CU Implements 'Non-Face-to-Face' Introductory Training for New Franchise Owners

"Creating a Safe Educational Environment Amid Startup Demand"

Convenience store CU introduced the industry's first non-face-to-face franchise introductory training program on the 22nd. The photo shows a store training team member conducting real-time untact franchise introductory training with new franchisees at the BGF Retail Training Center located in Gangnam-gu. Photo by the store training team member.

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Convenience store CU announced that starting from the 22nd of this month, it will introduce the industry's first non-face-to-face franchise introductory training program in line with the With-Corona era.

Previously, CU conducted a 6-day franchise introductory training consisting of three stages: group theoretical education, on-site practice, and visits to excellent stores for new franchisees. The training was conducted as large-scale classes with up to 40 participants per session, but since March, the number of trainees has been reduced to around 10, and new training centers have been established in major regional cities to conduct distributed training, thereby downsizing the scale.

In this non-face-to-face (untact) franchise introductory training course, all basic theoretical education necessary for store operation, such as understanding the business, labor and accounting management, and equipment management methods, will be replaced by online video lectures from professional instructors. Franchisees can watch the online lectures via URLs sent individually through text messages.

Real-time lectures through video conferencing solution apps will also be conducted. Trainees can watch lectures held by BGF Retail’s Store Education Team staff at the franchise headquarters training center in real time and ask questions immediately via voice and chat about any unclear parts. Practical training that requires face-to-face education, such as customer service, ordering, and POS usage, is limited to a maximum of 5 participants. The training duration has been extended from 3 days to 4 days to provide close guidance on parts lacking in online education. The final stage of training, visiting excellent stores, is replaced by videos directly filmed by actual franchisees to share know-how.

CU has refined the lesson plans and materials by inserting various audiovisual materials such as images and QR code videos to match the untact franchise introductory training. Dedicated trainers are assigned to all new stores so that franchisees can receive expert assistance anytime even after completing the training.

Jang Hyun-hee, head of BGF Retail’s Store Education Team, said, “We planned the untact training program to provide systematic education in a safer environment for franchisees starting a new journey with CU despite difficult circumstances,” and added, “CU will continue steady investment to establish a support system according to the store life cycle from startup to operation even in crisis situations.”