Information is much, much more valuable to franchisees than any franchise law will ever be.

Start the dialogue, record the franchisor’s every move and retain that information through successive ownership changes.

Start educating  your members in the two businesses they run: the store and the franchise relationship.

I started WikiFranchise.org in Feb 2009. I keep it open although most wikis are closely held.

Those with a greater command of the information, wins every time.

• weblog
• smart phones
• wikis

 

Vigorous provincial government relations are invaluable in influencing Tim Hortons Brazilian-based vulture capitalists.

Franchisees need to speak out to their local MPPs (member of provincial parliament).

Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada

The independent franchisee association should make a legislative “wishlist” a priority.

Nothing, nothing makes a franchisor and his allies (Canadian Franchise Association, CFA et al) stand up and take notice.

Anyone who says talking to politicians is a waste of time, is working full-time for 3G, the CFA, its 1,199 other franchisors and their supporters: banks, legal service providers.

Start by suggesting the Ontario government reverse the onus on good faith in the Arthur Wishart Act.

Est. 1998

Mike Colle, MPP Eglinton Lawrence, Susan Kezios, President, American Franchisee Assocation, AFA and Les Stewart, Canadian Alliance of Franchise Operators, CAFO, Wishart Act hearings, 2000.

Les’s expert witness testimony.

John Sotos, Sotos LLP and Susan Kezios, AFA, Wishart Act hearings, 2000

John’s expert witness testimony. Susan’s expert witness testimony.

Tony Martin MPP Sault Ste. Marie and Dr. Gillian K. Hadfield, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 2000.

Dr. Hadfield’s expert witness testimony.

Three MPPs get together to try to make franchise fraud a criminal offence, Second Reading, 2010.

Les Stewart, ON Premier Kathleen Wynne and Don Morgan, 2015.

Q: Why should any public official help your family when (it appears) you don’t give two hoots about the other +70,000 franchisee families?

Want to talk about your experiences as a Kahala franchisee since 2013?

Contact me.

Kahala Brands:

1. America’s Taco Shop
2. Blimpie
3. Cereality
4. Cold Stone Creamery
5. Frullati Cafe & Bakery
6. Great Steak
7. Johnnie’s New York Pizzeria
8. Kahala Coffee Traders
9. Maui Wowi Hawaiian
10. NRgize Lifestyle Cafe
11. Planet Smoothie
12. Pinkberry
13. Ranch1
14. Rollerz
15. Samurai Sam’s Teriyaki Grill
16. Surf City Squeeze
17. Taco Time
18. Tasti D-Lite

Multi-unit and mom-and-pops. On or off the record.

Les: 705 737-4635. les.j.stewart-at-gmail.com

How many of the 25,000 Syrian refugees will become cannon fodder to the franchise industry via government guaranteed liar loans?

Several thousand, I’d imagine.

How? The moral hazard-riddled, Canada Small Business Financing Program.

Details:

• WikiFranchise.org: Immigrants as Prey, Cannon fodder, Language shortcomings create a vulnerability
• Franchising Opportunism, 2005 paper

 

 

 

7-Eleven (version Australia) and Big Franchising: conspiracies of fraud, extortion and theft.

I have defined Big Franchising and the role of industry enablers elsewhere.

Click here to watch a 45 minute expose called 7-Eleven: The Price of Convenience.

Modern franchising runs identically, internationally, on all countries sharing a British Common law heritage.

The highest levels of national government known full-well for decades that wage theft is largely responsible for the extraordinary ROI that is achieved by franchisors such as Mr. Withers and Ms. Barlow.

• see Immigrants as prey on WikiFranchise.org.

Cross-posted on WikiFranchise.org.

What is the Canadian Franchise Association doing to protect the 1,100 CDN franchisees and 96,000 employees at Tim Hortons?

The Canadian Franchise Association says it …advocates on behalf of franchisors and franchisees in Canada…

Tim Hortons is a member of the CFA. The CFA’s Code of Ethics says that their members’ should treat each other with fairness.

Tony Martin former ON MPP and MP made certain recommendations from his experiences during the public hearings which led to Ontario’s 1st franchise law.

News Release
April 4, 2000

Investigate Franchise Association Abuses: Martin

Tony Martin, MPP

Tony Martin, MPP, Sault Ste. Marie
New Democratic Party
News Release
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada

INVESTIGATE FRANCHISE ASSOCIATION ABUSES: MARTIN

TORONTO – The Consumer and Commercial Relations Ministry should investigate the Canadian Franchise Association over its failure to help Ontario franchise holders, NDP MPP Tony Martin said today.

The CFA is advising the Conservative government on proposed changes to provincial laws governing franchise agreements. But the association is under fire from hundreds of its own members for its indifference to their complaints, the NDP Critic for Consumer and Commercial Relations said in the Legislature today.

“The CFA has been of no help to many hundreds of entrepreneurs who lost their shirts in shoddy franchise deals,” Martin said. “Instead of taking the CFA’s advice this government should be sending in ministry staff to thoroughly investigate this association’s failures.”

Martin raised the case of Brenda Hope, a mother of two from Coldwater who lost $90,000 as a Chemwise Inc., franchisee. For more than a year, the CFA has refused to look into Hope’s complaints, although it endorsed Chemwise as a member.

Similarly, the CFA has refused to accept a registered letter from Bulk Barn franchisees who have a series of complaints against the franchisor. Martin was also refused when he tried to deliver the letter. The Sault Ste. Marie MPP called on Consumer and Commercial Affairs minister Bob Runciman to act now to protect small businesspeople.

“Perhaps the minister can convince the CFA to live up to its responsibilities to mediate franchise disputes. If he can’t, we need a full-scale probe of this group. It’s the least we can do for hard-working families who lose everything in dubious franchise deals,” Martin said.

The MPP has proposed his own legislation, Bill 35, that is far tougher than the government’s Bill 33. The Martin Franchise Bill would require full-disclosure of franchise contracts, a dispute resolution mechanism, the right to associate and the freedom to source products outside of the chain when not trademark related.

-30-

Also: Martin’s questions directed to the CFA during their Mar 2000 expert witness testimony.

Source

• List of CFA Members: Brands, Banks/Financial Institutions, Lawyers

God I am soooo sick of franchisee families’ pathetically, neverendingly bleating about injustice.

Moral indignation is a technique used to endow the idiot with dignity.

The latest pathetic example is the entirely predictable Lick’s “fiasco”.

Please: give me a break. Like it hasn’t been  happening for 30, 40 years with the full knowledge of the legal, banking and political communities. Take a look at WikiFranchise.org to hear those inconvenient life stories.

Sure when you lose big-time it hurts. but where were the tears for the thousands of others that went before you?

My experience is that the real reason many franchisees are upset about not being on the power end of the relationship. They got stuck with the shit end of the stick before they could stick the next guy.

And this may sound harsh, but they will double-cross anyone that offers help in good faith.

Drop the scales from your eyes and grow up.

I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it. Marshall McLuhan.