Francorp Promotes Year-End Specials

Sign Up Now for Francorp's 2007 Model; Save $$$ Prior to New Year Increase

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Illinois (Blue MauMau) - FranCorp, a consulting firm that develops franchise programs for independent businesses, released a new marketing piece earlier this month, urging prospective clients to take advantage of its 2007 prices prior to a new increase in costs. It states, "Effective January 1, 2008, Francorp's Consulting prices will increase by $10,000 for each of our development packages." It justifies the rise in costs by saying, "This is our first price increase in over two years, and it is necessary in order for us to continue to provide the highest quality of services to our clients." 

Francorp will increase its fees by $10,000 for each of its development packages: the Full Development Program will increase to $140,000; the Basic Development Program will increase to 110,000; and the Partial Development Program will increase to $75,000. According to Francorp's pricing sheet effective April 6, 2006, these packages offer such services as preparing operations manuals, marketing services, management training, sales training and Internet marketing. All include strategic planning, franchise documents (franchise agreement and offering circulars) and one-year general consulting. Francorp charges extra for area development contracts and earnings claims.

The registering of franchises in various states is not included. The cost to prepare registration and filing packages in the required 23 states will increase from $1,000 to $2,000 per state, or a package price of $35,000 to handle all states at the same time. In its April 2006 price sheet, Francorp charged $20,000 for preparing legal documents. Even if it doesn't raise that fee, the firm charges $55,000 for legal work alone ($20,000 plus $35,000 registration fees). Francorp will rank above the largest franchise law firms, those with numerous specialized attorneys. But Francorp will continue to advise clients to hire their own attorneys to review the documents it prepares, yet another expense. 

Francorp’s “one-stop-shop” program has been scrutinized for offering legal services within its consulting business, a no-no among the legal world. Most franchise development firms outsource legal work for disclosure documents to outside attorneys.

The promotion letter advises: "NOW is the time to FRANCHISE YOUR BUSINESS!! Save $10,000 to $30,000 by starting now and taking advantage of this offer."