FRANCHISE LAW
Franchise Law Articles
Plain-English analysis of FDD reviews, franchise agreements, exit strategy, and ongoing counsel for franchisees and franchisors.
482 articles
Franchise Agreement Terms You Can't Negotiate
Some franchise agreement terms are fixed by design, and trying to negotiate them usually signals you don’t understand the model. Royalties, the …
Franchise Agreements That Attract Strong Franchisees
A franchise agreement attracts strong franchisees when it reads as a fair, two-way deal rather than a one-sided rulebook — clear fees, real support commitments, …
Franchise Agreements That Encourage Innovation
A franchise agreement encourages innovation by giving franchisees a defined, contractual channel to test and propose improvements — while keeping ownership of …
Franchise Build-Out Costs and Construction Checklist
A franchise build-out is the construction and renovation work that turns a leased shell into a branded, code-compliant location — and most of its cost and legal …
Franchise Due Diligence: A Buyer's Legal Checklist
Due diligence on a franchise means verifying the franchisor’s claims against the disclosure document, its actual financials and litigation record, and the …
Franchise Fee Structure Checklist for Franchisors
Before you sell a single franchise, every charge a franchisee will ever pay you needs to be defined, justified, and written into the Franchise Disclosure …
Franchise Fees, Royalties & Item 19: Franchisor Guide
The financial terms of a franchise — the initial fee, the ongoing royalty, the advertising contribution, and any earnings figures you choose to publish — are …
Franchise Financial Assessment Checklist
To assess a franchise’s financial viability, work the numbers from the FDD: total your real investment (Item 7), tally every ongoing fee (Item 6), …
Franchise Legal Compliance Checklist for Franchisors
Franchise legal compliance means meeting the federal and state rules that govern how you offer, sell, and operate a franchise — above all the FTC Franchise Rule …
Franchise Non-Compete Clauses: A Franchisor's Guide
A franchise non-compete clause is only worth what a court will enforce, and courts enforce the reasonable ones — restrictions that are no broader in time, …
Franchise Operations Manual: What to Include
A franchise operations manual is the confidential playbook that turns your business into a system someone else can run the same way you do — and once it is …
Franchise Operations: The System and the Manual
Franchise operations are how a franchisor delivers consistency across every location — and the legal engine that makes it work is the operations manual. The …
Franchise Performance Evaluation Checklist for Franchisors
A franchise performance evaluation checklist is a standing protocol for measuring every franchisee against the same metrics on the same schedule — sales trends, …
Franchise Renewal Process Checklist for Franchisors
A clean franchise renewal comes down to working a fixed checklist on time: confirm the dates, verify good standing, issue the right documents, and close on the …
Franchise Renewal Terms: A Checklist Before You Renew
A franchise renewal checklist walks through the conditions you must satisfy to renew and the terms to scrutinize before you commit to another term. Renewal is …
Franchise ROI Checklist: Calculate Your Return
To calculate franchise ROI, divide your expected annual net profit by your total initial investment — and then pressure-test every number against the …
Franchise ROI Checklist: Tracking Return on Investment
Franchise return on investment runs in two directions at once — the franchisee earns a return on the money sunk into opening and running the unit, and the …
Franchise Site Selection for New Units
Determine the size and location of a new franchise unit by matching the format to a defined trade area — pick the location from demographics, traffic, access, …
Franchise Success Stories and the Item 19 Rule
Franchisee success stories are some of the most persuasive marketing a franchisor has — and some of the most heavily regulated. The moment a testimonial …
Franchise Supply Chain & Approved Suppliers
Running a franchise supply chain comes down to one legal lever: the supplier requirements you impose on franchisees must be disclosed in Item 8 of your …
