Thanks.
Good post.
Does the franchise agreement read that corporate can yank your franchise for what ever reason?
Most franchise agreements would have some sort of conduct clause, because they don’t want a business to close because of boycotts or have their reputation damaged because of an operator.
It depends. Typically fast food chains start with a small number of stores and, if successful, they look to expand quickly and capitalize on their popularity so they sell franchises to most anyone who has the franchise fee and money to build/remodel a store. Early franchises are the most desirable because they tend to have the better royalty terms and are generally less restrictive than newer franchises. This was the case with my three stores and my franchises didn’t have language allowing Corporate to close my store for anything other than failure to use “approved” food supplies that DQ tries to tell you you have to buy from them. However, their authority is based upon qualitative language in the franchise agreement so if you use food products from another source (less expensive but of equal value) you are within the agreement. But nothing based upon customer relations.