Why This Matters
Imagine scaling a business to over 600 locations globally. It is an incredible achievement. But now imagine doing it with zero online training infrastructure. No learning management system. Just a fragmented collection of static operations manuals, loose PowerPoint decks, and laminated binders shoved into desk drawers.
That was the exact operational reality Katin Kierstead walked into when she joined Planet Fitness as an operations training manager in 2014.
Over her nearly decade-long tenure, Katin helped scale that very brand to over 2,500 global locations—transforming a training system that ultimately impacted more than 30,000 team members. On an episode of The Training Effect podcast with host Doug Mark, Katin shared the blueprint for bridging the gap between raw corporate growth and scalable adult learning.
If your franchise system is feeling the friction of rapid growth, here is the step-by-step framework on how to scale franchise training without breaking your operational systems.
Why an “Ops Manual” is Not a Franchise Training Program
One of the most common traps franchisors fall into is believing that because they have a beautifully detailed Operations Manual, their team is automatically trained.
“An ops manual isn’t a training manual,” Katin points out. An operations manual outlines the rules and policies, but it rarely teaches how or why to execute them to a frontline employee.
When Planet Fitness launched its digital learning ecosystem, Planet Fitness University (PFU), they didn’t try to digitize a 400-page encyclopedia on day one. Instead, they rolled out just four foundational courses focused entirely on what they called a “Back to Basics” strategy.
Systemizing the Customer Experience
To build a scalable foundation, the initial curriculum focused heavily on the core customer experience. This included:
- Training frontline staff on how to welcome intimidated, first-time gym-goers without using aggressive sales tactics.
- Creating strict operational systems around gym cleanliness, such as a mandated “20-minute walk around” to clean high-volume areas like locker rooms and showers.
- Ensuring the training program was independent of the individual skill or knowledge of whoever happened to be delivering it on-site.
Connecting Employees to the “Why”
More importantly, the training focused intensely on the “why” behind the brand standards. When entry-level employees understand why a clean restroom or a warm welcome matters to a customer, basic compliance naturally transforms into excellent performance.
Ditch Vanity Metrics for Shared Operational Scorecards
When figuring out how to scale franchise training, it is incredibly easy for learning and development (L&D) departments to hide behind feel-good vanity metrics.
“I can look back at Planet Fitness University and say we had over three million course completions and 100% franchisee adoption. That feels good, but it’s not a measurement of the impact of the training,” Katin warns.
To drive true business performance, training cannot exist in an HR vacuum. It belongs hand-in-hand with operations. Katin advocates for a shared scorecard between the training and operations teams so that everyone shares accountability.
[ Training Team App-Blitz ]
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[ Shared Scorecard & KPIs ] ◄───► [ Operations Team Equity ]
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[ Unit-Level Profitability ]
Building an Effective Feedback Loop
By marrying learning indicators with real-world feedback loops, you gain clear insights into whether your behavioral training is actually working. Effective franchise systems look at:
- Franchise Business Coaches: Utilizing coaches as on-the-ground evaluators to see if brand standards are met during location visits.
- Customer Feedback Channels: Pouring through Google reviews and Net Promoter Scores to spot localized operational trends and training gaps.
- The Ultimate Metric: At the end of the day, the single most critical metric every franchise system should track in relation to training is unit-level profitability.
Case Study: Driving Behavior Change via the “Mobile App Blitz”
How do you know when a franchise training initiative moves the needle from a simple check-the-box compliance exercise to a massive financial outcome? Katin highlights the post-COVID launch and recovery of the Planet Fitness mobile app.
App adoption was a massive, multi-year strategic goal directly tied to higher-tier membership acquisitions (Black Cards), email marketing data, and member upgrades. But the hurdle wasn’t training new members; it was convincing existing, long-time club members to change their habits.
Instead of creating a dense, overwhelming online course, Katin’s team launched a highly focused “Mobile App Blitz”.
- Frontline Empowerment: They equipped club-level employees with simple operational tools and conversational talking points to show members exactly what was in it for them.
- Member-Facing Aids: They created laminated, physical how-to guides to assist members who weren’t technologically adept right at the front desk.
- Gamified Incentives: They drove system-wide excitement through inter-location contests and physical key-card trade-in incentives.
The Bottom Line Results
The results speak for themselves. When the app initially launched, adoption hovered around 62%. Following a sustained, two-year club-level training and operations effort, overall app adoption skyrocketed to a staggering 89% system-wide. This shift directly impacted key performance indicators that were truly financial.
Key Principles of Franchise Adult Learning Theory
When designing training that works for multiple audiences—from a multi-unit franchise owner with decades of business experience to an 18-year-old working their very first part-time job—you must respect the adult learner.
Treat Owners with Autonomy and Respect
Franchise owners bring rich, broad professional histories to your brand. If you treat them like children or empty vessels to be lectured at, you will lose them immediately. Instead, structure your high-level training to prioritize peer-to-peer learning and group problem-solving. Franchise owners trust and learn best from well-matched peers facing the same operational hurdles.
Match the Modality to the Complexity
Do not default to a complex e-learning module for a simple field task.
- Live, Synchronous Training: Best reserved for deep problem solving, conflict management, or intentional culture building.
- Self-Paced E-Learning: Highly effective for initial onboarding, retraining, and getting newly hired executives up to speed on the nuts and bolts of the industry.
- Job Aids & Checklists: If a driver needs to check their truck equipment safely, a simple, accessible checklist wins over an LMS login every single time.
The Golden Rule: The Answers are in the Field
If there is one definitive piece of advice Katin believes every franchise executive needs to hear, it is a reality check about corporate proximity.
“The answers to all of your questions are in the field,” Katin emphasizes. “Stop hiding in your office. Stop just sitting in meeting after meeting. Go be where the people are.”
You can invest in the most expensive, feature-heavy LMS on the market—the “Ferrari” of software. But technology is merely a vehicle; it will never replace a fundamentally disconnected frontline culture.
To successfully scale franchise training, you must continually design for the real-world operational environment your teams actually work in, keep your systems simple, and always tie your learning strategy directly to unit-level economics.
What does the training infrastructure look like in your franchise concept? Are you relying on outdated binders, or are you actively measuring behavioral change?
About the Author
Doug Mark is the CEO of LearningZen and host of The Training Effect podcast. He works with franchise organizations to design scalable learning systems, franchise onboarding programs, and training strategies that improve operational consistency and franchisee performance.
