Franchise Contract

FranInfo:

The legal basis for the relationship is the franchise contract. Normal contract features include:

* Identification of the franchisor’s proprietary interests

* Nature and extent of the rights granted to franchisee

* Term of the Agreement and Renewal
– the term must be long enough for you to recoup your investment and make a return from building up the business. Most franchise agreements provide a qualified right of renewal.

* Fees Payable – initial and ongoing

* Extent of the services provided by the franchisor, both initially and on a continuing basis.

* Initial and continuing obligations of franchisee
– range from business set-up complying with the franchisor’s requirements, to undertakings to comply with operating, accounting and other administrative systems. After training to operate the business successfully, you will be subject to non-compete and confidentiality obligations.

* Operational controls imposed on franchisee
– intended to ensure that operational standards are properly maintained – failure to maintain standards in one unit can harm the entire network.

* Sale of the business – can you build up the business and sell with a capital gain? However there will always be controls. If none, that should be a matter of suspicion!

* Death of franchisee – can the business be preserved as an asset and sold/ taken over by your dependants if they can qualify as a franchisee?

* Termination and consequences
– your breach of the agreement may lead to its termination! You should have the opportunity to put right minor remediable breaches. You will lose the use of the trade mark/trade name, and other rights owned by the franchisor. You will be under an obligation for a reasonable period not to compete with the network, and prohibited from using the franchisor’s System and methods. The franchisor may have options to buy the business. Valuation provisions should be carefully checked!