Dear Franny (Guests Post Questions Here)

I'll explain the UPS Store to you in a nutshell:

Let's say you own a Burger King franchise. And for the sake of argument McDonalds buys out Burger King.

The first thing they do is set your prices and then raise your costs through vendor kickbacks. So, now you can only lose money or if your lucky break even.

After that they stand outside your door and handout McDonald's coupons to all your customers.

- That's basically what you will get if you buy a UPS Store.

You would have to be crazy or a mad gambler to buy into a The UPS Store franchise until after March '09 or until the litigation get's settled.

If you even have a slight interest in this Franchise, you should speak to a Franchise Attorney to have them research (do their due diligence).

Hello Guest,
I am certainly well versed on this topic. I have written about it before, and will be happy to engage in some good and brutally honest conversation. {See The Franchise King Blog. Search under "too many franchise brokers}

In the next 6-9 months a lot of franchise consultants/brokers will have to close up shop. A couple of the larger ones are not even taking any new ones on, and the ones that are, are doing it to get some cash flow.

Most franchisors are experiencing a huge downturn in lead activity. Lot's of fear ruling the franchise/small business start-up industry.

There are already way too many franchise brokers around, and most of them are new, with no franchise industry background.

You may be saying to yourself, "Maybe Joel Libava just doesn't want any more competitors."

I don't. Who would. But, most of the competitors in my market area are gone, anyway. Plus, competition breeds innovation. It has always made me a better consultant.

Bottom line is that lots of folks think that they will go into franchise brokerage, and make their $200k a year. Very few do, anymore.

Best of luck!

Joel Libava

Franpro is:

Joel Libava, President

Franchise SelectionSpecialists Inc.

Cleveland, Ohio

"I am considering starting a new franchise brokerage company. Representing franchisors in selling new units as well as re-sales."

Whew! It's about time for some broker honesty. Thank you for being clear on who brokers represent.

The news shows that it is a tough time for brokers, whether they are franchised, independent or part of a network. It is a crowded brokerage market that is experiencing a shake-out. So you'll need to have either a whole bunch of franchisors who will support you because you are in their circle of friends. OR you will need a service that existing brokerages now struggle to provide.

Brokers are probably hanging in there hoping that the availability of credit will be fixed soon because that's when they expect all these unemployed people to begin buying franchises.

My guess is that anticipation for better things is what is holding that sector together.

Is there anything different about your planned brokerage services that buyers will find important?

Learn from the Cuppy's folks, take the time to learn the business and open as an independent.

Make sure you do your homework! I recently bought a franchise....there is NO support, I receive outdated candy, my emails and phone calls are NEVER returned, and it's impossible to have a newspaper ad approved. It is a requirement to have all advertising approved before it's published...not once have I received a reply....I always have to call and ask, and I've never gotten a straight answer.

RUN and don't look back! Buy a video - just do a search and get into the gift basket business. There are forums, magazines and conventions put on by the professionals and they very informative. Don't blow thousands of dollars on this franchise, it is not necessary because it is a total joke! You can find the products and containers elsewhere to make these bouquets. People don't want the hard candies, they want the fun candies the franchisor will forbid you to use. Do a search and see what the non franchise candy bouquet companies make. There are a lot of them out there.

If you are still interested in this franchise, visit every store and call on several homebased franchisees that you possibly can. Do your due diligence. There is no money to be made in this product. Too labor intensive and takes too long to make.

Read the blog on here about Candy Bouquet. A lot of truths and worse.

DON'T DO IT! Run, prospect run!

Just do a search on this site and spend a few minutes reading the Candy Bouquet posts and you will run the other way. Find something else to do. The franchisor couldn't be truthful if she wanted to be and probably is in the process of trying to find a buyer for her clinker of a company! Candy bouquets are pretty, however they are super labor intensive and have a very tiny profit margin. You could increase the profit margin on your own, but then you won't sell anything you make. And if you don't have carpal tunnel now you will have after a few months of making the bouquets their way. Do yourself a favor and come up with another idea. There are definitely better home-based business ideas and models. If you are set on selling candy bouquets, just do it yourself. You don't need to pay a franchisor to make them. they spend no $$$ on branding so work for yourself and create your own designs (which is what most of the franchisees anyway) and maybe you might make a profit. A little due diligence on your part will prove my points. Good Luck!

First, check your FDD or UFOC, whichever was in effect when you signed your franchise agreement.  Did the franchisor disclose the required equipment and also require you to purchase from a specific equipment supplier?  If the answer to the first part of the question is yes and the second is no, talk to your franchisor.  As long as you are using the required equipment there shouldn't be a problem. 

You also need to check your FDD to see if the franchisor disclosed if they are getting rebates from the equipment supplier.  If they did, then it is legal for them to require you to use a specific supplier.  But, again, I would talk to the franchisor, show them the contracts that validate your request and ask them to allow you to use an alternative equipment provider..

In today's market place a franchisor needs to lower the entry hurdle rate for new franchisees. If one of my franchisees showed me that it was possible to lower equipment costs by $100,000 I would tell the entire system of his/her success and integrate the new supplier into the brand.

I am looking to speak with some other Cuppy's/Java Joz franchisees who have been lied to, misled and stolen from as I have. I would like to try to find out options for legal action and what I (or we) can do possibly as a group.

Anyone with interest in speaking with me, please feel free to contact me @ Valton1018@yahoo.com or by phone at 281-734-8676.

Thank you,

Joseph Pennington

Run far far away from here! They will not return calls and Dale cannot afford to run the company. He has and is still using the franchisee's money to run the show- Fraud!

The number that still works is 256-389-3445.

without buying a franchise, you won't make it in a carwash franchise.

The only way this could be wrong is if there are no car wash businesses on the planet you live on, and therefore you can't go get a job at a successful one and learn it in 6 months without having to buy a franchise. Think about it. You really are unable to find equipment and chemical system and water control systems on line? You have no way to find out about management software on line? You are too bloody lazy to learn what the regulations are about operating a car wash where you live? You have no idea how to hire people to work in a car wash?

If you have any other urge, can you deal with it without paying someone to show you how to gratify it?--

Richard Solomon, FranchiseRemedies.com,  has over 45 years experience with franchise litigation and crisis management. He is a graduate of The Citadel and The University of Michigan Law School

i,ve just bailed out of a franchise agreement, be warned the ONLY PERSON WHO MAKES money in a franchise is the FRANCHISOR, from australia
do it yourself

down under aussie

Do you homework! I am not sure what type of franchise it is, but you need to ask questions, a lot of questions. Understand their pricing when it comes to initial inventory or product purchases. What type of margins are they adding on to the cost of the product? How will they help you build out your franchise? Who will provide training and who will pay for it? What type of service network do they have?

Finally, negotiate hard if you are going to be the beta test. No franchise fee on the first store, royalties half of what they are asking, etc....

Total waste of your money. 65% of their franchisees fail. Recently they were sued by 50 franchisees. Stay away

Yes it is a breach of the Code but you better be able to prove that "it" was required by the Code and that it wasn't provided.

It may well be all you need to have a contract made void - if you can afford it and if that is worth it.

When dealing with a contractual matter in the US (except maybe California), the start of any analysis is the plain language of the contract itself; we don't have that available in this example.

Also bear in mind that you may have signed a release at the time of the transfer, and this may bar an otherwise-valid contractual or common-law claim.

Paul Steinberg
Franchisee Attorney, New York City, Ph: 212-529-5400

It is important to look at what the next franchisee can do better, that you have not been able to do. For example, maybe the business needs a "sales" type person to sell catering, etc. If that is not a strength of yours, and successful franchisees do that well, that is an excellent thing to talk about with a prospect.

The bottom line is that most people who are buying an existing business ask one question...how much can I make? Do all you can to control expenses. Also ask your franchisor for help...they don't want to see you fail.

John Chesny is President and Founder of Disc Replay Worldwide Inc. A franchisor specializing in the sale of used movies, video games, and music. You can contact John at discreplay.com.

I sold two franchise restaurants and would like to share with you what i did and learned:  

1. It took 1 year to sell them both

2. If you hire a business broker to sell your business, exclude a commission to him/her if your franchisor or another franchisee purchases it (perhaps offer some sort of fee like a flat fee if you like)

3. See if you can just have a new lease created for the new owner as opposed to a lease assigment

Try to sell it for whatever you can - try to avoid just closing the doors.  We took a huge loss on the last restaurant we sold, but we were able to pay off a loan and assign the lease to a new owner.