Franchise operations consultant for franchisees and growing brands.
A franchise agreement gives you a brand, a menu and a manual. It does not run the restaurant. Whether you are opening your first unit of an international brand in the Gulf or turning your own concept into one others can run, the gap between the manual and the room is where the money is won or lost.
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Remote, across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the wider Gulf. Fixed fee agreed before the work starts.
What we do together.
For franchisees: opening the first unit
The franchisor's opening team leaves after a few weeks. Before and after that, you need a local cost model, a hiring plan that fits the labour market you are in, and someone on your side of the table reading the numbers.
The local cost model
The brand's food cost target was built for its home market. Imported ingredients, local supplier prices, customs and visa costs change it. We rebuild the model for your market so the royalty is paid from a margin that exists.
Holding brand standards with a local team
Standards travel through training, checklists and inspections, not through the manual on the shelf. We build the routine that keeps the audit score up without a manager standing over every station.
For franchisors: making your concept franchisable
Recipes, specs, training, opening playbook and the reporting a franchisee has to send you. If your best manager cannot write down how the room runs, it is not ready to franchise.
Multi-unit growth
Second and third units for a franchisee, or the first ten for a brand: one standard, one report, one cost model. Growth fails when every room is run differently.
Master franchise territories
For operators taking a brand across several Gulf countries: the country-by-country cost differences, the opening sequence, and the operations team you will need by unit twenty.
How an engagement works.
The agreement and the gap
A review of what the franchisor provides, what it assumes and what it leaves to you. The gaps are usually the local cost model, hiring and the first quarter of trading.
The plan for your market
A written operating plan: cost model, hire plan, supplier set-up, training and the weekly numbers. For franchisors, a readiness review of the concept.
Alongside you through the first units
Weekly working sessions, remote, with site visits for openings and audits. The engagement ends when the unit runs to the brand's numbers with your team.
What this looks like in practice.
A Gulf franchisee opens the first unit of an American casual-dining brand. The brand's manual assumes a 30 percent food cost and a labour cost of 28 percent. With imported proteins and local housing costs the real numbers are 36 and 33 percent, and the royalty takes the rest. The work: local sourcing approved by the franchisor for 40 percent of the menu, a rota rebuilt for Gulf trading hours and a staff-housing plan with a lower cost per head. Prime cost comes back to 62 percent within two quarters. This is an illustrative example, not a client result.
Experience behind the work.
Denys Chernenko ran a franchised restaurant as General Manager, adding margin and growing covers, and is a former franchise owner with his own money at risk. He has run restaurant and hotel F&B operations on six continents, and spent years on the supplier side at Sysco.
Common questions.
Does the franchisor not provide all of this?
The franchisor provides the brand standard and an opening team for a few weeks. The local cost model, the hiring plan for your labour market and the first quarter of trading are yours. That is where The DC Group works.
Can you help me decide whether to buy a franchise?
Yes. A feasibility study for a franchise unit uses the brand's own numbers and tests them against your market, rent and labour costs. It often changes the deal before it changes the decision.
Do you work with Gulf master franchisees?
Yes. The work covers the country-by-country cost model, the opening sequence and building the operations team as the territory grows.
Can you make my own restaurant concept franchisable?
Yes. The readiness review looks at recipes, specs, training, the opening playbook and reporting, and tells you honestly what is missing before you sign your first franchisee.
How do we start?
With a free 30-minute call about the brand, the market and the stage you are at.
Tell Denys about your operation.
A short message is enough. He replies personally, usually the same day.
Pick a time that works for you.
A 30-minute operator call — no slides, no pitch. Free.
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Related: What a restaurant consultant costs, and why a fixed fee →