WikidFranchise

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.