Our CEO, Nigel Davies, was featured in the British Franchise Association's Expert Advice Zone with a piece on HFSS regulations and what they really mean for franchise networks. Here’s the skinny - the rules themselves aren't the hard part. It's the gap between knowing what you're supposed to do and actually proving you've done it.
HFSS stands for “high fat, salt, or sugar”, a classification the UK government uses to identify foods linked to obesity and poor health outcomes.
These regulations attempt to combat a nation in poor health:
There is an old saying, “never shop hungry”. Because you’ll buy all the tasty food that (chances are) isn’t good for you.
These regulations aim to reduce these impulse purchases and reduce the allure of HFSS foods. Particularly when it comes to children, who are more easily influenced by advertising.
Initial restrictions came into force in October 2022 in England, limiting where HFSS products can be placed in stores and on websites. This meant no more chocolate at the checkout, or advertised on the homepage.
Then, in October 2025 a ban on volume-price promotions like multibuys and buy-one-get-one-free offers added another layer.
UK-wide advertising restrictions will follow in January 2026, covering TV, online, and paid digital media.
But here’s where it gets complicated for retailers and franchises. Each country has its own current and upcoming interpretation of the rules. They will be different in each of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom.
All of a sudden, if your network operates across the UK you have not one, but four separate yet similar regulatory frameworks to follow.
This is where things start to unravel. Not through bad intentions, but because most franchise systems just aren't built for this level of complexity.
Think about how operations typically work. Training lives in the LMS. Policies sit in a shared drive somewhere. Store checklists are managed locally. And nobody's quite sure where to find the latest SOPs. Now ask yourself: how likely is it that regulatory updates make it through every single one of those systems consistently, accurately, and on time?
Exactly.
A buy-one-get-one-free offer on crisps gets pulled from the website, but the in-store signage stays up for another week. A planogram update moves confectionery away from checkouts in England, but stores in Wales don't realise their rules are slightly different. Scotland's restrictions aren't in force yet, so franchisees keep running deals that would already be illegal south of the border. And they're not preparing for the changes heading their way either.
These aren't spectacular failures. They're the slow, predictable result of disconnected tools.
When an inspector turns up, or a story of non-compliance hits the papers, "we thought we'd updated everything" isn’t a viable excuse. And it's not just the franchisee who takes the hit. Your reputation suffers at a brand level too.
This is the crux of Nigel’s article. There’s a difference between believing you're compliant and being able to prove it.
Proving compliance means:
This kind of visibility means everybody wins. Regulators know you’re compliant, your brand is protected, your insurers are reassured they won’t have to pay you for silly mistakes, and your franchisees have faith that you have everything under control.
Remember this: HFSS is just the latest pressure point. Sooner or later, another regulation, with yet more hurdles to jump over will come.
Whether it’s environmental claims, allergen labelling, pay transparency, data protection, the next big regulatory change is coming down the track.
Each one will stress the same weak points in your operations. The franchises that build proper compliance infrastructure now won't have to scramble every time a new regulation lands.
Read Nigel's full article on the British Franchise Association website.
If your compliance processes are spread across too many systems, we should chat. Book a quick discovery call and we'll show you how our unified franchise operations hub can help you pull it all together.