The best source of information when you’re researching a franchise is to talk to the existing franchisees. You can validate what you’re hearing from the franchisor during these calls and you can also develop a keen sense of how everything is going in the system by listening carefully and reading between the lines in terms of not just what they are saying but also how they are saying it.
One thing to keep in mind, though, you have to ensure that you’re receiving input from a valid cross-section of the existing franchisees. A franchisor is required to give you a list of their franchisees so you can call whichever ones you want, but it is also fairly common for franchisors to steer you toward selected franchisees for what the industry calls validation calls.