CUPPY’S COFFEE: End of a Dream… or of an Illusion?

Cuppy’s Coffee employees get to celebrate both the end of an era and an end to their employment this weekend by serving as the packing crew for the corporate move to Muscle Shoals, AL.
Right on the heels of alienating the American Association of Franchisees & Dealers (AAFD), and amidst complaints from franchisees that DN does not return their calls or respond to emails, FranSynergy owner Dale Nabors is leaving the remnants of the once 100+ office staff with a bad taste in their mouths.

Among the comments, complaints and rumors voiced recently from multiple sources:

• “Dale has not shown his face at the office or returned any e-mails from employees in a couple weeks.”
• “Last week the O Drive was locked down (O Drive is where all data is stored for all employees to use).
• “Dale said he would post jobs for the employees not asked to move to AL so they could apply for them, but never did.”
• “If employees intend to draw unemployment they are required to pack the offices Thursday and Friday.”
• “all they have right now are pissed off people.”

This weekend marks the end of the shared vision of creating a progressive, family-oriented Cuppy’s Coffee corporate office in Ft. Walton Beach, complete with on-site daycare. For some it’s the end of a dream… for others, the shattering of an illusion.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT OR FAREWELL MESSAGE BELOW.

COFFEE BEANERY: Secret Justice Franchisee Interview Part 2

Here is the second of two video interviews with unhappy Coffee Beanery franchisees Deborah Williams and Richard Welshans, who are in their 3rd year of a legal fight against the franchisor.
Coffee Beanery Franchise Fraud Part 2:

In this video interview posted on YouTube, Deborah Williams says “three months into the franchise, we realized something was wrong. Money was running out like it was going through a sieve. We hired an attorney. We also filed a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General’s office here in Maryland…”

Williams and Wilshans recently had an arbitration ruling against them overturned, and will be arguing their case against the Coffee Beanery in a court of law.

Also read:

The Coffee Beanery Franchise Woes Reported in Forbes Article

COFFEE BEANERY: Secret Justice Franchisee Interview Part 2

COFFEE BEANERY: Secret Justice Franchisee Interview Part 1

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

COFFEE BEANERY: Secret Justice Franchisee Interview Part 1

Here is the first of two video interviews with unhappy Coffee Beanery franchisees Deborah Williams and Richard Welshans, who are in their 3rd year of a legal fight against the franchisor.
Coffee Beanery Franchise Fraud Part 1:

In this video, Deborah and Richard describe their backgrounds (Deborah was VP of Operations for a large corporation; Richard was in industrial sales for 18 years before being downsized). They also describe their financial well-being prior to buying the franchise (owned a million-dollar house with $600K equity).

Deborah describes the type of business they wanted to open after Richard was a victim of downsizing: “We just wanted a little coffee shop… we just wanted a little franchiseable coffee shop, like a little Cheers-type place. We started looking for different franchisors. Our first choice, of course, was Starbucks.”

Starbucks doesn’t offer franchises, so they went with the Coffee Beanery franchise.

Check out Part Two for the rest of the story:  COFFEE BEANERY: Secret Justice Franchisee Interview Part 2

The Coffee Beanery Franchise Woes Reported in Forbes Article

COFFEE BEANERY: Exec’s Trafficing Conviction Leads to Franchisee Legal Win Part 1

CORK & OLIVE: Oldsmar Store Reopens; C&O Coming to Ocala?

SPONSORED LINKS:

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Former Ex reports that the Cork & Olive store in Oldsmar, FL has reopened. Who is the current owner? Who is at the helm? Will other closed stores begin to reopen? Share a comment below.

Oldsmar has reopened – no way in this econmoy will C&O be able to rebound… went in tasted listened to there stories… Same old wine, same old story, no uniforms, looking desperatly for experienced help… Glad to see no familar faces fell for there BS….

I DIDN’T PURCHASE AND WOULD NEVER PURCHASE ANY C&O PRODUCTS

The Ocala Star Tribune reports that

OCALA – This week two of the biggest retail stores at Market Street at Heath Brook silently opened their doors.

Friday afternoon, excited and bewildered shoppers marched into DSW Shoes and Old Navy happy that their anticipated openings had come. Both stores opened Thursday, but Old Navy customers wondered why there was no fanfare, advertising or notice about the opening. There was only a white, roadside billboard on State Road 200 with a list of the stores opened.
* * * * *
Many storefronts throughout the retail and restaurant development are posted with signs of what’s to come. They include:…

* Cork & Olive, a try-before-you-buy wine and spice store. The opening date is unknown.

WHAT’S THE STORY? IS CORK & OLIVE STAGING A BOLD COMEBACK? IF SO, WILL THEY SUCCEED?

MAKE & TAKE GOURMET: Dave Bellso is Perplexed by Meal Prep

According to a story in the Times-Union, “Rarely has a new retail business idea been embraced by entrepreneurs so quickly, only to fail so spectacularly, as did the “meal assembly” concept.”

Dave Bellso, interviewed for the article, sounds perplexed:

“For some reason, the whole concept is just not doing very well,” said Dave Bellso, whose wife owns the Make & Take Gourmet chain, based in Syracuse. The two-year-old company had a store at The Crossing shopping center in Clifton Park, but closed it after a year for lack of business.

“When the industry first started, the research from the early stores showed it was a destination,” he said. “As the industry grew, that changed.”

This is a man who owns an advertising agency that claims to be the leader in meal prep marketing. His analysis is that the research showed that the early stores were destinations, but “as the industry grew,” the stores were no longer destinations?

In other words: “People are no longer coming to our stores and we don’t know why.”

Strangely, the Bellsos sound more certain when they’re selling franchises. In fact, the Take & Bake Gourmet website Dave Bellso’s agency built states “Our taste-tested recipes are so delicious they’ll keep coming back for more.”

It states: “Meal assembly kitchens are one of the hottest trends in the food industry.”

“We are excited to share this exciting, proven concept with you…”

“As seasoned marketing professionals we know how to “brand” and promote the business.”

“We have the pulse on consumer buying trends so that we can grow and change our business model to keep up with those trends faster than our competitors.”

“Our taste-tested recipes are so delicious they’ll keep coming back for more.”

“We will be able to assist you in developing effective, results-oriented marketing plans.”

“There is no limit to how many stores you can own. It all depends upon your desire for growth… It is actually advantageous to own more than one store in a market.”

It will be interesting to see what story the Bellsos will be telling tomorrow. It seems to change from day to day.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Related note: Bob Niedt of Syracuse.com wrote: ” Speaking of Towne Center, Make & Take Gourmet did a fast exit. The meal-preparation store announced its closing at the top of the week and by midweek, it was gone.”

Towne Center was one of the two Bellso-owned corporate stores.

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Lisle Head, Ex-Franchisee

Interview with Lisle Head, former franchise owner, Butterfly Life

Location: Sacramento/Roseville, CA
Franchises owned: 10
Time period of ownership: 1 year more of less
Total investment to date: A little over 250K

UF: What’s your background? What were you doing prior to owning your franchise?
I graduated from UC Berkely in 2001. I started working for 24 hour Fitness as a Sales Associate. Within 1 year I was a General Manager and Won Sales Associate of the Year for the company in my first year. I left 24 Hour after 2 years to start these Gyms. I was contacted from a source that is friends with Mark Mastrov as Mark approached him about the concept. My friend then contacted me as he thought it would be something that I would be interested in. He knew I had some funds and I was a proven operator in the 24 Hour System.

UF: When did you decide you wanted to own your own business? Describe the process you went through to determine which franchise to buy.
I choose Butterfly purely because Mark Mastrov was a part of it. I had worked for his company for 2 years and was very successful. I hired attorneys and accountants to review the company as well as my business plan. I met with Mark Mastrov himself to go over my numbers and get his opinion the investment and what he thought about working with Mark Golob. I spent about 6 months of Due Dillengence prior to making the move.

UF: How did you first learn about the general concept? What did you find appealing about this type of business?
I had been in the Gym industry and seen what curves was doing. When I saw that the owner of 24 Hour Fitness was ready to compete with them and that I could get on the ground floor I thought to myself this is a non-brainer. I will be one of there first owners and with me buying a whole territory I’m going to be there poster child. All they talked with me about is how there where going to spend all there efforts in getting me up and running and successful so they could go out to the other areas and show them that it worked. I was sold. I was going to be working in a start up with Mark Mastrov the greatest Fitness owner in the world. In my mind.

UF: Describe the company’s sales process and your interaction prior to becoming a franchisee.
These guys where my best friend. Treating me like I was there son and that they where not going to let my fall. I was only 26 years old and this was all the money that I had. I was making a big move and a very high risk. But I thought it was calculated because I was going to have support from the leading guys in the industry. I was going to be there Poster Child and my success was going to drive there success. “If you are not successful Lisle we will not be successful.” These are the lines I was getting on a day to day bases. The promised to personally mentor me through the whole process. As soon as I signed the check they stopped answering the phones. I heart hit the floor. I knew I had been scammed. L

UF: How was the company’s training and pre-opening support. Was it a positive experience?
We where the first group. So they where learning. I really did get a lot from it but I had already been through 2 years of training with 24 hour fitness.

UF: What marketing and promotional guidance, programs & support were provided? Were they effective?
They gave us some basic flyers and ideas on how to market. But I was expecting was for them to come into my market and drive traffic with TV and Radio and branding as they promised. I purchased 10 sites and they where supposed to make a plan of attack for my area. Never happened. They where going out to sell more telling everyone how this 26 year old kid just purchased 10. J

UF: How was your grand opening and your first year as a franchisee?
Nobody from the Butterfly Life Team was at my Grand Opening.

UF: Was owning this franchise what you expected? Why, or why not?
I really not to really get a sense of ownership. I only kept the first club open for less than 6months because I couldn’t see myself to continue to dump money into something that I was going to get no support from. But if this is the support that you normally get from Franchise then I was expecting to get a lot more support.

UF: Was the ongoing support what you expected? Why or why not?
Zero. I was talking with these guys everyday multiple times per day prior to signing the agreement. We talked about how they where going to mentor me and we where going to work on getting these 10 clubs open in the next 12 months so that we could show the world how successful this business could be. After I signed the agreement I called Bruce Fabel and he said that there is no reason for us to be talking everyday. I was shocked. I called Mark Golob told me that we would put together a plan. At the end of the day none of this happened and I as on a Island by myself .

UF: What were the positive aspects of your experience?
I learned how to not do a lease agreement. I learned that I can pick myself up and from rock bottom. I learned many things that I will take with me for life but I wouldn’t never wish any of them upon another human being as the way to learn.

UF: When did things start to go wrong? What was it that made you an unhappy franchisee?
Like I stated above. Thing went wrong right after I signed the agreement. They just went on to the next customer. Nobody every came to my sites. They didn’t help with finding me the proper location. I had only opened 1 office and had deposit on the other 9. They just took all my money and said thank you. 90K down the drain.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor? What was the outcome?
They just told me they where going to sue me if I went after them. I wasn’t in the position to go through a court process financially or emotionally. So I just took my lumbs and moved on with my life.

UF: What is your current situation? What would you like to see happen at this point?
I’m currently living in Costa Rica and I own a Coldwell Banker Franchise. Life is good. J I would love to see people atleast get back there Franchise Fees and to get them to stop selling people the franchises.

UF: Do you think that the franchise concept is a viable? Under what conditions?
I think is a great concept. But they need to work in one area and create a brand and get that area up a running. Trying to have 100 gyms in 30 different states in the first year is where they failed. They stretched themselves too thin. I truly believe that if they would have spend all the Focus on Northern California. The place they all live. And get the brand recognized and gyms up and running with profit they would have been able to spend across the whole world.

UF: What mistakes did you make? Looking back, what would you have done differently?
I personally don’t know what I could have done different. I hired one of the Top Operators from 24 hour fitness to manage my first gym as well as myself. Butterfly life just didn’t deliver the product or support that they promised.

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?
It was a life changing experience. I was completely broke. I was very lucky as I had invested in the real estate market and was able to sell a property and get back on my feet. Also I was single and didn’t have anyone to support. I have turned the event into a a very costly learning experience.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners? What questions should they ask? What warning signs should they look for?
I think they only advise is to go with a company that has a proven record. Go to franchises that are successful as well as the ones that are not. Find out why.

BUTTERFLY LIFE: Julie Franco, Ex-Franchisee

Interview with Julie Franco, Ex-Franchisee, Butterfly Life
August, 2008

Prior to becoming a Butterfly Life franchise owner, Julie Franco of Meridian, Idaho managed a self-storage business for 23 years and handled the accounts receivable administration for her husband Chris’ business. After actively working out at another women’s fitness facility, Julie searched for a women’s fitness franchise she could open and answered an ad for Butterfly Life. The couple have lost $285,000 to date.

Location: Meridian, Idaho
Franchise owned: Julie & Chris Franco
Time period of ownership: 28 months owned/ 20 months operating open facility
Franchise fee: 29,500 Royalty: $600 Marketing/other fees: $400
Total investment to date: $ 285,000

UF: Describe the process you went through to determine which franchise to buy.
Julie: I went online to look for women only facilities and came across Butterfly
Life. I was excited about the concept of the club with classes, and weight plate machines.
Plus the lecture series for nutrition, fashion & the (never seen) medical lectures sounded
very unique.

They sent a DVD about the Butterfly facility, but that really did not show much. It was not until I had a phone-internet call where Mark Golob explained the facility and what it had to offer, along with all the branding they were doing and going to do to promote the club.

UF: What did you find appealing about this type of business?
Julie: I really thought women would enjoy taking the classes, and working out with better weight machines.

UF: What attracted you to the company?
Julie: Reading the bio’s of Mark Golob and Tom Gergley . What was exciting was to see that a successful club owner Mark Mastrov from 24 hour fitness was a part of Butterfly Life, along with the rest of the management team. I was told that they had so many years in the fitness industry and Mark’s background in Marketing.

UF: Describe the company’s sales process and your interaction prior to becoming a franchisee.
Julie: They were very persistent in phone calls and locking in a time to talk with Mark via the Internet
follow long. My husband and I went to visit BFL headquarters in March 05 and were taken
around to a couple of facilities. (Most had just opened for a couple of months).

UF: How did you come to decide to buy the rights to open multiple clubs?
Julie: During their seminar of October 2005,and before I opened my first club, Mark Golob told me how the franchisee fee was increasing to $59,000 in June 06 and the monthly fees were going to $1000.00 for royalty and $400 advertising. This was due, in part, to the TV show he said was going to start airing June 06. Mark did his fast talking and I signed for three more clubs (even though they knew at the time I needed the UFOC for 10days before I could legally sign the franchise agreement).

Needless to say the TV show did not air and the franchise fee did not go to 59,000. The royalty fee went to $1000, but they dropped the advertising fee of $400.

UF: How was the company’s training and pre-opening support?
Julie: I felt the training was just adequate. I left feeling uncertain that I could show people how to work the weight machines properly.
Overall, I had mixed feelings. At this time Mark showed us the 30-minute TV show that was getting close to going on air. Mark also informed us that Mark Mastrov was no longer with the company because he just sold 24 fitness and it was a conflict of interest. I was upset because I believed Mark Mastrov was a big part of the company.

UF: What marketing and promotional guidance, programs & support were provided?
Julie: We were given places to call for mailers. There were a couple of different suppliers. They also put together TV ad you could buy for the 1st of the year. The TV did not prove to be that effective. Mark always talked about the big nation wide campaign of July 06. Again this did nothing to boost sales anywhere. I just don’t believe they ran the big campaign. Nobody saw but a couple of the commercials, these were on at bad times. The commercials always looked to homemade and were just not that inviting.

They were suppose to do full page ads in women’s magazines in October 06. They only ran half page ads in a franchise magazine to sell more franchises.

UF: How was your grand opening and your first year as a franchisee?
Julie: Grand opening was a little disappointing. Janet is suppose to be with you the first three days of your club. Mark scheduled a seminar in my town October 26th 2005 to sell more franchises. My club would not be open for another two months. Janet came up to go over the opening check list and told me it would be better that she came before I opened. It wasn’t, she spent most of her
time running Mark and Taylor from the airport and the seminar. I had maybe 10 hours out
of the three days.

UF: When did things start to go wrong? What was it that made you an unhappy franchisee?
Julie: I guess right after I opened and realized that trying to sell memberships and getting the brand
name out there was going to be a challenge. Having a tag line of (healthy living solutions
for women) did not help. No one knew it was a women’s workout facility.

UF: Was owning this franchise what you expected? Why, or why not?
Julie: It was a good experience in meeting wonderful women. The hard part was getting frustrated because I was not trained as a personal trainer and women have questions about their muscles, if their doing a exercise why is something hurting, etc.
I was also told that only one person is needed to run these facilities and then later was told it would help if I hired someone so I could do more outside marketing.

UF: Was the ongoing support what you expected? Why or why not?
Julie: They tried to do phone meeting every month or so, but it got to almost be the same stuff talked about every time. Corporate did not like to be questioned or challenged on any topic.

UF: What were the positive aspects of your experience?
Julie: Meeting wonderful women and seeing them make positive changes. But that even changed when renewal time came around and the cheaper club with more to offer opens down the road.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor? What was the outcome?
Julie: Joining the AAFD group and banding with other franchisee to hold them accountable for overstating the amount of money the clubs were taking to open. The time we were told everyone was breaking even. And the promise of national branding of the franchise. We were told that
Butterfly Life clubs would shut down the curves club.

UF: What is your current situation? What would you like to see happen at this point?
Julie: We are in debt around 285,000. I don’t see being able to get out of debt for 15 years. I would like Mark and Tom to take responsibility for the misinformation given to induce us to purchase a
facility. If I had correct numbers and facts I would have never opened a club.

UF: Do you think that the franchise concept is a viable?
Julie: No. The weight machine did not have enough weight to keep the ladies who were in better shape
challenged after a year they plateau out. The classes were good, and the nutrition lectures
were good, but the fashion was really bad. We never received any of the medical lectures.
We also were supposed to be able to incorporate their vitamins and shakes to make
additional income. (again items promised that never happened) The clubs were too large
without additional workout item such as bikes, treadmills, ect. This would have helped to
attract the ladies who wanted a little more from their health club.

UF: What mistakes did you make? Looking back, what would you have done differently?
Julie: Signing on the dotted line. Would have waited to sign for the additional clubs until after the first one was successful.

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?
Julie: It has been very stressful to know that I have negatively affected my family. We are middle income. We had a decent savings, no credit card debt and enjoyed life. We were excited to open another business so that when my husband decided to close his business we would have the ability to have another income. Now we have no savings and more credit card debt then we can handle. It will be years before we are out of debt. This affects every part of your life.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?
Julie: I say get everything recorded to what they tell you about the costs of opening the facility and if they make claims of breaking even in a certain time frame make them show you the proof. Wait a year and see what other clubs are doing. Make sure you get the full list of all closed franchisee and call all of them before you make your decision. Tape all phone calls and meetings.

UF: Thanks, Julie
Julie: Thank you.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Dale Nabors Tells Purvin, AAFD to Buzz Off

Related reading: CUPPY’S COFFEE: AAFD Tells Dale to Pay Up
CUPPY’S COFFEE: Dale Nabors Tells Purvin, AAFD to Buzz Off
CUPPY’S COFFEE: Emails Clarify that the AAFD Advocates For the AAFD

While many complain that Dale Nabors does not return correspondence quickly, Bob Purvin’s pay-the-piper-or-else email got a prompt response. In fact, Dale pretty much tells Bob to bugger off, that he’s not going to pay the $350 an hour ransom the AAFD charges to play kissy face with franchisors.

From: Dale Nabors [mailto:dale@fransynergy.com]
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:53 AM
To: ‘Robert Purvin’
Cc: ‘texlawdoc@aol.com’; ‘Rudy Harper’; ‘Peter Hanson’
Subject: RE: Still Offering to Work for a Solution
Bob:

Thanks for the email! As I’m sure you know, I am working around the clock to resolve the many challenges which Cuppy’s and related entities are faced with now and into the future. I did not cut off contact with you. Your calls and emails simply were not a priority following our last phone call (the 3-hr call), in which it was quite obvious that it all came down to MONEY for you and the AAFD. I did not and do not believe that we need to be spending money with the AAFD at this time. Monies which in my opinion would be better used towards Opening Stores, Settling Refunds and increasing Unit Profitability. As I asked on the call how do I explain that I’m spending these $$$$ with the AAFD, at a time that other items MUST take a priority.

I would like to ask you:
Why is the franchise Agreement any less fair?
Did we not have 3-Years to form a FOA?
Did we not create a reasonable alternative to the Co-Op?
Why should we use the AAFD for mediation at $350 per hour, when the IFA is providing the same service at no charge?
I do not want an adversarial relationship with you or the AAFD —- I do not want to bring harm to the AAFD — At the same time…..I do not want to be held hostage by the AAFD! I did not create this mess, and I’m committed to doing the best job that I’m capable of doing to clean it up. Will I be successful? Only time will tell. The company has (prior to the change in ownership) spent a large sum of money with the AAFD, I CAN NOT at this time justify spending additional money with the AAFD.

I’m open to any and all communications that are geared to helping Cuppy’s and it’s franchisees. I am not open to spending large sums of money which does not directly lead towards opening stores, resolving refunds, increasing unit profitability AND preserving the brand! So, if you have ideas which mesh with our objectives, I’m open to discussing them…otherwise I do not know that we have anything to discuss.
Sincerely,
Dale Nabors

Dale asks some pretty good questions. Don’t hold your breath waiting for answers.

Nabors also states “The company has (prior to the change in ownership) spent a large sum of money with the AAFD…”

Hmm… does anyone know what the going rate IS for an AAFD Fair Franchising Award these days?

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

MEAL ASSEMBLY: Meal Idea Fails to whet the appetites

Kudos to Tuckerbox on www.mealassemblywatch.com for posting this story..

Area entrepreneurs find customers’ hunger lacking for assembling own dinners

Rarely has a new retail business idea been embraced by entrepreneurs so quickly, only to fail so spectacularly, as did the “meal assembly” concept.

Never heard of it? That seems to be the problem.

In the Capital Region, no fewer than five individual stores offering the model have gone out of business. That’s out of seven — the two others, in Ballston Spa and Clifton Park — say they are still doing well.

Dinners by Design and an Independent do get honorable mentions as 2 of the remaining Meal Assembly Kitchens in the area, both who say they are “doing well”. While I hope the “doing well” part is true, the statement comes from a newly-minted second generation Independent owner that has only owned the store for a month. Dinners By Design as a franchise has been experiencing quite a shake-up lately. We certainly wish both stores continued success though.

Mr. Wechsler says:

Unfortunately, the idea just didn’t catch on — not here, and not in many other places in the country.

That would have to be the understatement of the century! It is also refreshing not to have Easy Meal Assembly/Prep “expert’s” pronouncements and outrageous quotables in this article. I am certainly glad to see a balanced article about the Meal Assembly industry.

What tickles me the most is that none of the Franchisors who are quoted here, seem to have a clue as to why the concept is a stinker.

“For some reason, the whole concept is just not doing very well,” said Dave Bellso, whose wife owns the Make & Take Gourmet chain, based in Syracuse. The two-year-old company had a store at The Crossing shopping center in Clifton Park, but closed it after a year for lack of business.

“When the industry first started, the research from the early stores showed it was a destination,” he said. “As the industry grew, that changed.”

This is the same Bellso’s that are being sued by some of their franchisees for alleged fraud and has one reported store going independent.

This is the part I like the best! Franchisors “muse” about the concept failure-while hundreds of store owners are closing their doors and losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.

Those in the business muse as to why the idea failed in so many places. Some wonder if the corporate franchise fees were too high. Or perhaps the high cost of buying and preparing food day after day made it too expensive.

Wait a minute too expensive for whom? For the store owner or the customer? This IS a food business right, whose entire marketed reason for being is touted as being a money saver for consumers? It is also a food industry that has THE highest ACCEPTED food costs I have ever seen as a culinary professional.

Maybe customers cut back due to the economy. Or maybe the concept was just not attractive enough. “Not enough people know about it,” said Teresa Shurtz, vice president of operations at Super Suppers, based in Fort Worth, Texas. Now in 42 states, the chain began about five years ago and has about 150 stores.

Super Suppers once claimed to have 270 stores in operation, that means almost 60% of their franchised stores have closed since they started franchising. In my opinion the real story is the catastrophic failure rate of Meal Assembly franchised stores.

Independents and franchised stores alike seem to be suffering from this concept failure.

Locally, closed stores besides Make & Take include the franchised Dream Dinners in Colonie, Super Suppers in Clifton Park and Dinner by Design in Saratoga Springs. The independent Dinner Me Quickly in Colonie also closed.

Fagle-Fedele is the newly minted owner of My Other Kitchen and she along with “others” continue to be stymied as to why MAK stores are continually closing.

“I don’t understand why it’s not working,” Fagle-Fedele said. “The concept is a good one. I’ve never had an unhappy customer.”

This article written by Alan Wechsler can be found at:

http://timesunion.com/TUNews

CURVES DISCUSSION: Benefits of a Franchisee Lawsuit?

Curves franchise owner positive-healthy asks:

Could anyone give any insight on what would be considered all the legitimate reasons that one might be able to participate in the group lawsuit? I’m not sure it would be appropriate to ask to be included solely based on severe downturns in a club’s membership due to being in a small town or because of paying too high of a purchase price for a resale. I don’t think I can blame it on Curves International that there is such a turnover in membership. Sometimes I think that our biggest threat is a woman’s lack of commitment to her workouts and the belief that she doesn’t deserve to have a membership on a long-term basis. I would appreciate any insight into this matter. Thank you.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

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