# Training Training is not one number. Item 11 must describe the subjects, classroom and on-the-job hours, location, timing, instructors, required attendees and who pays travel and living costs. The [federal disclosure format](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/436.5) requires a table titled “TRAINING PROGRAM,” but identical columns do not make programs equivalent. ## Build an attendance schedule Copy each subject and separate classroom from on-the-job time. Then add information that the hours alone omit: - which owner, manager or employees must attend; - whether attendance or successful completion is required; - where training occurs and how often classes are offered; - whether instruction is in person, remote or self-directed; - who pays wages, travel, lodging and replacement labor; - what pre-opening and opening-team support follows; - what continuing or remedial training can later be required. If two people must attend a 160-hour program, the business commitment is not simply 160 hours. It is 320 participant-hours plus travel and time away from the buyer's existing work. If a manager leaves, determine whether a replacement must repeat training and at whose cost. ## Compare shape, not prestige The filings in this site's comparison set show very different commitments. GDK's 2024 filing lists 40 classroom and 120 on-the-job hours. Shah's Halal lists 19 classroom and 85 on-the-job hours. The Halal Guys lists 24 and 136. Wienerschnitzel's comparative record lists 48 classroom and 480 on-the-job hours, while bluTaco lists no classroom hours and 11.5 on-the-job hours. Those totals do not rank instructional quality. They may reflect restaurant complexity, franchisee experience requirements, what the franchisor counts as formal instruction or a model built around an existing host retailer. Compare the subjects and attendees to the actual format. Food safety, prep, line deployment, inventory, scheduling, cash controls, delivery, local marketing and equipment care all demand evidence somewhere, but not necessarily the same mix of classroom and store time. Wendy's [official franchise FAQ](https://www.wendys.com/franchising/franchise-faqs) provides a useful outside comparison: it describes a four-to-six-month management program combining in-restaurant training, classroom work and regional orientation. That operator-page description helps a reader form questions. The current Wendy's FDD and agreement would still control the obligations, costs and eligibility for an actual buyer. ## Separate pre-opening from ongoing support Item 11 covers more than the training table. Read the assistance language before and after opening, site and design support, computer systems, advertising program and operating-manual treatment. Identify verbs: “will provide,” “may provide” and “may require” create different expectations. Ask recent franchisees when they were allowed to enroll, whether construction delays forced retraining or extra travel, who staffed the opening team and how long that team stayed. Ask mature operators which support continued after launch and which training became mandatory when products, software or standards changed. ## Match training to the staffing model Turn the curriculum into a role matrix. Who can open, close, receive inventory, run each station, handle allergens, reconcile cash and train a new employee? How many trained managers must be employed before opening? Does the model assume an owner-operator, a dedicated general manager or a multi-unit organization with its own trainers? Finally, put training costs and payroll into the opening plan. Item 7 may include travel or training expenses, but its allowance can be a range based on assumptions that do not match the buyer's distance or attendee count. Reconcile Item 7, Item 11 and the agreement rather than presuming the training line is all-inclusive. The due-diligence question is not whether 500 hours beats 50. It is whether the disclosed program can produce the operating roles the restaurant requires, on the buyer's timeline, with costs and completion conditions understood before the lease and opening clock begin. ## Hours against cash and calendar Classroom plus on-the-job, as disclosed, and the Item 7 travel line where this set has one: | Brand | Classroom | OTJ | Combined | Training cash in Item 7 | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | bluTaco | 0 | 11.5 | 11.5 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | Crave Hot Dogs and BBQ | 15 | 37 | 52 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | Pepper Lunch | 16 | 192 | 208 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | Shah's Halal Food | 19 | 85 | 104 | Travel $2,000–$20,000 | FDD issued 10 April 2024 | | 375° Chicken 'n Fries | 23 | 67 | 90 | $100–$5,000 | FDD issued 30 April 2024 | | The Halal Guys | 24 | 136 | 160 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | Mad for Chicken | 25 | 106 | 131 | $3,000–$6,000 | FDD issued 3 May 2024 | | Dog Haus | 40 | 102 | 142 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | GDK | 40 | 120 | 160 | $5,000–$10,000 | FDD issued 3 September 2024 | | Wienerschnitzel | 48 | 480 | 528 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | Capriotti's | 55 | 270 | 325 | — | May 2024 comparative study of published FDDs | | The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill | 60.25 | 180 | 240.25 | Travel and living $10,000–$20,000 | FDD issued 17 August 2023 | Döner Haus has no training-hour fields in this dataset. Wienerschnitzel and others have hours without an Item 7 travel line here; do not invent one. Two attendees double the person-hours and usually the travel. Shah's $2,000–$20,000 travel band is a distance-and-lodging story: a local opener and a cross-country opener are not the same Item 7 row. Great Greek's $10,000–$20,000 living band sits on 60.25 classroom hours — a long stay. 375°'s $100–$5,000 band is the wide-open version of the same problem. Wienerschnitzel's 480 on-the-job hours will not fit in a punch-list week. Put them on the [timeline to open](/timeline-to-open/) before the landlord's rent-start date. bluTaco's 11.5 hours will fit; whether they produce a crew is a validation-call question, not a calendar question. Pepper Lunch's 16 classroom / 192 OTJ split is a teppan-line apprenticeship shape. Crave's 15 / 37 is the short end of restaurant programs in this set. Neither number is a quality score. Both are absences from your other job, or payroll for people sitting in someone else's shop.
Training onto the opening plan - Subjects, attendees, location, completion vs attendance. - Person-hours, not just program hours. - Item 7 travel reconciled to actual distance. - Repeat-training cost if a manager leaves. - Opening-team "will" vs "may" copied from Item 11.
## Who has to be in the room Item 11's required attendees are the real multiplier. If the owner and a general manager must both complete the program, Wienerschnitzel's 528 hours become 1,056 person-hours plus two people's travel. Great Greek's 240-plus combined hours at $10,000–$20,000 living cost is already priced as a stay; two attendees are a second stay. bluTaco's 11.5 hours with 0 classroom may be designed around an existing host retailer — the filing's structure, including no initial fee, suggests a different labor theory. Ask. Do not assume a 11.5-hour program produces a spit operator and a closer. Replacement training is the quiet clause. When the GM leaves in month eight, does the replacement repeat the full table, a shortened table, or an online module, and who pays? Item 6 sometimes charges for additional training. Item 11 describes when it is mandatory. Put both on the worksheet. Capriotti's 55 classroom + 270 OTJ (May 2024 comparative study) is the long sandwich-line apprenticeship in this set. A linear counter, like the Subway photograph used on the QSR-versus-fast-casual page, makes those hours plausible as station drills. They still have to be scheduled against construction. Dog Haus's 40 + 102 sits near GDK's 40 + 120 with a different menu. Same-looking totals, different stations. Döner Haus has no hours in this dataset. If you are reading that 2026 FDD, copy the training table from the PDF. Do not borrow GDK's 160. Shah's 19 classroom hours are the short classroom end among full restaurant programs here, with 85 on the job — FDD issued 10 April 2024. That may match a simpler line or a franchisee who already cooks. It may also mean more of the real training happens after opening, unpaid, in the buyer's shop. Ask recent openers which. The Halal Guys' 24 + 136 (May 2024 comparative study) is a longer OTJ block for a platter line; still not Wienerschnitzel's 480. Crave at 15 + 37 remains the shortest restaurant-shaped program in the set after bluTaco. ## Related reading - [Item 11, franchisor assistance](/item-11-franchisor-assistance/) — verbs and advertising programs - [Timeline to open](/timeline-to-open/) — hours on a construction calendar - [Footprint and labor questions](/footprint-and-labor-questions/) — the roles training must produce - [Discovery day](/discovery-day/) — a tour is not the table - [Qualification](/qualification/) — experience versus disclosed hours --- HTML: https://qsrfieldguide.com/training/