Franchise marketing for food retail revolves around one thing: customers choose the store that is nearby, open and reliable. We make sure every store in your franchise brand ranks at the top of Google Maps, shows the correct opening hours and responds to reviews quickly. With 7,536 locations, food retail is one of the largest franchise sectors in the Netherlands.
Bron: NFV 2025
How big is franchising in food retail?
According to the NFV Franchise statistics (reference year 2025), food retail has 114 franchise brands with a combined 7,536 locations. That is 21.6% of all franchise locations in the Netherlands, with an average of around 66 locations per brand. Think of supermarkets, off-licences, bakers, butchers and convenience stores. Every location is its own local marketing channel: a profile, reviews, a page and local customers.
| Characteristic | Food retail | Entire franchise sector |
|---|---|---|
| Franchise brands | 114 | 936 |
| Locations | 7,536 | 34,937 |
| People employed | 164,300 | 438,800 |
| Revenue (excl. VAT) | €21.9bn | €50.5bn |
| Average number of locations per brand | 66 | 37 |
How does a food retail customer search for a location?
Grocery shopping is a routine. Customers rarely switch stores, except when they move house, are on holiday, are looking for a special product or when their usual store is closed. It is precisely at those moments that they search on their phone: "supermarket open Sunday", "off-licence near me", "baker with gluten-free bread". If you do not appear in Maps with correct opening hours and a good rating at that moment, you miss that customer, often for years.
A second moment is the weekly offer. Leaflets are moving to apps and online offers. Local posts in the Google Business Profile and short social media posts with this week's offer bring in extra visitors, provided they are correct for each store.
What marketing challenges do food retail brands face?
These are the bottlenecks we encounter most often among franchise brands in this sector. They can be solved, but they require time and specialist knowledge that a head office marketing team rarely has.
| Challenge | Consequence if you do nothing |
|---|---|
| Different opening hours on public holidays | The customer finds the door closed and leaves a bad review |
| Many stores close together | Stores of the same franchise brand cannibalise each other in Maps |
| Product questions (gluten-free, fresh, delivery) | The answer is not in the profile or on the store page |
| High volume of reviews | Without a process, complaints go unanswered |
Which channels work best for food retail franchise brands?
The order below is our starting point for this sector. In the scan, we test it against the figures for your locations.
| Channel | Priority | Use per location |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Very high | Opening hours, attributes, posts with the weekly offer |
| Review management | High | Quick responses to complaints about freshness and service |
| Local social media | Medium | Local products, team, sponsorship |
| Email and app | Medium | Weekly offers with the local store as sender |
| Google Ads | Low to medium | Openings, refurbishments, delivery service |
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How do we approach local visibility in food retail?
In food retail, the distance to the store is decisive. Google gives distance a lot of weight in local results, so the gains lie in the other two factors: relevance and prominence. We make sure every profile has the right primary and secondary categories (for example supermarket, off-licence or bakery), that attributes such as delivery, collection and wheelchair accessibility are correct, and that every store posts regularly.
For franchise brands with many stores in the same city, we align the profiles so they do not get in each other's way: each store gets its own clear neighbourhood or street name on the location page and unique photos.
Which figures do we measure for a food retail franchise brand?
In addition to the standard KPIs in the monthly report, in this sector we also look at the following figures, per location and for the franchise brand.
| KPI | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Actions: directions and calls per store | Direct predictor of visits |
| Position in Maps for 'supermarket' or a sector term | Visibility in the neighbourhood |
| Average review score and response time | Reputation per store |
| Views of posts with the weekly offer | Reach of local promotions |
| Benefit | Explanation |
|---|---|
| All locations equally in order | One standard for profiles, pages and reviews |
| Time back for your team | Local execution is handled by us |
| Comparable figures | Strong and weak locations become visible |
For which food retail sectors do we have an approach?
Within food retail, we work out the approach per sector, with its own search behaviour, bottlenecks, rules and KPIs. Choose your sector:
What does franchise marketing deliver per location in food retail?
The NFV figures allow for a simple worked example. On average, a food retail location turns over around €2.9 million a year. The Growth package costs €3,000 per location per year. The break-even point is therefore reached with revenue growth of a fraction of a percent. The scan of three locations shows whether that is achievable.
Our permanent team carries out the work: Gijs Bodenstaff as your point of contact, Angela for analysis and content, Elisabeth for local Google Ads, Peter for local authority and ten trained freelancers for profiles and reviews per location. You can read more about Franchise-Marketing.nl.
More about franchise marketing for food retail
The foundation for every food retail franchise brand is local SEO services for chains, supplemented by reviews per location answered within 24 hours. After that come search advertising for franchises or local social media per location, depending on your customer journey. Also compare the approach in other sectors: franchise marketing for non-food retail and marketing for hospitality franchise brands. You will find all sectors at a glance under our approach per franchise sector, and the prices per location under package pricing.
Frequently asked questions about marketing in food retail
Does every supermarket need its own Google Business Profile?
How do you deal with public holidays and different opening hours?
Do local posts with the weekly offer really work?
Is Google Ads worthwhile for a supermarket franchise brand?
From how many locations do you help a food retail franchise brand?
How do you stop supermarkets of the same brand competing with each other in Google Maps?
Which Google category should a liquor store, bakery or supermarket in a franchise choose?
How does a food retail brand answer product questions such as gluten-free or delivery per store?
How big is food retail within the Dutch franchise sector?
When do customers search online for a different supermarket or liquor store?
Sources
Gijs Bodenstaff
Franchise marketer, local SEO and GEO specialist, author
Curious how your food retail locations are doing? Request the free scan of three locations.