Weeks 1–3
Concept & margin
Category selection, unit model, and the one number the business lives on.
Gate passes when the unit model clears franchisee-level margin on paper.
The program
Twelve weeks, four gates.
Twelve weeks, four gates, in Saigon — starting whenever a venture is ready. What has to be true to pass each gate, what we look for, and how we assess a submission.
What we look for
Six things we check before anything else.
We would rather you read these and decide against applying than spend three weeks in a process that was never going to fit. Most concepts fail on 01 or 03.
01
The unit has to be replicable by a stranger
Not a business that works because you are standing in it. If the concept only clears margin when the founder is on the floor, it is a restaurant, not a franchise.
02
AI-native from the first unit, not year five
Scheduling, inventory, hiring, compliance and customer service ship as agents on day one. We are not looking for a traditional concept with a digitisation plan attached.
03
You know the one number the business lives on
Every unit business has a single number that decides everything. Cover count. Basket size. Utilisation. Parcels per rider hour. If you cannot name yours in one sentence, it is too early.
04
Margin that survives replication
Unit economics that hold when the operator is a franchisee earning a franchisee's return — not economics that only work at company-owned cost.
05
An operator, or someone obsessed with the category
We back people who have stood the counter, or who know a category deeply enough to see what everyone in it has stopped questioning. Second-time founders welcome.
06
Designed for the corridor from the outset
Pricing, staffing model and legal structure chosen so unit two can open outside Vietnam. A concept that only works in one city is not a franchise thesis.
The twelve weeks
Four gates. Each one has to clear.
Weeks 4–6
Agent stack
The operating system: ordering, rostering, service and books — built and staffed by agents.
Gate passes when the stack runs the back office without a human in the loop.
Weeks 7–10
Live unit
Doors open in Saigon. Ninety days of real trade, instrumented end to end.
Gate passes when the unit trades and the instrumentation holds.
Weeks 11–12
Franchise pack
Manual, unit economics, territory map, first franchisee conversations opened.
Gate passes when a stranger can read the manual and run the unit.
If a gate does not clear, the program stops there for that venture and we tell you exactly what did not hold. It is the same discipline you will have to hold your franchisees to.
Selection
Five steps, no deadline, and you hear back either way.
We work with about four ventures at a time and start each one when it is ready. Applications are open all year round.
Register and submit01
Send it, whenever it is ready
The concept, the market, and the one number the business lives on. Fifteen minutes, not a deck. There is no window to miss.
02
Preliminary assessment
We read every submission ourselves and answer either way, usually inside two weeks. No silent rejections.
03
Unit model session
Ninety minutes on the numbers with our team. This is where most concepts either sharpen or fall apart.
04
Decision, on your timeline
We take on a small number of ventures at a time. If we are full, we say so and tell you when — we do not park you in a queue without a date.
05
Build
Twelve weeks in Saigon, four gates, doors open on a real unit. It starts when you are ready, not when a calendar says so.
Send it when
it is ready.
We read applications all year round. There is no batch to wait for and no deadline to miss.
Applications open year-round
You cannot open physical stores in batches. Every unit needs its own lease, build-out and team — so we take ventures on one at a time, and start each one when it is ready.
We answer every submission ourselves, usually inside two weeks.