Franchise Evaluator™: The Real Food Academy Cooking Education Franchise

This is one of the most important factors of all. To understand it you have to look beyond what the business physically does, the services performed or products sold and ask how does the franchise make money? Where does the revenue come from? How is it generated? Are financial performance representations made? Coupled with External Factors 1, 2 and 5 - Market Size, Industry Trend and Competitive Climate and the next Internal Factor 2, Franchisee Role - the true nature of the franchise starts to take shape.

The Real Food Academy offers services to consumers and business on an ‘as-needed’ basis. But there are certain aspects we like about it. As it’s not a restaurant, rather a ‘class’ or ‘event’ based model with a specific start and stop time, customers in almost, if not all instances are pre-booking and pre-paying. And unlike a restaurant, when ingredients and staff are needed, it is based on the precise number of people registered for that class. With the pre-pay model, a franchisee has the funds before the ingredients are purchased. You only get what you need and there’s minimal waste or carrying inventory.

As well, the ‘operating space’ and equipment needed are far less complicated that a restaurant, certainly.

The Real Food Academy does make a financial performance representation. Based on their 2024 FDD which encompasses full year 2023 performance, it claims over $1.1M in gross revenue and over $245K in net income. There is much more detail on this you will get a chance to review with the franchisor.

We categorize the Operational Model as Simple.

In this highly diffuse world, creating, managing and projecting a Brand is essential for the health and vitality of a franchise system. How well does the Franchisor manage this? How well positioned is the brand among competitors? Is it differentiated enough? How well would potential customers recognize the brand? How is it projected into new markets? What is your role and obligations in this process? How is the Brand’s digital footprint managed?

Differentiation in the market is vital to getting attention and creating demand. As we discussed in Market Factor 4 – Competitive Climate, there are few national competitors and few local competitors. But if we were to compare The Real Food Academy against some competitors, it has a few things going for it from a ‘Brand Distinction’ standpoint. First, it offers services for customers of all ages, from children to adults. Second, it has a ‘team-building’ program for businesses. So immediate The Real Food Academy creates wide appeal to many consumer and business customer bases. As this market continues to develop, the wide range of customers give many more options to flex and move the business to stay in front of developing tastes.

The digital footprint is fairly robust with built in booking and ecommerce options for allowing guests to register, manage their registrations and completing transactions and confirming appointments and transactions.

We categorize the Brand Management as High Engagement

How developed are the systems on which you will rely to operate your business?

The Founders of The Real Food Academy are still actively involved in the business. They have created the franchise concept and the franchise operating procedures based on the success they have had starting and operating the initial location over 17+ years. They continue to hold and espouse the vision of what The Real Food Academy means to customers and how it is changing the food education landscape. They continue to build a highly franchise experienced executive team to continue to refine and build processes to support a nationwide expansion effort.

We categorize the Operational Systems as Comprehensive

What role is the franchisee expected to play in starting, ramping and the ongoing operation of the business?

A Franchisee of The Real Food Academy has options. If you have cooking skills, have an interest in that activity you can provide the cooking instruction and lead the events/classes. But you do not have to. You as the franchisee can establish and operate a business, not perform the actual services. In other words, the Franchisee is not expected to be the class instructor. There is a recommendation that the Franchisee run the actual business as in managing the core business systems like sales and marketing, operational procedures, finance, recruitment and retention, etc.  But you are not obligated to do so. But somebody has to. The Franchisee can opt to hire a Designated Manager who will be responsible for some or all of these things. Either way, the Franchisee has wide latitude here to set up and operate the business as they see fit to maximize the opportunity within your territory. However you set up the business, a franchisee must look toward meeting their obligations to the business and to the Franchisor set about in the agreements.  Along with adequate financial resources for this type of business and according to The Real Food Academy requirements, potential franchisees do not need specialized industry knowledge or skills. As expected, you must have an aptitude and willingness to learn the system and follow the procedures, as with most franchise systems. General management, sales, hiring, retention, marketing, motivation, problem-solving, issue resolution and a financial management acumen, should a franchisee have these skills, will all be helpful in starting and growing your business, but none are required outside of learning The Real Food Academy way of executing and managing these aspects.

Note: You may score this differently depending on what role you want to play in the business.

We categorize the Franchisee Role as Business Manager.

What type of location, if any, is needed to deliver the product or service? If real estate is needed, are the requirements flexible or stringent? Is real estate essential to the product or brand experience or required for services to be performed onsite?

A suitable event/class space is central to being able to offer The Real Food Academy brand experiences at a location. However, ‘A-class’ retail real estate is not needed. Which opens a lot more options, and brings real estate lease costs down. According to the current FDD, The Real Food Academy offers various types of guidance and support as the franchisee identifies and evaluates a suitable site, however the details are not specific. This should be discussed with the Franchisors about what support is available including possible Approved Supplier resources.

We categorize the real Estate Needs as Basic.