History

We are former franchisees from the most blue chip systems.

History of WikidFranchise
We:

  • started as a McDonald's crew guy 37 years ago,
  • believed that franchising was safer and a legitimate form of business ownership,
  • watched our peers (a) try and succeed and (b) try and fail (no rhyme or reason),
  • thoroughly researched our own system before we signed (killer due diligence),
  • worked like hell to make it go but failed to achieve our financial goals,
  • tried to negotiate informally with our franchisor but were told it was our fault,
  • realized that many people have run into problems,
  • tried the legal approach without any luck (injunction hearing, trial, etc.),
  • turned to the political process for a better law (no luck there),
  • learned how the media could help (deep history of horror stories),
  • sued by two blue chip international systems (a) 1,600 franchisees and (b) +$1-billion sales,
  • started a national franchisee advocacy group (Canadian Alliance of Franchise Operators),
  • wrote a 2005 paper to Industry Canada about the use of their government guaranteed loan programs in franchising (free .pdf),
  • defined Predatory franchise lending,
  • developed a +$6 million fraud conspiracy lawsuit (free .pdf),
  • became an expert on organizing groups of franchisees,
  • refused to sign a confidentiality agreement,
  • collected 2,000 documents along the way, and
  • waited.

WikidFranchise is where franchisee stories are told and preserved.

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