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Things to Watch Out for When Buying a Franchise

Written by: Sebastien Page

Article Overview: When thinking of buying a franchise, there are many aspects you have to think over carefully. This is not a simple business investment and can greatly affect your career. In the current business environment, you’ll be leasing a franchise business rather than actually buying one in the traditional sense.

Things to Watch Out for When Buying a Franchise

When thinking of buying a franchise, there are many aspects you have to think over carefully. This is not a simple business investment and can greatly affect your career. In the current business environment, you’ll be leasing a franchise business rather than actually buying one in the traditional sense.

There are many websites concerned with consumer awareness, in addition to government authorities which recommend that you seek legal consultation before signing a contract for a franchise business. The document you should have your attorney take a good look at is called the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC). This is a disclosure document all franchisees are given at least 10 days before sealing the deal .

At first glance, you may consider the terms set in the UFOC to be a bit restrictive and controlling but keep in mind that the franchiser is mainly just seeking to maintain the consistent quality of his brand name. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch out for clauses that are unfavorable to you without necessity. This is because business disputes are always a possibility in the future, and you have to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Although many of your peers will tell you that lying on your application is common practice, avoid doing it at all costs. Disputes that may arise in the future will surely be settled in favor of your franchiser, if it’s revealed that you have not been honest all along. So consider these tips before buying a franchise.

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Article Tags: brand name, business disputes, business environment, business investment, buying a franchise, clauses, consistent quality, consumer awareness, disclosure document, first glance, franchise business, franchisees, franchiser, government authorities, legal consultation, peers, traditional sense, ufoc, uniform franchise



Related Forum Posts
how much for a franchise fee? - Dear Colleague There is no easy answer to this question. Things to consider: [list=] The sizeof the Franchise Clent base Expected Turnover Intellectual Property costs (recoup) Number of Franchises Number of employees Original Set up costs Franchise admin costs An example: A franchise that I was involved in setting was to a simple "lawn mowing/home repair" franchise. The Franchise included national/local advertising - preparation of client lists - general admin - central accounting etc The Franchise involved 300-500 clients - and an annual turnover of about $300,000 . The annual franchise fee was $30,000. Hope that this gives you some idea Take care Ian[/list]
Re: Enticing Franchises - Top 9 List - All Franchise listed above are in millions of dollars. Do you have the list of Franchise in thousands
Re: Info for would be franchisers... - [quote="Sebastien":1d29sdv1]Like Franchise Times, Franchise Update is a very practical magazine. There is no blah blah, just straight facts that anyone in the franchise community can relate to. I just want to mention that all these magazines are NOT franchisee oriented. I mean these magazines are for franchise professionals. If you're looking to buy a franchise, you won't find much information in there. To answer your question, getting published in Franchise Times was fairly easy. I don't want to brag too much but I think I am known in the franchise industry. I was the marketing guy at Franchise.com for a few years before joining my new company, the World Franchising Network. So people know me and I have a very good relationship with Nancy Weingartner, the Managing Editor at Franchise Times. I was talking with her at the last Franchise Expo South in Miami and she mentioned she'd like me to be profiled. I was like "ok, sure!". I like this franchise executive profile thing in Franchise Times as it is rarely BS. People are usually really natural in there.[/quote:1d29sdv1] Thanks for the follow up Sebastien! And I can't say that I'm surprised that networking with the right people and managing your relationships with them properly are the keys to being published. I guess the old adage holds true of "it's not who you know, but who knows you" that's important.
Re: Top 50 Lists - Hi Evan, How about "Top 50": -Inventor Blogs To Watch -Franchising Blogs To Watch -Business Book Review Blogs -Women Entrepreneur Blogs -Young Entrepreneur Blogs
Re: Franchise Surveys - Another good tool to researching a franchise is to speak with their existing franchisees. This contact information is included in most Franchise Disclosure Documents. In order to get a Franchise Disclosure Document or FDD as it is often referred to, you will have to complete a basic franchise application. The franchisor will then usually provide you with the FDD at that time. Included in that book of information is a list of the existing franchisees, the contract, the investment information etc... This information is required by Federal Law to be disclosed to your prior to making a purchase. So be sure to do your research and start with the Franchise Documents to get the initial information.


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