WikidFranchise provides a transparent, credible and free educational resource for those interested in the business format franchise industry.

• WikidFranchise is a document collection

What Types of Documents are here?
They all related to the franchising industry from over 50 countries:
• published articles: newspapers, magazines, trade journals (print & online),
• public hearing testimonies,
• judicial and arbitrational decisions, and
• private correspondence

WikidFranchise was never intended to be used alone for due diligence. It is unwise to do it alone. You should work with an experienced commercial lawyer (+60 years-old, regionally-known: not a franchise-specific one) for a minimum of 6 months of investigation and budget about $3,000 to $5,000.

This document archive does not replace professional advice.

History

We:

• started as a McDonald's Restaurant of Canada franchisee's crew person in 1972,
• achieved Triple A rating as 1st assistant manager, McDonald's franchisee in 1979,
• achieved a BA and MBA, 1985, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada,
• did 6 months of intensive pre-sale due diligence for a Nutri-Lawn lawn care franchise, 1992,
• achieved only 23% of projected sales over 4.5 years as franchisee,
• tried to negotiate informally with franchisor with little result,
• saw 17 of 26 franchises change hands over 4.5 years,
• took franchise business independent in 1998 (Lawn Depot),
• forced into legal defence: injunction hearing, trial, abandoned appeal,
• turned to the political process for a law (expert witness for the Ontario Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure)), 2000,
• active a media spokesperson for Canadian franchisees 1998 to present,
• started a national franchisee advocacy group (Canadian Alliance of Franchise Operators), 1998 to 2005,
• sued by two international franchise systems (a) 1,600 franchisees and (b) +$1-billion sales — internet freedom of speech,
• declared personal and corporate bankruptcy in Dec 2000,
• wrote 2005 Industry Canada paper (free .pdf) about concerns regarding their government guaranteed loan programs in franchising,
• defined and developed a test lawsuit for Predatory franchise lending, (free .pdf),
• started to write on the internetin 2006,
• started in Feb 2008 to write a weblog (FranchiseFool),
• became an expert on organizing independent franchisee associations (example),
• launched WikidFranchise.org on Feb 28, 2009, and
• continue to collect +2,200 documents.

WikidFranchise is where investment risk is revealed through published articles.