Just when you think you’ve perfected your franchising process, the world hands you a pandemic. Everything changes.

If you are familiar with franchising you have probably heard the term “Discovery Day.” Discovery Day is typically the final step in the approval process for prospective franchisees and often occurs after several weeks or months of due diligence. Throughout the process, you’ve likely read through long documents, scoured the numbers, and had numerous calls with one or several of the brand’s representatives.

Discovery Day is now your opportunity to meet the brand’s key team members, experience the brand’s offering, and really decide if the franchise is the right fit for you. Likewise, Discovery Day is equally important to the franchisor. It’s the day where they make a decision on whether or not to award you the franchise and welcome you to their family.

But what happens during an unprecedented crisis such as COVID-19 when businesses are mandated to curb operations and even shut down, many people are working from home, and non-essential travel is effectively halted?

There are essentially two options. One, the franchisor could delay this final step in the franchise process, or two, continue by adapting and innovating. The latter is easier said than done, as it’s tough to fully experience the boutique fitness franchise from a laptop or virtually taste a hamburger.

Xpresso Delight, the world’s largest and fastest growing office coffee service franchise, has chosen to adapt and innovate. The franchise has created a unique way to continue to showcase its top of the line Swiss-manufactured automatic espresso machine, proprietary blend of beans that are delivered straight from the roaster to offices around the country, and it’s unique pay-per-cup model.

“The pay-per-cup model is easy to understand in today’s market and our proprietary blend of coffee beans can certainly be shipped to people’s homes. However, to get the true Xpresso Delight experience and full flavor of the coffee, it really needs to come from our specific machine. Our blend was crafted specifically for our machine, so it's important that both elements, the coffee and the machine, are used together, but our machine isn't readily accessible in people's homes,” explained CEO, Nigell Lee.

Xpresso Delight is now conducting virtual Discovery Days using video conference technology and will actually ship the Xpresso Delight espresso machine to people’s homes along with their beans so that prospective franchisees can get the full experience.

“The only thing we can’t do is shake hands, which isn’t particularly advisable right now even if we were to meet in person,” said Nigell.

Joshua Kovacs, CEO of Oakscale, the exclusive developer of Xpresso Delight, is excited about what the future may hold for Xpresso Delight’s Discovery Days. “The current state of the world is certainly unprecedented, but sometimes it takes being backed into a corner to innovate and make progress,” he says. “Meeting us in New York City is not currently an option, but we now have the ability to meet virtually, which may be more appealing to some candidates even in the future.”

Franchise prospects should always examine and consider a brand’s ability to innovate and adapt with ever-changing trends in technology and consumer behavior. If you can identify these brands during your franchise due diligence process, it’s a good indication that you’re on the right track.

Xpresso Delight is a franchise founded on innovation and adaptation. Now is the perfect time to find out more about franchising and available territories by downloading the Xpresso Delight franchise guide.