Franchisee Resource Center

The franchise agreement should spell out all initial and continuing training obligations of the franchisor in detail. You should also query the franchisor about the following:

The U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics recently con­ducted a survey of home-based businesses and estimated that there are just over four million self-employed, home-based workers. (The number of franchised businesses in this total was not calculated.) However, the National Association of Home-Based Businesses, in Owings Mills, MD, puts the number at closer to 50 million people. Whatever the accurate number is, it is a number that everyone agrees will only continue to rise.

There are basically two types of businesses that can be offered by an individual. They can offer Products to their customers which are tangible goods meant for the customer's consumption or they can offer them Services which are intangible and work to make the life of the consumer easier and more convenient. With technologies advancing rapidly and the global demands of consumers changing there is a very thin line dividing the service and product segment of the consumers demands. An example of this can be the purchase of a car from an auto dealer. The dealer not only offers the vehicle at a competitive rate but now has to offer different services as well, such as financing options, after-sales services, ready documentation and other non- tangible services. This kind of merging has made it very difficult to draw a clear line as to the service and product industry but for the sake of argument we will consider a theoretical perspective where you have to choose a traditional product franchise or a service franchise.

At its core the decision to open a franchise isn’t a trivial decision. You are making a serious investment, but if you take all of the factors into account it can be an amazing one. But before you get there you need to sit down, analyze your needs, capabilities and limitations in relation to a franchise business. This could take a few days to consider or a few weeks or months. In either case, it is one of the most important steps in the franchising process, so don’t skip it.

Most of you are probably already familiar with franchises. You may even patronize a variety of franchised businesses without realising that they are franchises. These businesses range from car servicing and financial services to yogurt and home repairs. According to the International Franchise Association(IFA) franchises employed nearly 9,000,000 Americans in 2015 and generated nearly $880 billion. Franchising is difficult to escape.

Once you've found a franchise (or multiple franchises) that you are interested, the real research and diligence process begins. You need to figure out whether the franchise you are looking at really makes sense for you from a financial and lifestyle perspective. Your best source of information for all of this is the Franchise Disclosure Document, or FDD.

When people think of the costs of opening a franchise they typically just think about the franchise fee. That makes sense, seeing as the franchise fee is typically a substantial cost, ranging from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand dollars. But, this isn't the only payment a franchisee needs to make to the franchisor. Once operations start a franchisee typically needs to pay some form of ongoing royalties to the franchisor.

Now that we’ve discussed the franchisor’s point of view and arguments towards negotiating the franchise agreement, here are a couple of tips for not wasting time on trying to negotiate items which franchisors do not alter and concentrating on the change-able clauses in the Franchise Agreement.

Owning your own business has always been a linchpin of the American Dream. With the advent of franchising, prospective owners now face a choice between running an independent business and operating their business unit as part of a franchise system. Put differently, they can launch a brand new restaurant churning out specialty cakes and ice cream sundaes, or open a Cold Stone Creamery location. Determining the right option for you comes with some complexities, but there are a couple of primary factors to consider: Your risk tolerance and your personality type.