For franchisees
A franchise agreement will govern how you run your business for years, and it is written by the franchisor. There is no franchise-specific legislation in England and Wales, so the agreement itself is where your rights are found. Upload it and get a plain English report on the fees, obligations and exit terms, for £49 + VAT.
The situations people are usually in when they send us a contract.
The franchisor has sent the agreement and an operations manual you will be bound to follow, and the parts that matter most (your obligations, what you must buy, how you can leave) are spread across different clauses and schedules. The review pulls them together into a plain English summary.
On top of the initial fee there is a royalty on turnover, a marketing fund contribution, a technology fee and a minimum you have to pay even in a slow month. Royalties are usually calculated on gross turnover, not profit, so they don’t fall when your margins do. The review lists every payment so you can build them into your cashflow forecast.
Most franchise agreements need the franchisor’s consent before you can sell, and some give them a right of first refusal, a transfer fee and approval of the buyer. The review sets out what you would need to sell, what the franchisor can refuse, and whether the franchisor has to act reasonably when deciding.
The agreement requires you to buy stock, equipment or ingredients from the franchisor or its nominated suppliers. That is common and often justified to protect the brand, but it takes price control out of your hands. The review checks whether there is any limit on pricing, whether rebates are disclosed and whether you can propose alternative suppliers.
The franchisor can terminate for “any breach” of the agreement or the operations manual, which the franchisor can usually update. The review shows what counts as a breach, whether you get notice and a chance to put things right, and what you must do and stop doing if the agreement ends.
Every clause rated for your side, in plain English, usually within ten minutes of paying.
Read a complete sample reportInitial fee, royalties, marketing contributions, technology fees, minimums and any other charges, in one place
What you must do to run the business, including the operations manual and how it can be changed
What you must buy and from whom, and any flexibility on suppliers or price
Whether your territory is exclusive, what the franchisor can do inside it, and any performance targets
How long the agreement lasts, renewal conditions, how it can end and what you need to sell
One-sided terms and specific changes to ask the franchisor about
Franchise agreements often set out the franchisee’s payment obligations in detail and the franchisor’s support obligations in vague terms. If the marketing fund, training or technology turns out to be thin, you may have no contractual basis to complain. Look for specific obligations on the franchisor and a requirement to account for how the marketing fund is spent.
Say you must buy all your core products from nominated suppliers, and the franchisor receives rebates from them. If prices rise, your margin falls and you have no alternative source. Ask whether prices are benchmarked against the market, whether rebates are disclosed or shared, and whether you can propose an alternative supplier that meets the same standards.
If any breach, however small, lets the franchisor terminate, you could lose the business over something easily fixed. A fairer agreement gives you written notice and a reasonable period to remedy breaches that can be put right, reserving immediate termination for serious ones. Check too whether the franchisor can buy your assets on termination and at what price.
Most agreements stop you running a competing business within a set area for a period after the franchise ends, and may apply even if the franchisor ends the agreement. Like other restraints of trade, these must be no wider than reasonably necessary to protect the franchisor’s legitimate interests. If you operate through a company, check whether you are also being asked to give a personal guarantee or personal covenants.
£49 + VAT per contract. No subscription and nothing to sign up for first.
PDF or Word. Add a line of context if it helps, such as when they want it back.
In about 30 seconds, an overall rating and the headline concerns, before you pay anything.
Usually about ten minutes. Emailed as a PDF with a link to read it online.
Sign it, send back the changes, or take it to a solicitor knowing which clauses to raise.
Anything else, get in touch.
There is no standard figure. It depends on the sector, the strength of the brand and what the franchisor provides for the money. A higher royalty with real marketing, training and technology support can be better value than a lower one with very little behind it. Ask other franchisees in the network what they actually receive, and model the royalty against realistic turnover, not the franchisor’s projections.
Franchisors usually say the agreement is non-negotiable, because they want the network on consistent terms. The core fees often won’t move, but franchisees do sometimes secure changes to the territory, opening deadlines, performance targets, the initial fee, or side letters dealing with their particular circumstances. It is worth asking about the points that matter most to you.
Which products must be bought through the franchisor or its nominated suppliers, how prices are set, whether the franchisor earns rebates or margin on those supplies, and whether you can propose alternative suppliers. The more of your purchasing that is tied, the more those answers matter to your margins.
Look at what you must do on termination or expiry: stop using the brand, hand back the operations manual and customer data, and possibly sell equipment or stock to the franchisor. Check whether you get any payment for the business you have built, whether the post-termination restrictions stop you trading at all, and whether the rules differ depending on who ended the agreement and why.
A franchise is a significant investment and a long commitment, so a specialist franchise solicitor is worth considering, especially for a large or multi-site deal. QuickLegalCheck is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. The report helps you understand the agreement and prepare the right questions, which can make any advice you do get quicker and more focused. Any premises lease is a separate document and is outside the scope of the review.
Paste it in and say which side you’re on. You get a rating, what the clause does and what you might ask for instead. It’s free, with a daily limit.