?ProfileRequired
- Before you send thisMultiple choiceRequired
- Options: I understand this application is not an offer and that nothing here is a disclosure document · The capital figure I gave is accurate and I can evidence it if asked
What each screen of this application collects
The territory dropdown is first because a closed territory ends the conversation politely, and each option carries its own status so nobody applies for a site already under offer. Operator or investor comes second because the two paths have different agreements and different capital floors. The liquid capital bands are third, described as cash, sellable shares or an approved redraw so that house equity is not counted twice, and the funding question behind it separates an applicant with a pre approved loan from one who has not spoken to a bank. Ownership history and hospitality experience are two separate long text boxes because a career operations manager and a career barista are both good candidates for different reasons. The prior franchise question offers four endings, including ended in dispute, because a franchisor would rather read that here than find it later.
Why capital is asked in bands, not as a number
A free text capital figure invites a round number that means nothing, and a required number field pushes an unsure applicant to guess or abandon. Five bands ask for a decision instead of an estimate, and the band boundaries are the ones the group actually screens on, so an applicant who picks under one hundred thousand has answered the question honestly and quickly rather than dressing up a figure. The band is paired with a funding question rather than a proof upload, because documents belong at the stage after a territory conversation, not in the first contact. The closing acknowledgement asks the applicant to confirm the figure is evidenceable, which is a cheap and effective honesty prompt.
How to adapt this form
A food franchise with a smaller fit out cost drops the top capital band and adds a kitchen experience screen, since the operating skill sits in food handling rather than in speed of service. A services franchise with no store at all removes the territory dropdown and replaces it with a postcode radius question, because the asset being granted is a catchment rather than a site. A master franchise application for a whole country keeps the capital bands but multiplies them, adds a screen on local entity structure and legal advice taken, and turns the partner table into a shareholding table with a percentage in every row.
What makes this form work
Every territory carries its own status
The ten dropdown options are not bare place names. Harbour South says under offer, Station Row says waitlist only and the airport precinct says expression of interest, so an applicant sees the real state of the network while choosing, and the group stops receiving applications for territories it cannot grant.
Operator or investor is asked on screen two
The two paths carry different agreements and different capital floors, so the answer changes how every later screen is read. Four options including operator now, investor once a second store opens and still deciding mean the applicant does not have to force themselves into a box they will regret.
The closing tick asks for accountability, not agreement
The last screen is two checkboxes, and the second one asks the applicant to confirm the capital figure is accurate and evidenceable. It costs one click, it is read before the number is trusted, and it changes what people select in the capital band three screens earlier.
Questions people ask
Why does a franchise application ask about liquid capital before experience?
Because capital is the fastest disqualifier and the least negotiable. Experience can be trained and a weak operator can be supported, but a store that cannot be funded will not open. Asking it third means the applicant who cannot meet the floor spends two minutes rather than twenty, and the group reads a shorter, better qualified pile.
Is this form a disclosure document?
No, and the final screen makes the applicant tick that they understand it. A first application collects enough to decide whether to have a conversation. Disclosure, financial statements and the agreement itself come later in the process, after a territory is provisionally held, and they are documents rather than a web form.
Why offer ended in dispute as an option on the prior franchise question?
Because the alternative is an applicant quietly picking ended by agreement and the truth arriving during reference checks. Naming the awkward answer makes it selectable, and a dispute is not automatically disqualifying. What disqualifies an applicant is discovering the dispute after a territory has been held for them for a month.
Can a conversational form like this take a franchise deposit?
No. This form collects an application and nothing else, and a deposit at application stage would be the wrong thing to do anyway. Payment is arranged separately once a territory is provisionally held and a disclosure period has run. The thank you screen says plainly that nothing here is signed.
What does the partner table do that three name fields would not?
It keeps one row per person with their role and their ownership share beside them, so a fifty fifty pair and a silent ten percent investor look different on the page. The table shows three rows and a solo applicant simply leaves them blank.
How long should a franchise application take to fill in?
This one runs about seven minutes because eleven of its fourteen screens are a choice rather than a keyboard. The two long text boxes are the only places where an applicant has to write, and both are about things they already know.
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