Thursday, August 21, 2008

Arizona Food Franchise Closes its Doors

Nothing But Noodles franchisee closed its doors despite having entered into a fund-raising agreement with a local Elementary School according to this article. "The five-year lease was up, and franchisee Matt Hale was facing an increase in rent with declining business," said Chad Everts, co-owner of Noodles Development, the Scottsdale-based franchisor. The franchisor claims that with declining sales, other restaurant openings in the area, "the economy, gas prices, and people not eating out as much, the owner chose not to renew the lease."

Sunday, August 17, 2008

California Franchise Honored with Credo Award

According to this article, California Closets franchise were honored recently with the Credo Award for 2007. The Franchise provides custom-designed storage solutions for the home. The award "recognizes the franchise that epitomizes the California Closets Credo, a system of beliefs about how they conduct business and interact with customers and with each other."

Friday, August 15, 2008

Local Arizona Restaurants Join Fight Against Obesity Business Trend

Arizona Smart Choice, a program designed to help fight obesity in Arizona is working with local restaurants, including Subway and the McDonald's franchise, to provide nutritional information for customers, according to this article. "Chronic illness, diabetes and obesity are big threats to the United States and Arizona and according to the U.S. Surgeon General, one out of five adults in Arizona is obese." Arizona Restaurants can join the program at no charge, but a nutritionist, which typically costs about $100 analyze at least one menu item that meets the program's nutritional requirements approval can be provided and the restaurant can display the given Arizona Smart Choice marketing tools.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

California Franchise One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning Voted Best for 2008

According to this Article, "One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning ranks #1 as the nation's fastest-growing franchise according to Franchise Times(R) magazine's "Fast 55" list (2007) and ranks #5 on Entrepreneur magazine's list of Top New Franchises (2008)." The franchise offers customers heating & air conditioning services. Readers of The Placer Herald in California selected the One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning Franchise as Best of the Best for 2008 in the publication's annual listing of consumer-choice winners.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

12 Points of Fair Franchising

Many franchisees ask our franchise law firm what agreement provisions are fair for the franchisee. Some even wonder if any franchise agreement is fair. One way to to assess your franchise agreement, Federal Disclosure Document and other franchise related documentation is to attend or review the reports put out by the AAHOA (Asian Americans Hotel Owner Associatioon). The AAHOA puts out a performance appraisal report (PAR) that compares five leading franchise companies by determining how they measure up to its 12 Points of Fair Franchising. While the organization looks at franchisors in the hotel industry, its report can provide some insight for any franchisee. For example, according to this article, the Wyndham Hotel Group has liquidated damages clauses in its franchise agreements which generally amount to $2,000 per guest room, or 24 months of fees even though the AAHOA states that franchisees should only have to pay six months of royalty fees.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Domino's Pizza Celebrates 25 Years as an International Food Franchise

Domino's Pizza, the pizza restaurant and takeaway franchise, is celebrating its 25th anniversary of the opening of its first international outlet. According to this article, the first international Domino's Pizza location was launched in Winnipeg, Canada in 1983 as a franchise. "A few months later the first Domino's Pizza outside North America was opened in Springwood, Queensland, Australia." Mostly through franchising, the company has built up over 8,600 outlets in more than 55 countries.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Franchisee Owned Restaurants Stay Open Despite Bennigan Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

Though about 150 corporate-owned Bennigan`s restaurants are closing because the company is out of money, the franchise's Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing is not expected to affect the retaurants owned by Franchisees, according to this article. In fact, the bankruptcy is "not expected to affect plans to open up one of the restaurants in Mandan next year." The restaurant should be open by next spring.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

New Arizona Franchise Provides Portion Controlled Meals

Seattle Sutton's Healthy Eating most recent franchise was awarded in Arizona which is building its kitchen operations near Phoenix, according to this article. The Healthy Eating franchise "provides clients with portion- and calorie-controlled meals. The franchise will gradually expand to accommodate customers with additional distributor locations throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area, western part of Missouri and all Kansas."
The company began franchising in 1996 and has approximately 250 distributor locations in those areas and "serves the remainder of the United States via its national home delivery program, shipping meals from coast to coast."