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Some aspiring entrepreneurs may believe that franchising a
business is an easy decision. If you had some success with
your first store, you may think that franchising is the next
logical step. A positive bottom line at one business in one
location, however, will not always translate to widespread
acceptance of a particular brand or concept. For that reason,
it is imperative that you take a close look at the wide variety of
factors unique to the franchise model to determine whether
franchising is the right choice. This article will explore a
number of those factors to consider when taking the plunge into
franchising, however it is by no means an exhaustive list of the
elements involved in starting up a franchise.
Who Is On Your Franchise Team?
Your initial team of advisors should, at a minimum, include
expertise in legal affairs, accounting and franchise sales and
development.
The lawyer’s role is to help you determine the model of franchising
that best suits your objectives, be it unit franchising, area
development franchising or master franchising, and then capturing
those concepts and requirements in franchise agreements and a
disclosure document, where one is required by law (more on what all
of these terms mean below). The accountant’s role will be
primarily to create your financial statements and opening balance
sheet which are essential components of any valid disclosure
document, again, where one is required by law, and will also help
you plan your finances generally. With respect to sales, you
may want to consider retaining the services of a franchise
consultant with specific expertise in the franchise industry, or
hiring a sales or development manager who has demonstrated
experience selling brands to franchisees in other systems.
Is Franchising Right For You?
You should ask yourself a number of questions about your business to determine whether it even makes sense to start franchising. Taking the time to give these ideas some thought, and even putting pen to paper, is likely to get you to better organize not only your business plan, but also to help you better understand the foundation upon which your system and concept will be built:
What Kinds of Franchising Options Exist?
There are several franchising options available to you, the availability and advisability of which will depend on the nature of your franchise system, the territory within which you can conduct business and your overall business acumen. The following is a list of three examples:
Direct Franchising: Direct, or unit, franchising is the purest form of franchising a business. Under this model, the franchisor grants the franchisee the right to open one franchised business at one location, with a specified geographic range that will be protected from other franchised businesses of the same system, for instance the right to open one fast-food restaurant at a particular address. Additional franchises may be granted based on the performance of the first location. In most cases, it will be rare for the franchisee under this model to be required to satisfy performance criteria or sales quotas.
Area Development: Under an area development agreement, the franchisor grants the franchisee (or, area developer) the exclusive right to open and operate several franchised businesses within a much broader geographic territory. For instance, an area developer may be granted the right to open coffee shops within a particular neighbourhood of Toronto, or perhaps throughout the entire province of Manitoba. Area developers typically will be required to open a certain number of stores within a specified time frame, as set by the franchisor.
Master Franchising: Master franchising is similar
to area development in that the franchisee (in this case, the
‘master franchisee’) is granted the right to a wide
territory. However, as a master franchisee, the territory
will generally be larger than under the other franchise models,
i.e. an entire province or all of Canada. Master franchising
is frequently employed by foreign franchisors so that a resident of
the territory can expand the system in areas which the franchisor
may not be familiar with. As well, master franchisees (though
franchisees of the franchisor) will generally be given the right to
“sub-franchise”, meaning that they can grant franchises to
franchisees within their territory, rather than only operate them
themselves. In this case, the master franchisee actually
becomes the franchisor.
What Is A Disclosure Document?
In a franchise relationship, there is invariably an imbalance of
power favouring the franchisor. This is understandable given
that it is the franchisor who owns the brand, has spent
considerable time and effort in developing operating standards and
needs to exert a sufficient degree of control to ensure consistency
in the delivery of products and services to customers of the
franchise system.
Franchise law recognizes this tilt towards the franchisor and,
in those provinces where franchise law has been enacted, very
specific rights are afforded to franchisees which cannot be
waived.
One right, in particular, is the cornerstone of franchise law
and that is the franchise disclosure document. Not to be
confused with an operations manual, the disclosure document is a
compendium of various categories of information, all of which are
specifically prescribed by law. In order to assist a franchisee in
determining whether to enter the system, the disclosure document
requires the franchisor to provide the prospective franchisee with
its company history, litigation history, a description of all fees
and costs necessary for the franchisee to start and continue to
operate its business, a summary of restrictions and obligations
contained in the franchise agreement and, perhaps most importantly,
the franchisor’s financial statements. This list is far from
exhaustive as there are many more headings of information required
by law, however it should give you a sense of the level of detail
that a disclosure document is to contain in order to aid a
franchisee in deciding if the franchise is for them.
In addition, franchisees are under no obligation to buy into the
franchise when they receive a disclosure document. In fact,
the law requires that a minimum of 14 days pass before a franchisee
can be required to pay any money to the franchisor, or sign any
agreement relating to the franchise.
Franchise disclosure legislation currently exists in Ontario,
Alberta and PEI and New Brunswick, with Manitoba anticipated to
enact similar legislation later this year. Disclosure
documents are not yet required in any other province or
territory.
What Fees Should I Charge?
The fees which you intend to charge your franchisees need to strike a balance between being fair to a franchisee while still providing you with the opportunity to be profitable. The fees should be structured so that both of you can realize a reasonable return on your respective investments.
Generally, franchisors will charge an initial franchisee fee payable on the franchisee signing the franchise agreement. Franchisors often assume that this is straight profit for them, but the typical business reality is that the franchise fee should be an amount which compensates the franchisor for its own administrative, legal and accounting costs to grant the franchise, assist in getting the new franchised location operational and provide any agreed-upon training.
A monthly or weekly royalty fee will typically be calculated as a percentage of the franchisee’s gross sales and is the main source of a franchisor’s profits, but again, must be calculated with a view towards ensuring the franchisee’s financial stability and success.
Some other fees which may be chargeable by a franchisor include:
an advertising fee (more on this a little further down), a sublease
administration fee where a franchisor subleases the premises to the
franchisee; a software maintenance fee; an ongoing training fee; or
a waste diversion fee (in provinces where such charges are owed by
a franchisor to the provincial government).
Is Location As Important As I Think It
Is?
A vital consideration will be how to handle construction of the
premises. As a franchisor, you may be failing your
franchisees and doing a disservice to your brand if you are not
assisting in the approval of a particular location. Given the
critical importance of location to a business’s success, a
franchisor may elect to go on the head lease of a particular
location and then sublease that location to the
franchisee, or make it a system-wide policy to always do so.
The benefit of this model is that, if the franchisor has found a
location that has worked well for the system or that the franchisor
anticipates will succeed, that location will remain with the
franchisor if the franchisee ever leaves the system. When the
day comes that a franchisee sells its business, or has its
franchise agreement terminated by the franchisor, it will be the
franchisor’s option as to whether it will continue to operate the
business from that location itself, or whether it will sublease it
to another franchisee.
Franchisors should, at a minimum, be providing advice or resources
for setting up a turnkey operation and may build the location
themselves or require the franchisee to build, at the franchisee’s
own expense, and in compliance with the franchisor’s
standards.
Do I Need to Register My Trademark?
One of the first things a franchisor should do is protect their
trademarks by applying for federal registration under the
Trade-marks Act. While registration is not mandatory for
demonstrating trademark rights in Canada, you have more remedies
available to you and somewhat stronger proof of your entitlement to
the mark if you do register. You will need to conduct a
search of the trademarks database to ensure that your mark and name
will not be confusing with one already registered.
Entitlement to trademark rights in Canada is based on first use, so
it is important to have a clear picture of other claimants to your
proposed name and mark.
How Can I Finance Advertising?
For a franchisor to ensure that there is consistency across its
brand, certain system controls have to be in place, and this
becomes particularly apparent in the area of advertising.
Franchisors need to be certain that any advertising being conducted
by a particular franchisee does not vary from the message and brand
which the franchisor has expended much time and resources to
develop and sustain. As a result, most, if not all, franchise
agreements will stipulate that all of the franchisee’s advertising
activities must be approved by the franchisor, as well as typically
requiring a certain percentage of the franchisee’s gross sales to
be spent on advertising.
This will generally mean two things:
Franchising is an exciting path for many businesses, and it is a
form of distribution that suits a variety of concepts, not only the
traditional restaurant or retail outlets. However, you should
think carefully about the control that you will be forfeiting when
you hand the brand to your franchisees and determine whether that
suits your long-term business objectives.
Chad Finkelstein is a partner in the Franchise Law practice group at Dale & Lessmann LLP in Toronto. He can be reached at cfinkelstein@dalelessmann.com or (416) 369-7883.