Fron QSR Magazine Last year, investment management and capital markets firm Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded stock in McDonald’s from a buy to a neutral rating. This type of move is a daily occurrence on Wall Street, but for the fast-food giant, it was another matter. McDonald’s first-quarter results had shown a 1.2 percent decrease in […]
Is Franchising Highly Regulated?
The International Franchise Association an opponent of franchise-protection legislation argue that franchising is already a “highly regulated industry.” This contention seems highly suspect considering the many blatant stories of franchise abuse by shady companies that violate franchise disclosure laws with impunity, and established franchisors who seem to hold all the cards in the franchise relationship. […]
The IFA Has No Risk by Claiming “the Sky is Falling” in Maine
Recently the International Franchise Association (IFA) sent out its IFA Insider Newsletter (Vol. 19, Issue No. 47 ) with the following wake-up call to franchisors “next month the Maine legislature will address LD 1458 (Maine Small Business Investment Protection Act), the most far-reaching and harmful franchise relationship legislation in any state in the country”. They […]
ABA Legal Wizard Abrams Asks for Good Faith in Franchise Law Reform
Enact State and Federal Good Faith & Fair Dealing laws to overrule devious franchise contract provisions. Janet Sparks writes at Blue MauMau that franchisee attorney Lee Abrams had no problem playing along with last year’s American Bar Association Forum on Franchising’s theme in its plenary session, “If I Had a Wizard’s Wand,” expressing his wish […]
What Franchisees Could Lose If the Minimum Wage Is Raised
Fast-food workers in about 100 cities will strike on Thursday, leaving franchisees caught between a rock and a hard place. Protesters are calling for $15 an hour — a huge increase from the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, or a full-time salary of about $15,000 a year. The upcoming strikes follow the protests that […]
GAO Report of SBA Franchise Lending Reveals Program Failures
GOA Report Findings: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report identifying that loans to certain franchise companies failed at a higher rate. From 2003 to 2012, the SBA guaranteed loans for more than $10.6 billion to franchise businesses and was forced to make payments on about 28 percent of those loans. Analysis of guaranteed […]
Avis Lawsuit Represents What’s Bad in Franchising
Edward Kushell writes on BlueMauMau that he was an expert witness for Robert Halcro and Alaska Rent A Car in the recent case that awarded $19 million to the Avis franchise owner in Alaska. Edward Kushell is president and founder of The Franchise Consulting Group. He has been a franchisor with 400 units, a multiunit franchise […]
Franchise Owners Add 15,040 Jobs In September
ROSELAND, N.J. – October 16, 2013 – U.S. private-sector franchise jobs increased by 15,040 during the month of September 2013, according to the ADP National Franchise Report. The report is produced by ADP®, a leading global provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics, Inc. and is published by the ADP […]