BUTTERFLY LIFE: Interview with Ex-Franchisee Michael Motes

Interview with Michael Motes, former franchise owner, Butterfly Life

Prior to becoming a Butterfly Life franchise owner, Michael Motes of Rome, Georgia had been in the communication business for 30+ years. Michael owned his own radio business for many years before forming a partnership and forming Advanced Communication in Rome. He was part owner and engineer of K-98 radio station also located in Rome.

Newly married to his wife Betty, they discussed owning a business of their own. Betty, who was also a prior business owner, had been a member and employee of Curves. The fitness business was Betty’s desire and dream.

Location: Rome, Georgia

Franchise owned: Michael Motes

Time period of ownership: March’07-Dec. ‘07

Franchise fee: $29,500. Royalty 1,000. Monthly Advertising 1500. Monthly

Total investment to date: $250,000.+

UF: When did you decide you wanted to own your own business? Describe the process you went through to determine which franchise to buy.

Michael: The idea at first was my wife, Betty’s. Having been a member of Curves, where she also went to work part-time, she was able to see and experience both sides of the fitness club. Originally we inquired about a Curves franchise, but there were no territories available. So the search began for “the best” women’s fitness franchise. We decided on a franchise because there would be the support and brand recognition. ( Or so we thought!) The research began and continued for many weeks, each and every time Butterfly Life appeared to have everything we wanted. The concept was awesome-circuit training, exercise classes, weight loss with proper nutrition, motivation, fashion and medical advice from “experts” in the field.

So my wife called Butterfly Life in San Ramon, Calif. to talk with a representative of the company. That call was the first of many we made, along with numerous emails. It was almost 5 months before we made the trip to Calif. for “Discovery Day”. A day at corp. to meet the “team and leaders” and visit operating clubs (we only went to one!) Before going to Calif., we visited what we were told was the first ever club to open in Georgia. (We now know that was just one of many lies we would be told! The club we were told to visit was NOT the first in Georgia-see Jeff Marks story.)

UF: How did you first learn about the general concept? What did you find appealing about this type of business?

Michael: The most appealing part of Butterfly Life was the overall concept. It had more to offer the members than most other “women only” clubs. The plate-loaded equipment vs. hydraulic, the group exercise classes offered all day, the nutrition classes-all combined for one monthly fee.

UF: Describe the company’s sales process and your interaction prior to becoming a franchisee.

Michael: The franchise counselor we talked with was professional, answered our questions as best he could, and stayed in contact weekly. After reading and researching everything we could find about Butterfly Life Fitness, our counselor convinced us to go to Calif. The first trip to Calif. should have been our first and last. Upon arriving at BFL Corp. offices we meet the young man we had been talking with for several months. We were taken to a conference room where Mark Golob would be joining us. Upon Mark entering the room, the counselor made the introductions-and all hell broke lose! Mark slammed his hand down on the table and screamed at the counselor- I told you not to pursue these people. I told you not to bring them to Calif.” Betty and I did not know what to think at this point.

Betty was under a non-compete from Curves until Dec. 06-a fact that BFL had known since the very first phone conversation in February. (We did not intend to sign any agreements before that time.) Mark then turned to Betty and I and said he had to go call his lawyer before talking to us. He told the counselor to take us to lunch and by the time we returned, he would know what to do. Upon returning to the office we all meet in the conference room, and as soon as Mark Golob walked in he turned to Betty and said, ” I will NOT sell you a franchisee-but Michael I will sell you one”. He then began asking me questions about my business experience, why we wanted a franchise, and how we planned to finance it. He told us all about his experience, his ownership of the Linda Evans clubs, and how Mark Mastrov was his former business partner. When I told him I had just recently sold my ownership in a radio station in Rome, Ga. and that I planned to pay cash, his entire attitude changed. All of a sudden “we” meaning Betty and myself would make GREAT Area Reps-all the time I am thinking how he just told my wife he would not sell her a franchise, but now he wants to sell us a 25 club territory because we would be such an asset to the company. He even had a meeting with the current Area reps going on as we spoke-he had to take us in to meet these people and have them give their testimony as to what a GREAT opportunity this would be for us! We left shortly afterwards without making any kind of commitment! That was June’06.

Once we returned home the emails and phone calls started almost daily. They wanted to do a conference call between counselor, the Tom Gergly and myself. Tom Gergly told me at that point that as far as they “knew” my wife did not exist and would not exist until Dec. 06 when her non-compete was up with Curves.

I signed the agreement in Sept. ‘06 after many calls telling me the franchise fee would go up to 39,000. by Oct.1, 06…..which it NEVER did.

UF: How was the company’s training and pre-opening support?

Michael: 5 days of classroom work-approx. 2 hrs. in a gym doing a group exercise class and one workout on the circuit equipment. Pre-opening-they were all about helping you as long as you followed the “plan”.

UF: What about Marketing?

Michael: The same as everyone else…mail out 20,000 postcards every month. Sent a 6 month plan by email of when to send out your postcards.

UF: Tell me about your Grand Opening

Michael: We were sent an email from Sandy telling us when “BFL” had scheduled our grand opening. It was 3 weeks after we opened and Sandy would be there with us. We where told to contact the Chamber of Commerce, the newspapers, put out flyers letting every one know that we would be represented by our “Corp” office at grand opening. We DID-they DID NOT. Instead Sandy showed up the week before for 21/2 days to check up on us-not to train or instruct. She even took promotional items we had ordered “outside the box” back to BFL Corp. and those same items later became something every club could order-from BFL suppliers- at 3 times what we paid for ours.

UF: Was owning this franchise what you expected? Why or why not?

Michael: NO! We were promised (verbally and by email-which I still have!!) national advertising, a T.V. show, a deal with the Oprah Show, spots on Dr. Phil and on and on……but the only advertising BFL Corp did in our area was NOT for brand recognition-it was FRANCHISE SALES. This was the worst (and most costly) business decision I have ever made.

UF: How was the promised ongoing support?

Michael: There was no on-going support. You open-you are on your own!

UF: What were the positive aspects of your experience?

Michael: There is nothing positive about losing $250,000. and knowing you will never recover the investment. However, Betty and I both agree that meeting and being able to help so many women become more fit made the experience better. Our women had some very good results.

UF: When did things start to go wrong? What was it that made you an unhappy franchisee?

Michael: In all honesty things went wrong from Discovery Day forward. I wanted Betty to have what she wanted, so we put up with many things we did not like or agree with because we did believe in the concept. We should never have believed all the things they “verbally” promised. There were so many lies, having faith in BFL Corp. did not last as long as our club, which was in business for 10 months.

UF: Have you tried to resolve your issues with the franchisor? The outcome?

Michael: We tried for several months to get the attention of Corp. and have someone to listen. As has been said in earlier interviews-they wanted to sell businesses-not run them. The outcome was our joining the Butterfly Life Chapter with the AAFD.

UF: What is your current situation?

Michael: I have returned to work in the field of Electronics-working 60-70 hours a week just to pay off the debts.

UF: What would you like to see happen at this point?

Michael: I would like to see restitution for everyone who purchased a franchise. I personally want my franchise fee of $29,500.00 back and the original franchise agreement between BFL and myself null and void.

UF: What mistakes did you make? Looking back what would you do differently?

Michael:

1. Buying a Butterfly Life Franchise
2. Buying a Butterfly Life Franchise
3. Buying a Butterfly Life Franchise
4. Buying a Butterfly Life Franchise

I would have left my money in a CD and been earning interest instead of going further in debt.

UF: How has your franchise investment decision affected your life?

Michael: Instead of retirement at 55, I am now looking at having to work another 10 years to be able to afford to retire.

UF: What advice would you give to prospective franchise owners?

Michael: DO NOT GET INVOLVED IN ANY BUSINESS VENTURE WITH MARK GOLOB AND/OR TOM GERGLEY. STAY AWAY FROM BUTTERFLY LIFE COMPLETELY.

SAVE THEMSELVES THE HEADACHE AND HEARTACHE, NOT TO MENTION A LOT OF MONEY.

UF: What warning signs should they be looking for?

Michael: I checked this company out before I ever signed an agreement. I found what I could at that time, however today there is much more information available about Butterfly Life and its officers. My warning-STAY AWAY.

CORK & OLIVE: Overview & Blogliography

Read more

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Emails Clarify that the AAFD Advocates For the AAFD

If there were ever any doubt about where the allegiance of the AAFD lies, two recent emails make it pretty clear: The AAFD is a strong advocate of the AAFD.
CUPPY’S COFFEE: AAFD Tells Dale to Pay Up
CUPPY’S COFFEE: Dale Nabors Tells Purvin, AAFD to Buzz Off

How the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD) loved the previous Cuppy’s Coffee regime! The AAFD awarded Cuppy’s Coffee their fair franchising world’s prettiest contract award and let them parade it all over the Internet on a velvet pillow. Bob Purvin heaped on the praise… defended Morg Morgan’s every action… invoked every benefit of every doubt… invited the Cuppster’s up on stage to strut their stuff, sing and dance, even hand out fair franchising awards…

Mirror Mirror on the Wall… Who’s the Fairest Franchisor of All… ? Cuppy’s Coffee!

In fact, we started referring to the pseudo-franchisee advocacy group as the AAFD&C: The American Association of Franchisees, Dealers & Cuppy’s.

That was the GOOD Cuppy’s Coffee. It didn’t matter that the old regime - the one pirated, I mean piloted, by Captain “Morg” Morgan - was arguably the most corrupt and/or inept franchisor in recent history… that Morg and his minions allegedly circumvented franchise disclosure laws by accepting “refundable” downpayments and franchise fees through its affiliate Elite Manufacturing, that they proceeded to spend hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of dollars that didn’t belong to them with no regard for the franchisee “depositers” whose money it was. No, that didn’t cost them their fair franchising award.

It didn’t matter to the AAFD that Cuppy’s Coffee forced franchisee depositers to accept partial payments, 2-year interest free installment plans (that may have never even been honored) complete with gag orders (which the AAFD “sort of” opposes). The AAFD never even bothered to follow up - or see if Cuppy’s had ever learned what “escrow” meant.

It didn’t matter to the AAFD that Cuppy’s Coffee may have been paying fees to franchisees and/or employees to give positive recommendations…

And it didn’t matter to the AAFD that the Cuppy’s Coffee construction phase was so bungled that it took franchisees up to 22 months to get open - by which time their working capital was depleted. It didn’t matter to the AAFD that Elite Manufacturing was spinning off more than a million dollars worth of work to SBT (another suspicious entity owned, in part, by Elite management) that would never be paid…. that would end up in litigation and result in liens on franchisee buildings when the payments weren’t made.

But then the good old days ended. The new, BAD Cuppy’s regime took over. Dale Nabor’s and FranSynergy stopped (as far as we know) taking $40K deposits and spending it like drunken sailors. FranSynergy announced it would focus it’s total energy and resources on the potentially futile task of trying to get the franchisee stores in the leaky, crumbling pipeline open. In trying to create a legitimately viable company, Nabors committed the ultimate AAFD sin: he stopped paying the AAFD for their phony fairness award and stopped participating in their pay-for-praise program.

In the AAFD’s warped view, that makes them the bad Cuppy’s Coffee. The uncooperative Cuppy’s Coffee. That leaves the AAFD with no other choice than to try to pressure the three poor franchisees on their conference call to go scrounge for change in their seat cushions to be able to put together a Franchisee Advisory group.

The ironic thing is that if the AAFD had advocated a bit for the franchisees, there might have been a few with a few dollars to pay them.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

CUPPY’S COFFEE: AAFD Tells Dale Nabors to Pay Up

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
This email was recently shared with us. Bob Purvin states that the self-proclaimed franchise fairness organization AAFD (American Association of Franchisees & Dealers) is forming a Franchise Owners Advisory group and that new owner of Cuppy’s Coffee Dale Nabors should “step forward” for the good of the Cuppy’s Coffee brand.

Purvin tells Dale that he pulled his AAFD accreditation because he “is no longer cooperating” with the AAFD.

Funny… hadn’t Purvin been claiming that the accreditation was for having a fair contract? Was returning Bob Purvin’s scintillating phone calls a stated requirement? Shouldn’t it be renamed the “Cooperating With and Paying the AAFD” Accreditation Award?

From: Robert Purvin
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 10:48 AM
To: dale@fransynergy.com
Cc: texlawdoc@aol.com; Rudy Harper; Peter Hanson
Subject: Still Offering to Work for a Solution
Dale,

I remain confused as to why you closed down communications between us, and backed away from utilizing the AAFD to mediate solutions to Cuppy’s and Elite’s mounting difficulties. In a sense, I guess you did me a favor, since there were many cries from outside and inside the AAFD calling for the AAFD to withdraw our accreditation of the Cuppy’s contract.

In the final analysis, it was your failure to respond to any of my calls or emails, and your failure to respond to recent complaints, that led me to ’suspend’ your status and make a report to my board that essentially said, “Cuppy’s has stopped communicating with us, and is no longer cooperating with us, and on that basis I think I have no choice but to recommend withdrawal of accreditation.”

I don’t know if you have been following our communications to the blogs, or if Cuppy’s personnel was on our recent conference call, but it remains my goal to help engineer a workout plan that will save the Cuppy’s brand for the effective benefit of franchisees who have invested with Cuppy’s, as well as your own investment in the future of this brand.

It is not too late for you to step forward. We are in the process of forming a Cuppy’s FOA. This group can be your biggest ally in developing a workout that will benefit the company and your franchisees. I think this is what the leaders will prefer. You didn’t respond before, and I don’t have any expectations that I will hear from you now. But I believe the AAFD offers you a path towards negotiated solutions, and preservation, and others are suggesting a very different course of conduct.

Hoping, still, to hear from you.

Best regards,
Bob Purvin

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

COFFEE BEANERY: “Coffee People Who Care”?

What do you think of the new Coffee Beanery slogan: “Coffee People Who Care”?

According to MLive:

Your local coffee company has a new slogan: Coffee People Who Care.

The Coffee Beanery, founded in 1976 by JoAnne and Julius Shaw, now has 135 U.S. locations and more international locations. It recently selected the new slogan to help distinguish itself in a market that’s jammed with competition.

“We came up with ‘Coffee People Who Care’ because our franchisees are people who live, work, shop and have families in the same community where they are running a business,” said JoAnne Shaw, chief executive officer of the Mt. Morris Township-based company in a news release. “They care about running a successful business, but they also care about their communities, as well, and look for ways to show that.”

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE COFFEE BEANERY FRANCHISE? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SLOGAN? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW?

CUPPY’S COFFEE: Brice & Brian Hayes Working with SBT

So now that Cuppy’s Coffee and Elite Manufacturing have “cleaned house” and left their employees out with the trash, the rumors are flowing like honeydew vinewater.

One confirms that the Supreme Building Technologies lawsuit against Elite Manufacturing was like Cuppy’s suing itself. Why? Because Brian Hayes was allegedly an owner of SBT at the time SBT sued Elite - where, get this, Brian was President. Did I mention both shared 1511 Wohlert, the “love shack” of Angola, IN.

QUIZNOS OVERVIEW & DISCUSSION

Read more

CONTRIBUTE

CONTRIBUTE $1000

_________________________

CONTRIBUTE $750

_________________________
CONTRIBUTE $500

_________________________
CONTRIBUTE $250

_________________________
CONTRIBUTE $100

_________________________
CONTRIBUTE $50

_________________________
CONTRIBUTE $25

_________________________

Thank you for your support! Your contribution will be used to help promote fair franchise practices, justice for franchise owners, public education and awareness.

CORK & OLIVE: Probst Prison Wine (Humor)

The folks over at FranWorst.com are dedicated to celebrating the worst franchise opportunities and the worst product ideas in franchising. They have asked Unhappy Franchisee and Franchise Pick readers to serve as a focus group for a potential new line of wines based on the Olde World tradition of handmade prison wine. For decades, prisoners have made their own wine by mixing common ingredients such as stale bread, fruit, ketchup, and sugar in their cell toilets and fermenting each batch in plastic garbage bags.
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

If Cork & Olive’s wine connoisseur Michael Probst were to go to prison, the collaboration between this reknowned wine retailer and resident prison winemakers (many of whom have spend 30 years, 40 years to life perfecting their craft) could spark a renaissance in prison wine and create a whole new wine niche.

The market for this wine would be both ex-inmates and parolees who developed a taste for this vintage but haven’t been able to purchase it since their release, and fine wine drinkers who realize the quality produced by those who could get shanked for a single bad bottle.

Cork & Olive stores would be given priority purchasing tights and even have the option of private labeling some of the specialty lines, like San Quentin Reserve, Cell Block C, Lifer’s Liebfraumilch and the specially aged 20 to Life.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? WOULD YOU BUY/SELL PROBST PREMIERE PRISON WINE?

Next Page »