The 2019 “Best and Worst Franchise” rankings have been published by Forbes. The franchise analytics firm, FRANdata, was commissioned to apply a methodology that ranks franchise brands on “health and appeal,” from the perspective of a prospective franchisee. This is the fifth report FRANdata has produced for Forbes, this time using information spanning the five-year period between 2013 and 2017. While the rankings are interesting, the methodology used by FRANdata must also be…

The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association provides many benefits to its hospitality industry members.  One of those benefits is access to its interesting and useful webinar series.  This month’s webinar “Five Star State of Mind: Handling Online Reviews” was presented by Ali Schwartz of Yelp.   Unlike Yelp’s sales team, Ali is a member of Yelp’s business outreach team who focused on educating business owners on the free tools offered by Yelp that do not…

The recent antitrust attacks on no-poach clauses encourage insomnia among franchise lawyers. But is the attack serious or just a flash in the pan, soon to be extinguished? The insomnia began in the tech industry, where front-line players with huge market shares agreed not to poach each other’s employees. No-poach agreements among dominant market players, the Department of Justice opined, would have a significant depressive effect on employee salaries. The DOJ asserted that such agreements…

The Philadelphia Chapter of the International Franchise Association’s Women’s Franchise Network hosted its annual summer meeting this past week.   For those of you who do not know, the local chapters of the IFA WFN’s is a local community designed to create, promote and inspire a network of female franchise business professionals dedicated to strengthening the success of women in the franchise industry.  Hosted by Rita’s Franchise Company at their company headquarters and training facility in…

Approximately one third of all franchise systems in the U.S. are service franchises. Services franchises can offer business services (e.g. insurance, printing), services related to residential and commercial real estate and fixtures (e.g. landscaping, plumbing), or personal and consumer services (e.g. education, health care). As with all goods-focused franchise systems, the franchisee territory is often a  primary source of disputes between franchisees and franchisors. Service franchises, however, often contain a unique, territory-related feature: national account programs.…

A meal kit contains the ingredients necessary to prepare a meal, and many are intended to be balanced and healthy. Meal kits are being marketed for all occasions to provide freshly prepared meal options. Kits answer not only the question of “What is for dinner,” but also, “Do I have everything I need?” These kits also provide a solution to those who want to eat healthy, allowing them to customize their order. The growth rate is…

Mark Siebert, CEO of the well-known franchising consulting firm iFranchise Group, authored a very interesting article in a recent issue of Franchise Times magazine about “influencers” in franchise sales. As a corporate and regulatory transactional franchise attorney, I represent both franchisors (in the sale) and franchisees, multi-unit owners and area developers (in the purchase) of franchise units. Helping a start-up franchise system navigate the sale of one of its first units is exciting as…