PRESS ROOM

Real franchise information – free from PR-agency spin and sugar-coated, sales-driven hype – is hard to come by.

Chris Hansen Sean KellyThat’s why the writer, editors and producers from top business and consumer publications turn to UnhappyFranchisee.Com for the real scoop.

Publications like The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Washington Post & Bloomberg Businessweek and media outlets like NPR and Dateline NBC turn to UnhappyFranchisee.com for assistance in getting the insider information and opinions from those in the know:  the franchisees who own and operate the hundreds of thousands of franchises across America.

If you are working on a franchise-related (or blogging related) story and want an alternative to the industry propaganda, contact UnhappyFranchisee.Com publisher Sean Kelly at UnhappyFranchisee[at]gmail.com for a fast and helpful response.

[Left:  Sean Kelly, Publisher of UnhappyFranchisee.Com, provides franchising information and insights to major newsmagazines, such as Dateline NBC. Below: Sean Kelly was featured in the blockbuster expose of 7-Eleven wage theft by Australian Broadcast Company’s award-winning “Four Corners”]

[This list is under construction – please check back for updates]

See Which Publications Rely on UnhappyFranchisee.Com and Franchise Expert Sean Kelly

the wash logo Bagels, fraud and false identities: nationwide scam targets Adams Morgan by Yousef Alshammari  December 13, 2019
Wall Street Journal 200 Thinking about a franchise? Key mistakes to avoid  by Andrea Coombes  April 19, 2013

Blogs Provide Insight to Would-Be Franchisees by Richard Gibson  March 24, 2009

Forbes 13 Mistakes New Franchisees Make — And How To Avoid Them by Karsten Strauss May 27, 2014

How Franchisors Squeeze Money From Their Franchisees by Karsten Strauss May 27, 2014

Why Do Celebrities Own Fast Food Chain Restaurants?  Hollie Slade  May 27, 2014

The Top Four Pitfalls Of Buying Into A Franchise  by Doug Bend  March 6, 2014

Our Response To Criticism Of “Top Twenty Franchises For The Buck” by J.J. Colao  March 5, 2012

npr Bigger than burgers and fries, franchising blamed for low wages  by Chip Mitchell and Shannon Heffernan, WBEX Chicago, April 7, 2014

UnhappyFranchisee.com featured on NPR’s Franchising: Behind the Burgers by Chip Mitchell and Shannon Heffernan,   WBEZ in Chicago.

 The Washington Post Returning from war and turning to franchising By Olga Khazan March 2, 2012
MSN Money Considering a franchise? Be wary  By Liz Weston, MSN Money  May 1, 2013
Toronto Star Can selling second-hand clothes be profitable?  by Francine Kopun  March 14, 2014
Franchise Times Pass/Fail 8 franchisees claim negative results at USA Mobile Drug Testing  Julie Bennett March 2013

Entering blogosphere  by Ellen Shubart  March 2007

Attacks from the blogosphere What Cuppy’s learned the hard way by Julie Bennett September 2007

Battling the blogs  What to do if you come under a Web attack  Julie Bennett  October 2007

FBLA logo 200 Q&A with Sean Kelly, Franchise Blogger  The Franchising Industry Veteran Discusses His Newest BlogLJN’s Franchising Business & Law Alert, August 2008
Club Industry Financial Trouble Plagues Some Health Club Franchisees  by Stuart Goldman, Executive Editor, February 1, 2008

Butterfly Life Founder Loses Lawsuit Over Free Speech  July 1, 2014  Editor Stuart Goldman

 Blue Mau Mau Mark Golob Targets Franchisee Speech  2/23, 2014 Corbin Williston

Free Speech Wins! Butterfly Fitness Ex-CEO Mark Golob, Lawyer Nikolaus Reed Lose Defamation Suit against Unhappy Franchisee 6/2/14

Part 2: Freedom of the Press Includes Bloggers

Butterfly Fitness’ Timetable of Trouble with California’s Regulators

westchester magazine Benefits and Burdens of Owning a Franchise: Westchester County Franchise Owners Face Challenges in a Bad Economy, Offer Tips by Chuck Green with Ben Brody Q1 2013

Press Coverage on Specific Controversies

Butterfly Life Franchise Exposed

Mark Golob v. Sean Kelly Lawsuit

Butterfly Life Founder Loses Lawsuit Over Free Speech  July 1, 2014  Editor Stuart Goldman

Another blogger fights a SLAPP suit and wins   June 2, 2014,  Ann Logue (AnnLogue.Com)
Sean Kelly – Senator Stewart Greenleaf  (Senator Stewart Greenleaf)

UnhappyFranchisee.Com Warning RE:  Beautiful BrandsBeautiful Brands v. Sean Kelly
UnhappyFranchisee.Com Warning RE: ISoldIt
UnhappyFranchisee.Com Warning RE: Cuppy’s Coffee

BOOKS

 The Fissured Workplace 128 The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It  by David Weil
Legal Environment of Business The Legal Environment of Business“Gathering information about many opportunities is difficult.  As in many other areas, the Internet provides some useful sources… horror stories can abound.  Unhappy Franchisee provides many sad tales…”  Roger E. Meiners, Al H. Ringleb, Frances Edwards Cengage Learning, Jan 1, 2014
Become Franchise Owner Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What You Doby Joel Libava   December 6, 2011
Whats Next What’s Next? Updated: Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond by Kerry Hannon
civility in digital age Civility in the Digital Age: How Companies and People Can Triumph over Haters, Trolls, Bullies and Other Jerks by Andrea Weckerle

9 thoughts on “PRESS ROOM

  • dustin

    how do I post a horrible franchise on your site?

  • ADMIN

    Anyone wanting to report unethical or ilegal franchise practices or express unhappiness with their franchise relationship can send an email in confidence to UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail.com

  • Robert Stevens

    Bruster’s Ice Cream has about 175 units primarily on the east coast. It is owned and managed like a mafia and plans on robbing innocent entrepreneurs (women, seniors and veterans) from a failed concept model! Save your money and invest in Dairy Queen which is owned by Warren Buffet.

  • I love seeing small business owners doing great and I’ve been helping them grow through our easy strategies. But I really see what owners are up against today and it makes it almost impossible to focus on growth after the store is open. I think that’s why we do so well helping.

    Dan, StoreFrontTraffic.com

  • Don’t buy a Clean Juice….you will be terribly sorry. Just ask any of the Charlotte NC owners. The only stores profiting are the 2 flagship stores….go figure. The COGS are ridiculously high…nobody in corporate knows what the hell they are doing and they will make anyone with a Pulse the VP…SVP….Operations Manager….COO. It’s a true circus.

  • Clean Juice Scammed Us

    Totally agree with Ely on Clean Juice…DO NOT BUY into this unsustainable business model. We sunk every penny we had into this failing business and worked six days a week to save on labor only to continue to operate in the negative. The entire Charlotte market is for sale….Florida stores are being sold back to corporate….Irvine, CA has closed its doors and two stores in Charlotte are currently CLOSED!!!!

  • Arthur Xiao

    Freshii franchise system is same suck trap for franchisee.

  • Hi All,

    I wanted to find out if if anyone here has experienced any wrong doing or injustice with Jani-King of Phoenix or Jani-King in general, please let me know? I am a franchise analyst who has worked with many franchisors and franchisees.After seeing how some franchisors prey upon hard working genuine families looking to own a piece of the American Dream and trick them into believing it is a good investment. Franchisees invest their entire savings into this dream and more often turn into a nightmares).I have decided to start a non-profit organization called Franchisee voices to help franchisees. We assist franchisees in by giving them a voice that can be heard. Our goel is to educate the community about fair franchise practices, quality franchise opportunities, and to expose the unethical practices that have for too long existed in the franchising community and changing the narrative of franchising to be reasonable and more profitable to franchise owners.We are currently based in Phoenix Arizona however we are planning to expand in different states.

    At moment we are reviewing Jani-King of Phoenix because we had many complaints and me personally I have had my own terrible experiences with them reason why I decided to be the voice of the voiceless as I had many other franchise owners came to me with many complaints and extremely sad story of what they experiences so we are trying to identify if these issues are systematic issues or one off situations so we can inform the attorney general. Please if you have had a bad experiences please feel free to email me at [redacted],you can also submit your concerns on our website franchiseevoices.org.

    Many thanks,

    Drocelle

  • Karen M Fletcher

    surprisingly there are no comments about the hotel franchisors market or in particular Wyndham — especially since Wyndham has so so many lawsuits against them from violations of Sherman Act, Sex Trafficking Cases, etc… any thoughts?

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