On Wednesday, January 29th, over 40 franchise owners met at The Senator Inn in Augusta to share best practices, and learn about various resources for Maine franchise owners. Four impressive and informative speakers headlined the afternoon. Jim Coen, Executive Director of Maine Franchise Owners Association (MFOA) spoke about the importance of organizing franchise owners in […]
Maine Bill Aims to Protect Franchise Owners
By J. Craig Anderson, Portland Press Herald, Staff Writer L.D. 1458 seeks to offer added protections to franchisees of many companies. Franchise owners in Maine are supporting a bill going before a legislative committee Tuesday in Augusta that they say would prevent companies from terminating agreements with their franchise owners without warning, among other provisions. […]
Jim Coen Launches Maine Franchise Owners Lobbying Effort
By Carol Coultas, MaineBiz, Published 1-27-2014 Jim Coen has spent decades in the franchise industry. It’s a familiarity he’s hoping to parlay into legislative action that improves franchise owners’ chances of controlling their own business destinies. Coen, a former executive director of the New England Franchise Association and for five years the president of the […]
The IFA is Not Pulling Punches
Yesterday the IFA sent a letter to its members alerting them to the pending doom, and that the sky will fall in Maine if the Labor Commerce and Economic Development Committee votes “ought to pass” on the “5 Principles” of the Maine Small Business Investment Act. They have organized a Town Hall Telephone Call for […]
McDonalds Franchisees Express Discontent in Annual Survey
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 […]
Five Key Principles for the Maine Small Business Investment Protection Act
The Labor, Commerce and Economic Development Committee (LCRED) held a work session yesterday on LD 1458, the Maine Small Business Investment Protection Act. The work session was open to the public, but the Co-Chairs of the Committee decided that comments were not invited from the public, but the committee members and LCRED counsel spoke. There […]
For Whom the Legislation Bell Tolls
Janet Sparks writes at Blue MauMau …for the past few years there have been new efforts on the part of franchisees and their associations to pass fair franchising laws in various states. Executive director Jim Coen of the Maine Franchise Owners Association states, “There are many fine businesspeople who have been terribly harmed by predatory […]
MFOA Board Votes to Ratify the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights
The Board of Directors of the Maine Franchise Owners Association (MFOA) voted unanimously to ratify the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights. MFOA joins 19 other franchisee associations that have voted to ratify the Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights. The intent of the document is to spell out a framework of a mutually beneficial relationship between […]
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. […]
Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights Makes An Impact
The Universal Franchisee Bill of Rights (UFBOR) was released in August 2011 and to date has over 1,200 franchisees, friends of franchisees, and franchisee associations that have endorsed it. The UFBOR was created by franchisees for franchisees as a fairness doctrine, and the goal was to highlight the imbalance in the relationship between franchisees and […]