Successfully Balancing Hiring Needs Of Head Office With Franchise Partners

Managing a franchise of over 200 stores while upholding a consistent brand experience is no small feat. Add in the complexities of a tight labour market and the nuances of franchise operations, and the challenge amplifies. The Coffee Club, one of Australia’s most iconic franchise brands, faced these very hurdles. But with the help of Compono, a cutting-edge SaaS platform, they turned these challenges into an opportunity to thrive. Here’s how they did it and what other franchises can learn from their success.

Continue reading below 👇, or watch the webinar:

The Coffee Club & Minor DKL at a Glance

Founded in Brisbane, The Coffee Club has grown to become a household name across Australia and beyond. As part of Minor DKL Food Group, a subsidiary of Thailand-based Minor International, The Coffee Club sits alongside global heavyweights like Sizzler, Dairy Queen, and Burger King. The brand’s ethos revolves around being a local café for the community, yet it carries the operational scale of an international enterprise.

With ambitious plans to expand their footprint, including new concepts like drive-through coffee shops and the introduction of Minor's global brand Bonchon to Australia, The Coffee Club needed to tackle one critical challenge: scaling their hiring practices while maintaining brand consistency and quality.

The Challenges of Franchise Hiring

Franchises operate in a unique and complex ecosystem. Each franchisee runs an independent business, often with its own culture and operational quirks, while simultaneously adhering to overarching brand standards. While navigating these dynamics, The Coffee Club encountered several pain points:

• Labour shortages: Like much of the hospitality industry, they struggled to find candidates amidst a talent-short market.
• Consistency: Maintaining a unified customer experience across 200+ franchise locations was a daunting task, especially when every store had individual hiring processes.
• Time consumption: Traditional hiring models, which often involved collecting paper resumes or posting expensive ads on job boards, slowed down recruitment.
• Brand alignment: Ensuring new hires aligned with The Coffee Club’s culture and values was difficult without a streamlined, data-driven process.

These challenges not only impeded operational efficiency but also risked diluting the customer experience. A fresh approach was non-negotiable.

Enter Compono: A Strategic SaaS Solution for Franchises

Compono, a SaaS platform specialising in people analytics, became the game-changer for The Coffee Club. Using data and technology, Compono provided an end-to-end hiring solution designed to save time, reduce bias, and cultivate a high-performing workforce that aligns with a brand’s culture.

How Compono Worked for The Coffee Club

• Template-driven standardisation: Compono helped The Coffee Club create role-specific templates that outlined key characteristics, skills, and cultural traits for key positions like baristas, store managers, and back-of-house staff. Franchisees could easily adopt these templates, reducing gaps in hiring quality while retaining flexibility to tweak as needed.
• A streamlined recruitment funnel: With QR codes and URLs, The Coffee Club encouraged local applicants to enter the talent pool by simply scanning a code or visiting a customised link. This simple yet effective solution eliminated the tedious manual processes of the past.
• Integrated candidate evaluation: Compono’s platform ranked candidates based not only on skills and qualifications but also on their culture fit and personal attributes. This innovative approach ensured new hires had more than just technical competence–they embodied The Coffee Club’s values.
• Cost-effective job visibility: By automating job postings to a mix of free platforms like Jora and Indeed, as well as boosting engagement via social media, Compono minimised the cost of sourcing candidates while maximising reach.

The Results Speak Volumes

The Coffee Club has seen marked improvements since implementing Compono’s solution:

• A faster hiring process: Nikki Ward, Group HR Manager at Minor DKL, shared how she created her first job vacancy and received suitable applicants within a day–before the role was even posted on external job boards.
• Boosted adoption rates: Despite rolling Compono out to over 200 stores, the platform achieved an impressive 65% adoption rate by franchisees in just six months.
• Data-driven insights: Compono enabled Minor DKL to identify talent pipeline bottlenecks and underperforming regions, creating more targeted and effective support for franchisees.
• Consistency across stores: By leveraging the role templates, The Coffee Club ensured brand culture and employee expectations were standardised, improving customer and staff experience across locations.

What Makes Compono a Solution for Any Franchise

The Coffee Club’s success story underscores how SaaS solutions like Compono can address challenges that many franchises face. Labour shortages, inconsistent hiring processes, and operational inefficiencies aren’t unique to hospitality. Retail, healthcare, and education franchises can also benefit from such technology.

Here’s why Compono’s approach resonates beyond The Coffee Club:

• Scalable technology: Whether managing 20 or 200 locations, its automation capabilities ensure seamless onboarding and hiring at scale.
• Customisation and control: Franchisees retain the autonomy they need while benefiting from a guided framework that enforces brand consistency.
• Localised support: As a Brisbane-founded business, Compono takes pride in delivering tailored customer service, a feature many franchises value.

Customer Testimonial

Nikki Ward, the Group HR Manager at Minor DKL, best summed up the impact of Compono, saying, “Compono helped us create a consistent hiring process, which allows us to deliver a consistent customer experience.”

This alignment between technology and operational goals not only improved day-to-day processes but also cemented The Coffee Club’s position as a leader in franchise management.

Looking Ahead

For The Coffee Club, the future looks promising. By enabling analytics-driven hiring now, they aim to build clearer pathways for succession planning, career growth, and long-term staff development–turning short-term hires into lifelong team members.

Insights for Franchises

If you’re a franchise grappling with labour shortages, brand inconsistency, or high turnover, here are some actionable recommendations based on The Coffee Club’s success with Compono:

1. Centralise hiring processes: Adopt a SaaS platform that aligns hiring practices across all locations.
2. Lean on data: Use tools that evaluate not just technical skills but also cultural fit for a well-rounded workforce.
3. Engage candidates quickly: Communication speed is key in today’s competitive hiring landscape.
4. Promote affordability: Explore free platforms and tools for candidate sourcing to maximise ROI.
5. Partner wisely: Choose a tech provider that not only specialises in your industry but also offers local, hands-on support.

Technology like Compono isn’t just a tool; it’s a strategic partner. With the right solution, franchises can overcome hiring barriers, enhance team performance, and deliver the consistent experiences their customers expect.

To learn more about how Compono can transform your franchise’s hiring process, visit compono.com/hire