Question: I’m wondering: How can I research the validity of a specific franchise business? Does the size of the franchise system matter and how can I best find out if the company will be a good fit for me in my quest to be a franchise owner?
Answer by Jeff Elgin:
These are three great questions so let’s take them one at a time.First, there are many important steps you’ll take when investigating any franchise but the three most important are:
1) contacting the company directly to receive its franchise information including the federal mandated disclosure document (the FDD),
2) carefully reviewing all of the information you receive to make sure it sounds like a business you are interested in, and
3) calling a number of the existing franchisees to learn much more about the franchise business from their perspective.