The chief weapon of sea pirates, however, was their capacity to astonish. Nobody else could believe, until it was too late, how heartless and greedy they were.

The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn’t want to be used by anybody.

Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007)

Congressman Nixon had asked me why, as the son of immigrants who had been treated so well by Americans, as a man who had been treated like a son and been sent to Harvard by an American capitalist, I had been so ungrateful to the American economic system.

The answer I gave him was not original. Nothing about me has ever been original. I repeated what my one-time hero, Kenneth Whistler, had said in reply to the same general sort of question long, long ago. Whistler had been a witness at a trial of strikers accused of violence. The judge had become curious about him, had asked him why such a well-educated man from such a good family would so immerse himself in the working class.

My stolen answer to Nixon was this: “Why? The Sermon on the Mount, sir.”

The most important message of a crucifix, to me anyway, was how unspeakably cruel supposedly sane human beings can be when under orders from a superior authority.

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Blue MauMau reports: Tim Hortons Franchisees Get Bum’s Rush at Annual Meeting

Annual meetings are supposed to be an opportunity for shareholders to communicate to management.

Exterior of the Tim Hortons coffee shop at the corner of Scott St. and Wellington St. East is photographed on March 3, 2017. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

It appears 3G Capital executives feel themselves above Ontario corporate law.

To wit… In the June 5th Globe and Mail article by Marina Strauss: Franchisees shunned at Tim Hortons parent company annual meeting

“Tim Hortons franchisees who traveled to Tim Hortons’ parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) annual shareholders meeting in Oakville, Ontario, Canada yesterday were in for a shock. CEO Daniel Schwartz, in an apparently highly unusual move at RBI or any other publicly held company, did an end run around them and ended the meeting without entertaining questions from anyone in the audience.

“I’m astounded,” John James (J.J.) Hoey, a franchisee in Mississauga and an organizer of the Great White North Franchisee Association, said later. The association was formed in March to speak for Tim Hortons restaurant owners and raise concerns about the effects of RBI’s cost-cutting.

…In an interview later, Mr. Schwartz said the company is in “constant dialogue with our restaurant owners. We’re always willing to speak with them.” — Marina Strauss, The Globe and Mail

But apparently not publicly at the shareholders meeting, for one.

RBI, controlled by Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, is quick to adopt its cost-cutting strategies at its acquired targets, a proven 3G strategy to rapidly boost profits.

…Peter Sklar, retail analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said he was surprised RBI didn’t take questions from shareholders. “It’s unusual for investors not to have the opportunity to question management during the annual meeting,” he said. “I’ve never seen that before.” — Strauss, The Globe and Mail

RBI also owns Burger King and Popeyes.

Full article”

Blue MauMau.org is the premiere franchisee-focused news source.

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?

Tim Hortons operators might listen to Bob Purvin’s sage advice about franchisee associations

Legal advice is necessary but it should not lead ANY franchisee group. Do not allow any lawyer to capture control.

AAFD chairman and founder Bob Purvin

In a conversation with BlueMauMau.org, AAFD Chairman Purvin: Power of Franchisees in Bargaining and Cooperatives in Reducing Costs:

SNIEGOWSKI: Some franchisee associations, frankly, seem banded together merely as an excuse for a class-action lawsuit against the franchisor to resolve a grievance, or at least the threat to the franchisor of one.

PURVIN: Sadly, that is too often the case.

If a lawsuit is the only reason for a franchisee association to exist, it will disappear five years after its startup or until the next round of franchise contract negotiations. The successful associations do more.

The Griswold Healthcare Franchise Association [GHFA] is an example. Franchisees created a fabulous task force on best practices that worked with the company to put on seminars each month. They have great turnouts for their seminars, which are done by webinar. They are now getting involved in lobbying, especially around the issue of caregiver wages. Their legal fund is dedicated to working with various state and local agencies over the rights of caregiver business owners.

Griswold created a products committee, where the franchisee association is now getting involved in the supplier side in a collaborative way. It is not just the franchisor that is cutting a deal with this supplier [getting kickbacks] and mandating that franchisees use that product to enrich the franchisor.

Associations can be more about the supply side than about renegotiating the franchise agreement.

Let me repeat: Associations can be more about the supply side than about renegotiating the franchise agreement.

American Association of Franchisees and Dealers

Rule of Thumb: add together what you’re paying for royalties and ad fund (ie. 4 and 3 = 7%). As a franchisee that does not have a franchisee-led and -owned buying co-operative, you’re putting an additional 7 per cent of hidden cash into your franchisor’s pocket via product and equipment costs.

At what point did you decide to choose power over truth?

For us, it was within a room of lawyers et al.

For what it’s worth, Terry and I decided that some money costs too much.

Who has profited most handsomely from the passage of the Ontario Arthur Wishart (Frachise Disclosure) Act, 2000?

The mega group, elite class action and Tier 2 franchise bar practioneers.

Notwithstanding a very receptive Superior Court, almost no mom-and-pop franchisees.

That’s precisely why no attorney pleads right to associate issues.

The franchise bar profits more from filtering and defeating frachisee claims.