What the Media Is Saying

From The Wall Street Journal:

With its breaking news, original interviews with franchisers, opinion forums and a legal-events reporter who writes about cases of interest to the franchising community, Blue MauMau is a must for keeping current on what's happening in the world of franchising. Named for a Polynesian fish that protects itself from predators by swimming in large schools -- creator Dan Sniegowski [sic] thought that a metaphor for franchisees -- the site is one of a few with regular independent contributors.

To help cover costs, Mr. Sniegowski accepts advertisements, although he insists they don't influence his content. 'If I ever cross [readers], at a click of a button they would go elsewhere and wouldn't come back,' he says.

From CNBC's Behind the Counter: The Untold Story of Franchising:

We’ll talk to Don Sniegowski of Blue MauMau, the foremost franchise journalist in the country, who says that many franchise buyers don't realize that when they buy into the business they can lose more than their initial investment.

From BusinessWeek:

For more on Bennigan’s, check out Don Sniegowksi’s [sic] story over at Blue Maumau, one of the best sources of franchising news on the Web.

From American Association of Franchisees and Dealers:

Two Blue MauMau investigative reporters and bloggers, Janet Sparks and Don Sniegowski, received the 2009 AAFD Chairman's Award for Distinguished Service to the Franchising Community

Regarding investigative reporter Janet Sparks, AAFD Chairman Bob Purvin declares, 'Janet has emerged as a vigilant sentinel for fair franchising practices, tenaciously investigating and exposing unscrupulous conduct, and providing an important outlet for franchisee victims to have their stories taken seriously, exposed and investigated.

Regarding Blue MauMau, the chairman of AAFD adds, 'Don [Sniegowski] is both innovator and entrepreneur, but is first and foremost a journalist who yearned to reveal hard truths about franchising—to place the glare of public scrutiny on a community that has been much insulated from the voice of franchisees,' said Purvin. 'Because of Blue MauMau, franchisees and their advocates have found their voice, and franchisors are now less likely to succeed in coercive or predatory practices without bearing public scrutiny and scorn.'

From Franchise Times:

This is one of the most complete and complex sites up. It has news, commentaries, responses to “Dear Franny” questions, humorous snippets, and individual blogs. The blog’s spokesman, Mr. Blue MauMau, says he aims 'to prosper and amuse' with this independent site aimed at franchisees and franchisee wannabees.

From All Business, a D&B Company:

Industry Web site Blue MauMau has a fascinating interview with Dale Nabors, the disgraced CEO of failed franchise Cuppy's Coffee. This is a must-read for anyone who’s ever owned or thought about owning a franchise.  Be warned, though. This is bone-chilling stuff. Nabors talks about the people who lost their life savings by investing in his franchise, and admits that he too is in danger of "losing everything." He lists the reasons why Cuppy’s imploded and the backlash he faced, including death threats, from distraught franchisees. If nothing else, you got to give Nabors credit for facing the music and answering a string of very tough questions from Blue MauMau.

From the Herald-Tribune of Sarasota, Florida:

For starters, go online to bluemaumau. org. The website is loaded with anecdotal information, surveys, forums and news about franchisors doing good and bad things to their franchisees. The site encourages posts from happy franchisees. It also gets rants from others who rue the day they got into franchising. In short, you will find out that franchising has risks.

From hotel consultant Stan Turkel on Hotel-Online:

If you don’t watch this website every day, you are missing out on the most important franchisee/franchisor news and opinions.  Founder/Editor Don Sniegowski has created an easy-to-use interactive website that brings information about franchising that appears nowhere else.  It is, therefore, indispensable.

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