What is the 'A-Team' and what is its purpose in assisting with the opening of a Golden Corral Restaurant?
Golden_Corral Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Immediately before, upon and after opening of your first and second Restaurants, make available to you an "A-Team" comprised of certain personnel of Golden Corral and/or authorized franchisees of other Golden Corral Restaurants for temporary employment by you, at the Restaurant, for the length of time Golden Corral, in its sole discretion, deems necessary to assist in training and preparing your non-managerial employees for opening and operating the Restaurant. Typically, the A-Team is comprised of from 20 to 24 individuals for on-site assistance, depending on Restaurant size. During the time these personnel are performing on-site assistance for you, you must bear all the costs and expenses (they will be considered to be your employees), such as transportation, including air travel to and from the Restaurant, food, lodging, and wages for such employees
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 32–48)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Golden Corral's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the "A-Team" is a group of personnel from Golden Corral and/or authorized franchisees from other Golden Corral restaurants. Golden Corral makes this team available to new franchisees immediately before, during, and after the opening of their first and second restaurants. The A-Team's purpose is to assist in training and preparing the new franchisee's non-managerial employees for opening and operating the restaurant.
The size of the A-Team typically ranges from 20 to 24 individuals, depending on the size of the restaurant. For the franchisee's third restaurant, Golden Corral provides a New Restaurant Opening Specialist (NROS), and the A-Team will consist of established members as well as members from the franchisee's other restaurants. For the fourth and any additional restaurants, the franchisee is responsible for supplying their own A-Team members from their other restaurants, as well as their own NROS, following Golden Corral's established new restaurant opening plan.
The franchisee is responsible for all costs and expenses associated with the A-Team's on-site assistance, including transportation (such as air travel), food, lodging, and wages, as the A-Team members are considered the franchisee's employees during this period. The cost of this pre-opening/opening program is included in the on-site assistance cost estimate in Item 7 of the FDD. This support is particularly valuable for new franchisees who may lack experience in managing a large restaurant operation and training a large staff.