By The Franchising Law Group of Piper Rudnick
and Kenneth Franklin, Fast food franchise Developments, Inc.

The Regulation of Franchising
A series of laws have been enacted to regulate various aspects of franchising. These laws were the result of a public policy debate that began in the early 1970's to combat alleged abuses in franchising. These laws regulate franchisor conduct before the sale of the fast food franchise, during the term of the relationship and upon termination of the fast food franchise. If a commercial relationship falls within the definition of a "fast food franchise" as set forth in these laws, it will be subject to a variety of legal requirements and restrictions. Failure to comply can result in lawsuits by private parties and/or penalties, civil fines, injunctions and even criminal prosecution by a government authority.
Federal Regulation of the Sale of Fast food franchises
At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission issued a Trade Regulation Rule (the "FTC Rule") on October 21, 1979, requiring disclosure of specified categories of information to a prospective fast food franchisee. The FTC Rule defines a prospective fast food franchisee as any person who approaches or who is approached by the franchisor or fast food franchise broker or any of their representatives, agents or employees for the purpose of discussing the establishment, or possible establishment of a fast food franchise relationship. These disclosures must be made to a prospective fast food franchisee at the earlier of: the first personal meeting for the purpose of discussing the sale of a fast food franchise; or 10 business days (excluding weekends and national holidays) prior to the execution of any fast food franchise document or the payment of any consideration for the fast food franchise. By requiring the franchisor to provide this information, the FTC Rule is intended to reduce the prospective fast food franchisee's investigative costs by providing comprehensive materials about the fast food franchise and the franchisor, enabling the prospective fast food franchise buyer to make comparisons with other fast food franchise offerings. A second goal of the FTC Rule is to discourage high-pressure sales tactics and to provide the prospective purchaser with a "cooling-off" period before returning any signed documents or making any payments to the seller.
A first personal meeting is defined in the FTC Rule as a "face to face" meeting between the franchisor or fast food franchise broker, or any agents, representatives or employees, and a prospective fast food franchisee, which is held for the purpose of discussing the sale or possible sale of a fast food franchise. A telephone conversation or written communications concerning a fast food franchise program with a prospective fast food franchisee will not constitute a "first personal meeting" under the FTC Rule. If the meeting involves only generalized discussion, the prospective fast food franchisee's interest in purchasing a fast food franchise or the fact that the meeting was initiated by the franchisor's representatives will not convert the meeting into a "first personal meeting."
The FTC Rule also requires the franchisor to deliver the completed fast food franchise and other agreements that actually are intended to be signed by a prospective fast food franchisee at least five business days prior to the date such agreements are signed. Only agreements that have been completed and are ready for the prospective fast food franchisee's signature will satisfy the five business day rule.
Application of the FTC Rule
Only if a relationship meets all of the jurisdictional elements of a fast food franchise will the requirements of the FTC Rule apply. These elements are as follows:
" the offer, sale or distribution of goods, commodities or services by a business (the "fast food franchisee");
" the identification or association of the fast food franchisee's business with a trademark, service mark, trade name, advertising or other commercial symbol of another person (the "franchisor"); or requirements that the fast food franchisee meet quality standards in connection with the use of the mark or symbol;
" significant control by the franchisor over the business operation of the fast food franchisee, or significant assistance by the franchisor to the fast food franchisee (the FTC Rule enumerates certain controls and assistance, any one of which will satisfy this standard, including site approval, hours of operation, production techniques); and
" direct or indirect initial payment or commitment to make an initial payment by the fast food franchisee to the franchisor, as a condition of obtaining or commencing the fast food franchise operation, of $500 or more at any time before or within the first six months of the relationship.
This definition of a fast food franchise, in application, is quite broad. Anytime payment of $500 or more is made to enter into a commercial relationship associated with a trademark or service mark where the seller asserts some form of control over or assistance to the business operation, a fast food franchise within the meaning of the FTC Rule probably exists. However, the FTC Rule does not cover pure product distribution arrangements where the purchaser only buys good at bona fide wholesale prices for resale.
Exemptions from the FTC Rule
Even if a commercial relationship meets the FTC Rule's definition of a fast food franchise, the seller of the relationship may not be subject to the FTC Rule's disclosure obligations if the commercial relationship falls within one of the following specific exemptions to the FTC Rule:
" Fractional Fast food franchises. A fractional fast food franchise relationship exists when an established distributor adds a fast food franchised product line to its existing line of goods. To be exempt from the FTC Rule, the fast food franchisee must have more than two years' prior management experience in the same business as the fast food franchise, and the proposed relationship must be anticipated to represent no more than 20 percent of the dollar value of the fast food franchisee's projected gross sales in the reasonably foreseeable future.
" Leased Departments. The FTC Rule exempts arrangements by which an independent retailer sells goods or services from the premises of another, larger retailer, but only if the larger retailer does not restrict the "lessee's" sources of supply.
" Minimal Investments. The FTC Rule exempts from its disclosure requirements sales of fast food franchises where the "initial" required payment within six months after commencing operation of the fast food franchised business is less than $500.
In addition to these exemptions, the FTC Rule also excludes (a) bona fide employee-employer relationships; (b) general business partnerships; (c) relationships created by, membership in a retailer-owned cooperative association (for example, farmer cooperatives for the sale of farm products); (d) relationships with testing or certification services (for example, electronic products approved by Underwriter's Laboratories and bearing its logo); (e) "single" trademark licensing relationships; and (f) purely "oral" agreements. However, since some writings are usually involved even where there is only a verbal agreement, this last exemption is available only in rare circumstances.
In addition to the offering circular, the franchisor also must furnish a copy of the proposed fast food franchise agreement and any other agreements to be signed by the prospective fast food franchisee. The FTC Rule deals only with full disclosure and does not regulate any terms of the fast food franchise relationship. No filing or registration of the Offering Circular need be made with the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC Rule applies in all 50 states and is intended as a minimum level of protection for prospective purchasers. If the protection afforded under state law is greater in states that have adopted similar specific fast food franchise regulations, the FTC Rule defers to state law. However, where any portion of the state law provides less protection to a purchaser, the corresponding portion of the FTC Rule will apply. For instance, the FTC Rule supersedes less stringent state requirements with respect to the "cooling-off" periods following delivery of an offering circular (before a purchaser may sign any documents or pay any money to the franchisor). Many states that have adopted fast food franchise regulations require the Uniform Fast food franchise Offering Circular disclosure format, which will be discussed later. In such states, the FTC Rule disclosure format may not be accepted for registration.
The information contained in the Offering Circular must be updated annually, or quarterly in the event of any material change in such areas of information as the franchisor's business, terms of sale and obligations of the fast food franchisee. Failure to comply with the FTC Rule may result in an FTC action for injunction, a cease and desist order, monetary damages and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day. There is no federal private right of action available to an individual for a violation of the FTC Rule. However, the FTC may require a franchisor to repay money to the purchaser of a fast food franchise that was sold in violation of the FTC Rule. Further, at least one state court has taken the view that violations of the FTC Rule constitute violations of the states' consumer protection laws (also known as "little FTC Acts").
Federal Regulation of Business Opportunities
The FTC Rule also regulates the offer and sale of "business opportunities." The FTC Rule was intended to correct abusive practices in business arrangements in which the purchaser sells goods supplied by the seller through outlets obtained by the seller. The requirements of the FTC Rule with respect to offers and sales of business opportunities are substantially the same as those for fast food franchises.
State Regulation of Fast food franchise Offers and Sales
Since 1971, 15 states (California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin) have enacted laws regulating the offer and sale of fast food franchises. With the exception of Michigan and Oregon, these states require the franchisor to register the fast food franchise offering with a designated state agency prior to the offer and sale of fast food franchises. Oregon requires only a full disclosure of all of relevant information relating to the fast food franchise to the prospective fast food franchisee in advance of purchase. The State of Michigan requires disclosure complying with its statute, as well as the filing of a notice of the franchisor's intent to offer and sell fast food franchises in the state. In most instances, the registration process involves administrative review of the required disclosure materials. If the examiner is satisfied that (1) the required disclosure format has been used (i.e., that all required categories of information have been covered and all questions answered; the examiner makes no determination regarding the inclusion of all relevant information or the accuracy of the information contained in the disclosure materials) and (2) that the franchisor has sufficient financial capacity to offer fast food franchises in the state (or is willing to escrow or defer collection of initial fees and other payments due from the fast food franchisee until the fast food franchisee's business is in operation), the franchisor will usually secure registration in that state to offer and sell fast food franchises. Occasionally, a state administrative agency will deny registration due to the precarious financial condition of the franchisor or the background of its principal managers.
The disclosure statement that a franchisor must prepare for filing in the states that have laws regulating the offer and sale of fast food franchises is the Uniform Fast food franchise Offering Circular. All fast food franchise registration states accept an offering circular prepared in accordance with the Guidelines for Preparation of a Uniform Fast food franchise Offering Circular promulgated by the North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") on April 25, 1993. This Offering Circular, known as the "UFOC format" calls for the same basic information as an FTC Format offering circular. However, the UFOC format is more comprehensive and a significantly different format, and is an accepted alternative form of disclosure document under the FTC Rule. Most of the fast food franchise registration states have requirements in their laws and regulations requiring that minor modifications be made to the UFOC format circular and that an addendum be prepared containing certain state-specific information.
Registration does not indicate that the offering circular has been approved by the state or that the offering circular has been prepared in compliance with the relevant guidelines. Further, registration does not act as a bar to a fast food franchisee or the state later bringing an action against a franchisor based on information contained in or omitted from its offering circular.
Like the FTC Rule, each state fast food franchise disclosure law defines a "fast food franchise." Although the state law definitions are not uniform, for state law purposes, a fast food franchise generally will be deemed to exist when a business relationship contains all of the following elements:
" a contract or agreement, which can be express or implied or oral or written (note that an oral fast food franchise relationship, even though exempt from the FTC Rule, may still be regulated by state law);
" between two or more persons;
" by which a fast food franchisee is granted the right to engage in the business of offering, selling or distributing goods or services under a marketing plan or system prescribed or suggested in substantial part by the franchisor (a few states substitute the concept of a community of interest in the marketing of goods and services for the marketing plan element of the definition);
" the operation of the fast food franchisee's business pursuant to such plan or system is substantially associated with the franchisor's trademark, service mark, trade name, logotype, advertising or other commercial symbol designating the franchisor or its affiliate; and
" the person granted the right to engage in such business is required to pay something of value (e.g., cash, notes or property) in order to establish the relationship, which would constitute a fast food franchise fee.
Caution must be exercised in concluding that a particular commercial relationship is not considered a "fast food franchise" merely because it is not called a fast food franchise or does not require payment of a formal fast food franchise fee. Any money paid to a seller of a business relationship will be considered a fast food franchise fee unless it can be proven otherwise. As previously mentioned under the discussion of the FTC Rule, a pure distributorship arrangement, where the distributor buys only a commercially reasonable quantity of inventory of tangible goods at bona fide wholesale prices, will not be considered a fast food franchise relationship under most state statutes or the FTC Rule.
Each of the state fast food franchise registration statutes has a provision exempting certain types of fast food franchises from some or all of its requirements. These exemptions usually apply only to the registration and disclosure requirements of the statutes. As a result, an exempt franchisor may still be subject to the disclosure, antifraud and unfair or prohibited practices provisions of the state law. Furthermore, a franchisor may meet the criteria for a state exemption, but not be eligible for an exemption from the FTC Rule. Nevertheless, exemptions from registration/disclosure statutes may free the franchisor from the expense and delay of review by a state administrator.
The most common exemptions are for the following:
" franchisors having a substantial net worth ($5 million or more) and significant franchising experience;
" fast food franchisees who sell fast food franchises for their own account;
" transactions with existing fast food franchisees (such as extensions or renewals);
" transactions by judicial officers (such as a sheriff or the executor of an estate) and financial institutions (such as a bank or an insurance company);
" fast food franchises in which the fast food franchised fee falls below a specified threshold;
" a fractional fast food franchise exemption (similar to the FTC rule exemption for fractional fast food franchises);
" bank credit card plans;
" up to one or two offers of a fast food franchise and/or a single fast food franchise sale (e.g., the grant of a single fast food franchise for the entire state); and
" transactions that the state considers to be outside the purposes of the fast food franchise registration statute and that do not need to be regulated in order to protect investors.
Although these exemptions are common to many of the registration states, each state statute is unique and must be examined carefully before relying on an exemption provision. Furthermore, several states have specific procedures that must be followed to obtain certain exemptions, as well as procedures for the revocation of exemptions. For example, the franchisor may have to file an offering circular or other documents for the state's review to obtain an exemption. Further, an exemption under a state law does not extend to the FTC Rule, unless the relationship is also exempt under the FTC Rule on the same or a different basis.
As is the case under the FTC Rule, a franchisor must update its offering circular to reflect any material changes in the information contained in the circular or the occurrence of events that need to be disclosed to prospective fast food franchise buyers, including changes relating to the financial condition of the franchisor, fees paid by the fast food franchisee, litigation of the franchisor and others. The regulatory states require that any material change in the fast food franchised program or the franchisor's financial condition be reflected in the offering circular within a "reasonable time" after such material change occurs and that the changes to the offering circular be filed with the state. Some states will require suspension of sales activity during the time in which an amendment to the offering circular is being processed by the administrator.
Failure to comply with state fast food franchise disclosure regulation may result in a variety of adverse consequences, including not only civil suits by injured private purchasers of a fast food franchise, but also civil fines and criminal prosecution. These penalties may be imposed on officers, directors, employees, salespersons and fast food franchise sales brokers who participated in an illegal sale.
State Regulation of the Fast food franchise Relationship
In addition to the regulation of the offer and sale of fast food franchises, another body of state fast food franchise regulation has emerged in recent years in reaction to fast food franchisee claims of unfair or discriminatory treatment. Legislation has been adopted by about 20 states dealing with such aspects of the fast food franchise relationship as (1) establishing good cause grounds and prior written notice procedures for termination and nonrenewal of fast food franchises; (2) limiting the right of a franchisor to restrict transfers of fast food franchises; (3) prohibiting discrimination among fast food franchisees in charges for fees and in the sale of goods and service; (4) protecting fast food franchisees from the placement of additional franchisor or fast food franchisee owned outlets in a fast food franchisee's market that diminishes the fast food franchisee's revenue and profit; and (5) limiting the right of a franchisor to restrict the sources of supply from which a fast food franchisee buys the operating assets, goods and supplies required for the development and operation of its business. These statutes specifically override the express contractual language of the fast food franchise agreement and impose their own standards upon the fast food franchise relationship. Among the most notorious of these laws is the Iowa Fast food franchise Relationship Act, enacted in 1992 and substantially amended in 1995, and the much older Wisconsin Fair Dealership Act, which has generated hundreds of lawsuits.
State Regulation of Business Opportunities
Twenty-two states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington) have adopted business opportunity laws that regulate the offer and sale of certain commercial relationships. While these laws were initially intended to regulate particular types of distribution arrangements, the lack of clarity and uniformity in the definitions of a "business opportunity" has resulted in coverage of fast food franchise offerings as well.
The vast majority of the business opportunity laws require disclosures similar to those required for fast food franchise sales. However, most of these laws require only payment of a fee and filing with the state administrator, who typically gives little or no review to the filed offering circular. State business opportunity laws also may impose specific bonding or other financial responsibility requirements, irrespective of the franchisor's financial condition. Some of the administrators of state business opportunity laws issue an advertising number, which the business opportunity seller must place on all advertising within the state as proof of registration.
Due to the varied purposes of these state laws, the definitions of business opportunity relationships also vary widely. However, the most common definition of a business opportunity is the sale or lease of any product, equipment, supplies or services to a purchaser upon payment of any consideration for the purpose of enabling the purchaser to start a business, and in which the seller makes one or more of the following representations:
" the seller will provide or assist the purchaser in finding locations for the use or operation of vending machines, racks, display cases or other similar devices or currency-operated amusement machines or devices on premises neither owned nor leased by the purchaser or seller;
" the seller will purchase any or all products made, produced, fabricated, grown, bred or modified by the purchaser using in whole or in part the supplies, services or chattels sold to the purchaser;
" the seller guarantees that the purchaser will derive income from the business opportunity or that the seller will refund all or part of the price paid for the business opportunity or any of the products, equipment, supplies or chattels supplied by the seller if the purchaser is unsatisfied with the business opportunity; or
" upon payment by the purchaser of a fee or sum of money to the seller, the seller will provide a sales or marketing program that will enable the purchaser to derive income in excess of the price paid for the marketing plan.
The third and fourth paragraphs of the definition are of greatest concern to franchisors, particularly those who make earnings claims to fast food franchisees. If earnings claims are made, this may constitute a "guarantee" for purposes of the business opportunity laws. Even if no earnings claims are made, the franchisor still risks classification as a business opportunity. In any fast food franchise sale, the franchisor makes, at a minimum, an implied representation that the fast food franchisee will derive income. The entire fast food franchise package that is presented to a prospective fast food franchisee often implies that the fast food franchisee will derive profit in excess of his initial fee, and therefore may amount to a representation that the marketing program will enable the purchaser to derive income exceeding the price paid. There does not appear to be any judicial interpretation of these elements of the business opportunity definition. Consequently, it is imperative that companies operating in business opportunity states carefully review their programs with counsel to determine whether compliance is required.
Exemptions from Business Opportunity Requirements
Business opportunity laws also exempt certain types of distribution arrangements. Among typical business formats exempted under the business opportunity laws are:
" A sales or marketing program sold in connection with a federally registered trademark or service mark.
" A sales or marketing program sold in connection with the licensing of a "registered trademark." Fast food franchise law experts are divided as to whether state trademark registration of the franchisor's mark, in the absence of a federal trademark registration, will qualify for this exemption. Several business opportunity states have adopted the informal position that a "registered trademark" requires a federal registration. The franchisor should carefully investigate this issue before relying on this exemption.
" Business relationships that are subject to the FTC Rule. The franchisor that complies with the FTC Rule may be exempt from the requirements of a state business opportunity law.
Other exemptions may exist for specific industries, experienced sellers or buyers, sales of ongoing businesses, renewals or extensions, employer/employee relationships and general business partnerships. Under the business opportunity statutes of Texas, Kentucky and Nebraska, franchisors satisfying the states' exemptions must file a one-time notice of exemption (along with the appropriate fee) before fast food franchises can be sold in these states. In the states of Florida and Utah, annual exemption notices must be filed to maintain the states' exemptions.
What Is An Offer?
When a franchisor in a state without fast food franchise or business opportunity laws deals with a state that also has no such laws, only the requirements of the FTC Rule with respect to delivery of an offering circular to the prospective purchaser apply. However, when dealing with state fast food franchise and business opportunity registration laws, the critical principle to remember is that the state law must be complied with prior to any offer or sale of a fast food franchise or a business opportunity in the state. In addition, should the franchisor be located within a state with a fast food franchise registration/disclosure law, the franchisor generally will be required to secure effective registration in its home state before offering, or selling fast food franchises anywhere. As a result, it is important to understand what type of franchisor sales activity constitutes an "offer."
Although most state statutes contain a definition of an "offer," they generally are unclear as to what presale conduct by the franchisor does and does not constitute an offer. Typically, an offer is defined as "every attempt to offer, dispose of, or solicit an offer to buy a fast food franchise." Because state regulations construe this definition broadly, almost any contact with a prospective fast food franchisee could be characterized as an offer. In some states, simply mailing a brochure describing a fast food franchise network to a prospective fast food franchisee in another state may constitute an offer of a fast food franchise.
Certain discussions may be conducted between the franchisor and a potential fast food franchisee without triggering state registration/disclosure laws. It is theoretically possible for the franchisor and prospective fast food franchisee to discuss the fast food franchise network generally without the franchisor being deemed to have made an offer, but it is imperative that no terms of the actual sale be referred to during the discussions. As a practical matter, such contacts are not advisable. A state may take the view that the franchisor's communications were specific enough to be considered an offer, and the penalties for making an offer of an unregistered fast food franchise can be severe. Any mention of initial fees, royalties, potential earnings or costs associated with the start-up of the fast food franchise will bring the discussion within the meaning of an "offer." If the franchisor engages in such discussions with a fast food franchisee who is protected by a state registration law and the franchisor is not validly registered, its conduct could be illegal.
Theoretically, the franchisor may disseminate information to prospective buyers through the mail without triggering state disclosure or registration provisions. These materials may include only general information about the network, and must not refer to the terms of a sale. However, this activity prior to registration is risky and not advisable since an administrator may characterize even limited information as an offer. Further, such materials may be considered advertising and require filing with a state fast food franchise administrator prior to dissemination to the public. If the franchisor undertakes this risk, it must, at a minimum, conspicuously label the materials as intended as general information and not as an advertisement or an offer to sell a fast food franchise.
Several statutes exclude certain activities from the definition of an offer. For example, most states provide that an offer made through advertising during a television or radio program originating out of state is not an offer for purposes of the statute. Additionally, an exemption exists in most states for the advertisement of a fast food franchise in a newspaper circulated within the state, provided that two-thirds of the newspaper's circulation occurred outside of the state during the last 12-month period. The franchisor should be aware, however, that, absent a prior registration or exemption, placing advertising for the sale of fast food franchises in a state requiring registration of fast food franchise offers will constitute an illegal offer.
To assure that its conduct complies with state law, the franchisor should do the following prior to advertising for, or engaging in, any substantive discussions about the fast food franchise with a prospective fast food franchisee:
" If the franchisor is headquartered in a state that has enacted a fast food franchise registration or business opportunity law that applies to the franchisor's program, the franchisor must register the fast food franchise in its home state.
" For each prospective fast food franchisee, the franchisor must determine the fast food franchisee's state of residence, the state in which the offer of the fast food franchise will be made, where the offer will be accepted, and where the fast food franchised business will be conducted. If any of these states have registration laws with which the franchisor has not complied, the franchisor should consult legal counsel as to the application of such laws. If the laws apply, registration in those states must precede any sales activities.
A franchisor planning to offer and sell fast food franchises in a registration state is required to file with the state its proposed offering circular, certain application materials and a fee. Initial application fees currently range from $50 to $750. Also, the franchisor will usually be required to make certain changes or additional disclosures in its offering circular to comply with nonuniform requirements of that state. As a general rule, these changes relate to notice of default prior to termination, good cause for termination, the enforceability of post-termination covenants and jurisdiction and venue provisions. Only in rare circumstances will the state administrator object on the ground of fairness to particular terms of the fast food franchise agreement and require modification of the agreement. However, several states take the position that they have the power to do so if the state administrator finds some aspect of the fast food franchise particularly unfair or prejudicial to the fast food franchisee.
The degree to which administrators review the adequacy of fast food franchise offering circulars varies widely from state to state, and even within a state, depending on the particular fast food franchise examiner. Factors that affect the review process include the length of time the franchisor has offered and sold fast food franchises, whether the state knows of any prior fast food franchise law violations by the franchisor, whether the offering circular has been prepared by legal counsel known to the state administrator's staff and the franchisor's general reputation. Most initial fast food franchise registrations receive at least one comment letter from the state, generally including requests for changes to the offering circular, questions, requests for disclosure of additional information and other concerns of the administrator. After all of the administrator's concerns and requests have been satisfied through compliance or negotiation, the administrator will grant effective registration. This procedure usually takes from two to six weeks, but could take as long as six months, depending upon the quality of the offering circular initially submitted to the state and the workload of the administrator's office.
State registration requirements delay a franchisor's expansion plans, and cause the franchisor to incur legal costs and filing expenses. Changes required by individual states may result in several different forms of offering circular, some of which may conflict. As a result, considerable time and expense may be involved in maintaining state registrations and state specific offering circulars.
From a legal perspective, however, registration with the states can result in benefits. The fast food franchise administrator generally is also the state enforcement officer, and an administrator's resolution of various issues relating to the fast food franchise offering can give the franchisor some degree of comfort that the offering circular complies with state law. The administrator's interpretation also may be binding upon the state in any subsequent enforcement proceeding. Unfortunately, opinions or interpretations of state administrators may not be binding upon private parties suing under state fast food franchise laws.
The disclosure requirements of the FTC Rule and various state laws also impose certain burdens upon the franchisor relating to its financial condition. These burdens take two forms. First, the offering circular requires disclosure of the franchisor's financial statements, the preparation and/or auditing of which may be costly and time-consuming. Second, most state fast food franchise law administrators will review a franchisor's financial condition prior to allowing the franchisor to offer or sell fast food franchises and may require, as a condition of registration of the fast food franchise offer, the escrow or deferral of collection of initial fees and other payments by the fast food franchisee until the fast food franchisee's business is in operation.
Financial Statement Requirements
The FTC format circular must include the franchisor's audited financial statements for three previous years in which the franchisor has been in business (the audit may be qualified). The FTC Rule, however, prescribes a procedure under which the Franchisor may commence sales with audits being phased in over a three-year period. The UFOC format requires audited balance sheets for a period of two years and a statement of operations, stockholder's equity and cash flows for a three year period. The UFOC format allows for a waiver of this requirement, in the discretion of each state administrator, only if the franchisor has never previously had an audit. If the franchisor does not have audited financial statements, it may substitute the audited financial statements of its parent company if the parent company guarantees the franchisor's performance under the fast food franchise agreement.
If the franchisor is new and has no parent company willing to guarantee its obligations, it may establish a subsidiary (or its parent company could establish another subsidiary) that would prepare an audited opening balance sheet, or audited statements for the period it has been in business. If neither the franchisor nor the guaranteeing parent company has audited financial statements, the franchisor or its parent company will have to incur the expense of having its financial statements audited for the prior three years or forego franchising in the registration states that do not accept the FTC format offering circular.
Amending Registrations and Offering Circulars
To ensure that the offering circular contains accurate and timely information for the fast food franchisee, the FTC Rule requires that it be revised within 90 days after the end of the Franchisor's fiscal year and updated on a quarterly basis to reflect any "material changes." Although the FTC Rule requires only quarterly updates, the franchisor may elect to do so more frequently. This may become necessary where accurate oral representations are being made that may be contrary to outdated information contained in the offering circular.
The FTC Rule's annual and quarterly updating requirement does not apply if the franchisor complies with the FTC Rule by using a UFOC format that is registered in any state. In such case, the FTC Rule's updating requirements will be satisfied if the UFOC format is renewed or amended in accordance with state law in the states in which the franchisor is registered.
Renewal under state law ordinarily is required on an annual basis. A few states require, instead of renewal, that an annual report be made within 120 days of the franchisor's fiscal year end. Each renewal or annual report requires the preparation of an updated offering circular and current financial statements. This newly submitted data is subject to the same review by the regulatory states as the initial UFOC filing and registration.
Failure to initiate the process of renewal in a timely fashion may result in a gap between the date of expiration of the existing registration and the effective date of the succeeding registration. During this interim period, the franchisor cannot offer or sell fast food franchises within the regulatory state without violating its laws. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a log and a tickler system for initiating renewals and annual reports in a timely manner.
Amendments under state registration laws must be made within a "reasonable time" after the occurrence of a material change. A franchisor must, therefore, amend its offering circular and registrations in the event of a material change in the information contained in the offering circular, or the occurrence of an event that requires the addition of information to the offering circular. A reasonable time is generally thought to be within 30 days after the material change occurs.
Disclosure Regulation Compliance Programs
A franchisor must develop and implement an effective disclosure regulation compliance program to protect itself and its fast food franchise network. An effective compliance program will help a franchisor to avoid disclosure law violations and related "costs." These costs include payment of damages and rescission of fast food franchises sold to fast food franchisees who assert violations of offering circular delivery requirements, attorneys fees' paid to defend the franchisor, payment of the fast food franchisee's attorney's fees, civil fines and possibly criminal liability. In addition, there are many intangible costs of litigation including the time spent by the franchisor's employees and disruption to the franchisor's organization.
An effective compliance program provides the mechanism by which the franchisor can maintain evidence of compliance. Extensive documentary evidence may be critical in defending claims of fast food franchise sales regulation violations. Franchisors cannot take the chance of relying on verbal testimony of employees, especially years after the occurrence. As time passes memories fade, or at the time of trial a key employee may be unavailable or unfriendly to the franchisor. Furthermore, verbal testimony of the franchisor may be insufficient to overcome jury sympathy for the fast food franchisee, especially where the fast food franchisee has documentation that supports a claim. Records established in the ordinary course of business are essential to bolster employee testimony.
How does a franchisor establish an effective compliance program? The first element in developing a compliance program is determining the assignment of responsibility for compliance. Smaller franchisors tend to lodge this responsibility with outside counsel. Outside counsel should be selected carefully to insure that attorneys have compliance expertise and that the law firm has multiple attorneys that can handle questions and problems in the event of the absence of the primary attorney. Franchisors sometimes fail to establish an effective liaison between outside counsel and company personnel with responsibility for keeping disclosure information current and communicating with sales personnel. To do effective work, outside counsel must have a source of timely, complete and reliable information from the franchisor and a responsible manager to whom counsel can communicate compliance status and procedures.
Some franchisors attempt to implement a compliance program by assigning responsibility exclusively to a paralegal or a person without legal training. This approach contains a high risk of error, because effective compliance frequently involves legal analysis and factual evaluation that may be beyond the competence of paralegals and persons without legal training. In addition, such persons often do not have the internal "clout" to get things done or insist upon full compliance.
Franchisors with small legal departments may divide responsibility for disclosure compliance between their legal department and outside counsel. This is a problem only if the responsibilities are not clearly parceled out. Therefore, it is essential to establish a smooth working relationship between the legal department and outside counsel. Franchisors with larger legal departments typically delegate compliance responsibility exclusively to their legal departments. Both types of delegation can work effectively, provided that assignments are clear, the legal department has sufficient resources and exercises independent judgment, the opinions of the legal department are respected by management and disclosure regulation compliance has equal priority with other legal services performed by the legal department.
Whether compliance is delegated to outside counsel, the legal department, or both, it is important to delegate executive responsibility to a compliance officer whose perspective is broader than simply selling fast food franchises. Sales personnel can view lawyers as interposing rules of sales conduct which are designed to inhibit sales. Sales personnel are less likely to be uncooperative with a senior executive. The lawyers and paralegals assigned to disclosure compliance must have extensive knowledge of disclosure regulation and the sources of essential information within the franchisor. In addition, there must be regular communication among the compliance officer, sales department and the legal department and/or outside counsel.
A second element found in an effective disclosure compliance program is the establishment of systems and operating procedures. Systems and operating procedures should be designed to effectively and timely implement registrations; renewals of registrations; amendments to registrations and offering circulars; sales personnel training; offering circular and document delivery; recording information relating to offers and sales of fast food franchises; storage and retrieval of offering circulars, receipts for offering circulars, fast food franchise and other agreements and sales information; and documenting fast food franchisee defaults. Systems and procedures must be designed to create and preserve evidence that will enable the franchisor's personnel to demonstrate compliance. It is not sufficient to comply with the disclosure laws -- it is also necessary to be able to prove compliance. Information must be gathered in a central place (i.e., the franchisor's home office). All regional personnel should be instructed to transmit specified information to this location. Potential problems are obvious when files are incomplete or poorly organized. When we perform compliance audits, we frequently find document and information storage and retrieval systems that are materially deficient.
There are no clearly delineated rules to guide a franchisor to always accomplish full disclosure. However, if franchisors are guided by the general standard of materiality, they will be right (and relatively safe) must of the time. That general standard is that a franchisor must disclose all information which could have a significant influence on the investment decision of a reasonable prospective fast food franchise buyer. Under the standard, franchisors must disclose some warts and blemishes and these disclosure may result in lost sales. The alternative is significant legal exposure. It is better to lose a sale rather than have an infirm relationship with a fast food franchisee because the sale of the fast food franchise did not comply with the applicable law. If a fast food franchisee becomes unhappy with his decision to buy a fast food franchise, he may claim that the failure to disclose "material" information induced the purchase of the fast food franchise when in reality it had no impact on the fast food franchisee's decision to purchase the fast food franchise.
Most franchisors do not include historical or projected sales or profits of fast food franchised businesses ("earnings claims") in their offering circulars due to the concern that they will be unable to satisfy the burden of substantiation. Many franchisors candidly admit that it is difficult, if not impossible, to close a fast food franchise sale without responding to questions from the prospective fast food franchisee regarding sales and profits. Directing the prospective fast food franchisee to talk to existing fast food franchisees often is not sufficient. Existing fast food franchisees may not be willing to take the time to answer all of a prospect's questions. Fast food franchisees may consider this information private. Furthermore, start-up franchisors have no fast food franchisees with which prospective fast food franchisees can talk about the fast food franchise program. After one or two years of franchising, most franchisors can make and substantiate some type of earnings claim, even if it is limited to the gross sales of existing fast food franchised and franchisor operated outlets. The omission of earnings claims from the offering circular can leave this element of fast food franchise sales open to unauthorized statements by salespersons. Therefore even a limited claim, coupled with a statement that it is the only authorized claim, is a check on embellishment by sales personnel and may weaken a fast food franchisee's claim of reliance upon alleged claims by sales personnel.
A franchisor must also establish a procedure for disposition of inquiries from states in which the franchisor is not registered. The franchisor must determine which state laws are applicable by checking where the fast food franchisee and its partners or shareholders are domiciled and where the fast food franchise is to be located. The franchisor should avoid sending offering circulars or other materials constituting an offer of a fast food franchise into a state where the franchisor is not registered. It is permissible, however, to describe the franchisor's intent and status regarding registration and projected date of follow-up contact. However, a franchisor should not send advertisements into a state where the franchisor is not registered. Such conduct constitutes an illegal offer.
A franchisor must also develop procedures for evaluating developments and amending registrations and offering circulars to reflect material changes. The compliance officer must engage in regular communication with the legal department or outside counsel and focus on such sensitive areas as litigation developments, increases in costs of developing the fast food franchised business and adverse changes in the franchisor's financial performance or condition. In addition, a system must be established to determine the compliance requirements applicable to fast food franchise transfers. A transfer involving an existing agreement is often an exempt transaction if the franchisor is not significantly involved in the transfer. Approval of the transferee by the franchisor is not considered significant involvement. However, if the franchisor requires the transferee to sign the "then current" form of fast food franchise agreement or "brokers" the transaction, the transaction will not be protected by the exemption for intrafast food franchisee transfers.
The compliance officer should debrief all prospective fast food franchisees before execution of documents to determine if unauthorized statements or promises were made to them by overzealous salespersons and whether sales personnel are complying with franchisor policies relative to disclosure regulation compliance.
Sales personnel should be carefully interviewed when hired and background checks should be conducted to determine whether they have been involved in criminal or civil cases, bankruptcy proceedings or illegal sales practices in prior employment positions. Salespersons should have an understanding of fast food franchise sales regulation and should display a positive attitude toward compliance with regulation. Systems and procedures should include a disclosure regulation compliance training program for sales personnel. A franchisor should develop checklist type forms for sales personnel to complete during the sales process and these documents should be created routinely in the ordinary course of business.
When developing advertising materials franchisors should avoid prohibited claims and misleading statements. No advertisement should contain an explicit or implicit statement that the purchase of the fast food franchise is "risk free" or a "safe" investment or state that profits are assured or that losses are unlikely. Advertisements should not create unrealistic expectations by fast food franchisees. A franchisor should avoid communicating unrealistic expectations relative to the efforts and time that the fast food franchisee must put forth to make his business successful. In addition, a franchisor should avoid excessive claims relative to services to be performed by the franchisor or the progress of the franchisor's network or the franchisor's capability. These claims may cause the fast food franchisee to distrust the franchisor or be disappointed in the fast food franchise, if it does not meet the fast food franchisee's unrealistic expectations.
The compliance officer, with the assistance of legal counsel, must also monitor changes in regulation of fast food franchise offers and sales by identifying the sources of change (i.e., statutes, regulations, administrative policies or judicial decisions) and consider the impact of these changes on the fast food franchise sales program. The compliance officer must stay abreast of such changes to insure that the franchisor stays in compliance with fast food franchise sales regulation, which is modified from time to time.
Effectively Documented Relationships
A successful franchisor usually has developed a well organized, complete and understandable fast food franchise agreement. Though most fast food franchise agreements are written in the traditional third person format (e.g., the parties are referred to as "Franchisor" and "Fast food franchisee"), a growing number of fast food franchise agreements are being drafted in the less formal first person (i.e., the franchisor is referred to as "we" and "us" and the fast food franchisee is referred to as "you"). A first person document is more readable and less intimidating than the traditional third person format. A fast food franchise agreement drafted in the first person is no less a binding and enforceable contract.
In addition to a less formal style of fast food franchise agreement, franchisors should carefully consider other means to simplify their agreements. Good organization and simple, short sentences are both helpful. In addition, including in the agreement only the essential elements of the fast food franchise relationship, and essential legal and procedural matters, contributes to a simple, user friendly document. The operations manual is the proper location for specifications, standards and operating procedures ("system standards") that describe and prescribe the operating and management systems of the franchisor's business. As noted above, the fast food franchise agreement should give the franchisor the right to prescribe and modify system standards, incorporate them by reference into the fast food franchise agreement and provide that a fast food franchisee's failure to comply with one or more system standards, after notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure, is grounds for termination of the fast food franchise agreement.
Most franchisors utilize collateral documents to supplement the fast food franchise agreement. These may include subleases, collateral lease assignments, financing documents, rights of first refusal for additional fast food franchises and software license agreements. The admonition to draft a well organized and readily understandable fast food franchise agreement applies equally to such collateral documents.
The operations manual should also be "user friendly." It must be well organized and simply written so as to be understandable not only to the fast food franchisee but also to the managers of the fast food franchisee's business. Writing a complete, well organized and readily understandable operations manual is more difficult than it might seem and requires good communications skills. The franchisor is, of course, the best source for the content of its operations manual, but a communications professional is usually the preferred resource for the organization and style of the operations manual.
The third document required in every fast food franchised network is the offering circular. Virtually all franchisors use the Uniform Fast food franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) disclosure format prescribed by the North American Securities Administrators Association, which is discussed above. The UFOC rules require offering circulars to be written in "plain English," and to avoid legal terminology and the passive voice. Some state fast food franchise law administrators interpret these rules to greatly limit the franchisor's choice of expression to communicate information about the franchisor and the fast food franchise it offers. Franchisors are rewriting their offering circulars to comply. Compliance is best achieved, and the circular is made a better communications device, if a circular is written in the first person format and utilizes simple and short sentences.



Part I: Introduction to Franchising
Part II: In What Ways Is Franchising A Superior Expansion Method?
Part III: When Is A Company Ready To Franchise?
Part IV: Buying A Fast Food Franchise
Part V: Elements Of Successful Franchising

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