What is the ‘ongoing franchise fee’ charged for?

Ongoing franchise fees are typically management services fees and group marketing fees, both of which will usually be set as an appropriate percentage of turnover and be payable monthly.  The former pays for all the ongoing assistance you will receive for business development support, improvements to the system, research into new ways of doing things, regular communication with your peers and the franchisor, additional training and field visits from technical staff. Not all franchisors provide all these services, and those that do will provide them to varying degrees. The important thing is that the quality and quantity of services provided are commensurate with the requirements of the network at its current stage of development.  The marketing fee pays for such things as development of new marketing materials, development and maintenance of the website, PR activity for the products and services you provide, and general branding activity such as sponsorships or national advertising. Some franchisors, although taking the fee for national marketing purposes, will re-allocate it on a local basis until such time as the network is of sufficient size to warrant, or indeed afford, national marketing programmes.  Additional ongoing fees may sometimes be charged when a franchisor provides a centralised billing and credit control function, payroll and employment law support, or telephone answering and appointment making facilities.