to get gov't relief, maybe a private right of action under FTC law is useless. Congress will not act or reform, to protect franchisees. Be friggin' serious.

The bullcrap that is the AAFD and its leadership, the CFA, and all these activists groups gets nothing accomplished.

Franchisees need to take care of their own matters. Their own independent franchise groups need to hire a lawyer that can beat the franchisor into submission and sue the pants of the franchisor if needed.

The only solution to enforce franchisee rights is a well funded litigation biggy bank and an SOB smart lawyer to represent their specific issues.

These associations are all useless for the franchisee.

Michael,

I am in total agreement that independent trade associations and franchisee associations "have to step to the plate and discuss legislative issues as a group".  The maddening part of it all is that if franchisees would step up and form a PAC, then contribute to it religiously in reasonable numbers, the power that it could wield would be of great significance.  I also agree that to date, "franchisees do not have a body that currently represents their collective best interests", with the notable exception of the fledgling Coalition of Franchisee Associations (CFA).  It is a simple and undeniable fact that often times the interests of the franchisee and franchisor are one in the same when it comes to small business legislation.  The big problem for franchisees is that when those interests do not align, we have no organization that comes close to being able to influence legislation to the extent the IFA can.

More numbers, figures and tables. Oh my!

Mike Dempsey of Nation's Restaurant News published an article on Tuesday that has just caught my attention— same-store sales for publicly traded chains. Quick service restaurants, a sector that Dunkin' belongs to, took the biggest dip of the various restaurant sectors, with an average same-store sales in Q4 that were -4.7%. Dempsey states:

The segment finally started to take some hits from the recession.

As far as other restaurant sectors, some of the worst performing franchise chains were Ruth's Chris steakhouse, Arby's and Denny's. Ouch! Come to think of it, I have recently started to hear murmurings from Arby's and Denny's franchisees. Now I see the numbers behind the pain.

But that's a story for another day.

Mufflerman writes: " However, a great majority of the legislative efforts that they have been actively and effectively lobbying for (or against) involve positions that coincide with what's best for franchisees."

I have to disagree here - franchisees do not have a body that currently represents their collective best interests, publicly advocates for that view, uses PAC money, and engages in meaningful public and social debate about what is best for franchisees.  

Mufflerman may be right that the IFA's lobbying was congruent with franchisee interests, although I personally doubt it, but Mufflerman can state that he knows what is the franchisee's collective interests because we don't have a social body to determine that.

It is fair that Mufflerman states that the IFA's positions on certain bills were consistent with his own, or his own franchisee's association views, but in absence of any collective viewpoint or mechanism that could be called the "franchisee view" it is meaningless to talk about "what's best for franchisees".

Mufflerman and I know each other very well, but individual franchisee trade associations have to step to the plate and discuss legislative issues as group -otherwise the IFA viewpoint dominates.

Employee trade associations did not become powerful by remaining silent about social issues, and neither should franchisee associations.

Want to know more about franchising with Australia's fastest growing print franchise? Watch the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) Franchisee of the Year 2007 talk about franchising with Worldwid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52EXMAVkt_4

Don,

Great crossruff.

I think you'd find most local Kinsmen or Optimist clubs have a tacitly-approved chain of executives working their way up to the "head honcho" title. While there are annual elections, they're mostly in name-only. Every group has their own history, culture and idiosyncracies that need to be trained, practiced and carried-on to maintain the esprit de corps and other good OB (organizational behaviour) objectives..

Each cub scout "sixer" knows you've got to plan ahead, unless Kaos reigns supreme.

The Washington Post published today (Thursday), a day after Blue MauMau put up the article above, that the National Retail Federation has recruited Matt Shay to replace its CEO, who has been wanting to retire for some time.

Shay will replace NRF chief executive Tracy Mullin, who is retiring after 17 years in that post. Mullin announced her retirement last spring amid plans for the NRF to merge with another trade group, the Retail Industry Leaders Association. But the union was called off over the summer after an initial review. - WaPo

The NRF shows how succession planning can be done, even when talent cannot be bubbled up from inside or a dropped merger messes up plans. This time the NRF hit it just right. The federation announced that its old CEO is retiring, and simultaneously annointed its new leader. What trade association members want to hear when a chief executive departs is the bad news first, followed immediately by the new.  "The king is dead. [Jaws drop]. Long live the (new) king!!" (Thunderous applause!)

It is a healthy sign when a board of directors is strong enough to carry out one of its most fundamental jobs, making sure there is a leadership successor.

In the hidden world of the board room, it is a rare outward sign of possible cronyism or a weak board when it has not carried out this function. A vacuum of leadership in a trade association can be disconcerting to its membership. It can be an incredible opportunity for competitors.

The IFA announced yesterday that it has hired an executive search firm—probably with "urgent", "critical" and "HELP!" stamped all over the job description packet—to find a suitable candidate to replace its outgoing CEO, Matt Shay. He has given his month notice, April 16.

Nice fake post, PMD management. You guys really have no class or ethics at all.

Barbara Clark has made over $150K every year in the business in a small division 2 territory. In fact, she stated numerous times at national conferences that she was so lucky to be apart of PMD. She said that this was the greatest opportunity she had ever been apart of. She thanked Jeff and Joe numerous times for everything they did for her. Now she is suing PMD for fraud?

I'm not sure why Insightful is dissing Jerry when they look like they both make the same point that the IFA is not much more than a dues collecting money machine that often competes with the businesses of its supplier members.

When it comes to Mr. Wilkerson, Mr. Insightful apparently takes a lesson from British screenwriter Tom Stoppard, who wrote: "I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to the death your right to say it."

...does Jerry Wilkerson's opinion matter? Jerry served the IFA during the days of old and when there wasn't franchisee integration into the organization. Not defending Shay here as I believe the organization is really not much more than a dues collecting pay for program money machine but seriously...Jerry Wilkerson?

Ray, 

The fact that the IFA is a franchisor group first is undeniable.  However, a great majority of the legislative efforts that they have been actively and effectively lobbying for (or against) involve positions that coincide with what's best for franchisees.

While there are notable exceptions (Arbitration Fairness), the promotion of small business legislation and the opposition to laws that would hinder the ability of franchisees to continue to operate profitably is something at which the IFA excels.

Card Check, Credit Card fee and Health Care reform, go down the list of major legislative issues and the Coalition of Franchisee Associations and the IFA very often share a common platform, shared from different perspectives.

In summary, it is naive to think that the IFA would ever take a position that was "franchisor unfriendly".  But to the extent that the franchisor's business concerns align with that of any entrepreneur or franchisee, they are a most effective and increasingly formidable  lobbying voice.