Franchise Operations Manager

Franchise Operations & Growth Manager GKvale
Location: Bengaluru
Reporting to: COO / CEO
Industry: Photography Retail, Portrait Studios & Imaging Services
About GKvale
GKvale is one of Indias most established photography brands, with a legacy of over 115
years. The company operates a growing network of photography retail stores and
studios oering portrait photography, passport and visa photography, photo printing and
imaging services, camera and photography products, and other related services.
As GKvale expands its franchise network, we are looking for a commercially driven
Franchise Operations & Growth Manager to manage existing franchise locations and
lead the successful rollout of new stores.
Role Objective
The Franchise Manager will be responsible for the growth, protability and operational
performance of GKvale franchise stores.
The role will cover the complete franchise lifecycle identifying potential franchise
partners and locations, supporting store launches, monitoring operations, improving
sales, ensuring compliance with GKvale standards and maintaining strong relationships
with franchise partners.
Key Responsibilities
Franchise Development & Expansion
* Identify and evaluate potential franchise partners.
* Evaluate proposed locations based on catchment, demographics, competition, rental
economics and sales potential.
* Coordinate commercial discussions and franchise onboarding.
* Work with management on franchise agreements, investment requirements and store
economics.
* Maintain a pipeline of potential franchisees and locations.
* Coordinate with landlords, franchise partners and internal teams during store setup.
* Ensure new stores open according to agreed timelines and GKvale standards.
Franchise Operations
* Act as the primary point of contact between GKvale Head Oice and franchise
partners.
* Conduct regular store visits and operational reviews.

* Ensure compliance with GKvale SOPs, pricing, branding, customer service and
operating standards.
* Monitor staing, store productivity and service quality.
* Ensure proper implementation of POS/Tally systems, billing processes and inventory
controls.
* Coordinate with Finance for collections, reconciliations and franchise-related
payments.
* Ensure franchise stores maintain required documentation and operational controls.
Sales & Protability
The Franchise Manager will be directly accountable for improving franchise-store
performance.
Key responsibilities include:
* Set monthly sales targets for every franchise.
* Track daily, weekly and monthly performance.
* Analyse sales by service/category.
* Identify underperforming stores and implement corrective action plans.
* Improve customer conversion, average bill value and repeat business.
* Work with stores to increase sales of:
* Portrait photography
* Passport & visa photography
* Photo printing and enlargements
* Restoration and digitisation services
* Frames and albums
* Camera/accessory sales where applicable
* Other GKvale services
* Monitor franchise protability and unit economics.
Local Marketing & Business Development
* Develop local marketing plans for each franchise catchment.
* Build partnerships with nearby apartments, schools, hospitals, corporates, jewellers,
car dealerships and other institutions.
* Coordinate local activations, events and promotional campaigns.
* Work with GKvales marketing team on digital and oline campaigns.
* Measure marketing expenditure against leads and sales generated.
Franchise Partner Management
* Build strong relationships with franchise owners.
* Conduct structured monthly business reviews.
* Resolve operational and commercial issues quickly.
* Ensure franchisees understand GKvales expectations and business objectives.
* Identify franchisees capable of opening additional locations.

Store Launch Management
For every new franchise, coordinate:
Location approval commercial evaluation agreement store design t-out
equipment recruitment training marketing launch post-launch performance
review.
The Franchise Manager should ensure that every new store is operationally ready before
opening.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Performance should be measured primarily on:
30% Franchise Sales Growth
Achievement of monthly and annual sales targets.
20% Franchise Protability
Improvement in store-level contribution and protability.
15% New Franchise Openings
Number of successful new stores opened against annual targets.
15% Same-Store Growth
Growth from franchises operating for more than 12 months.
10% Operational Compliance
Billing, inventory, SOP, branding and customer-service compliance.
10% Local Business Development
Revenue generated through local partnerships and marketing initiatives.
Candidate Prole
Experience: 610 years, preferably with at least 3 years managing franchise or multi-
location retail operations.
Education: Graduate required; MBA preferred.
The ideal candidate should have experience in:
* Franchise operations
* Multi-store retail management
* P&L responsibility
* Store launches

* Retail sales
* Local area marketing
* Franchisee/partner relationship management
* Team management
* Retail MIS and performance analysis
Preferred Industry Background
Candidates from organised multi-location consumer businesses would be particularly
relevant, including:
* Optical chains
* Jewellery retail
* Salon and beauty chains
* Coee/QSR chains
* Diagnostic centres
* Fitness chains
* Consumer electronics retail
* Photography/imaging businesses
* Education or other franchise-led businesses
Key Competencies
The candidate should be:
* Highly commercial and numbers-driven
* Strong in execution and follow-up
* Comfortable travelling extensively within Bengaluru/Karnataka
* Capable of dealing with entrepreneurs and franchise owners
* Strong at negotiation and conict resolution
* Process-oriented without being bureaucratic
* Comfortable analysing store-level sales and protability
* Able to take ownership rather than simply coordinate between departments
What Success Looks Like
Within the rst 12 months, the Franchise Manager should be able to:
* Establish a structured franchise performance dashboard.
* Improve sales at existing franchise stores.
* Identify and correct underperforming franchises.
* Establish consistent operating standards across the network.
* Build a qualied pipeline of new franchise partners.
* Open new GKvale locations within agreed budgets and timelines.
* Develop GKvales franchise network into a scalable and protable growth channel.

For GKvale specically, I would not hire a conventional franchise sales person whose
main skill is selling franchises. Id look for someone who has actually managed 1030
outlets and store-level P&Ls. A strong Area Manager/Regional Manager from a coee
chain, optical chain, diagnostics, salon, jewellery or organised retail business could
actually be a better t than someone carrying the title Franchise Manager.
I can also prepare the CTC range, incentive structure, interview questions, and a
shortlist of Bangalore companies to headhunt this person from.