The Conover, North Carolina Domino’s franchisee whose employees filmed themselves doing gross things to a customer’s food, then posted the video on YouTube, may get disenfranchised.

Get the backstory here:  Domino’s YouTube Employees Arrested

According to a WCNC report:

CONOVER, N.C. — The owner of a local Domino’s Pizza could lose his franchise because of fallout from a YouTube video that showed his employees doing disgusting things to customers’ food.

Domino’s Pizza corporate honchos are heading to Conover later this week to talk with the franchise owner about the now-famous video.

Domino’s officials say the intent of the meeting is to discuss whether the owner will lose his restaurant.

The video shows former employee Michael Setzer putting cheese into his nose and then onto a sandwich, while another former employee, Kristy Hammonds, narrates, saying the food will be sent to “some unlucky customer.”

Hammonds and Setzer were fired and charged with contaminating food.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Image: Domino’s

If you want to find the straight scoop on franchising, you have to learn to recognize and be able to navigate the pervasive opinions of two groups:  The Cloud Merchants (CMs) and the Angry Franchise Ranters (AFRs).

The Cloud Merchants portray franchising as a magical paradise where happy franchisees frolic with a euphoria induced by being their own bosses, controlling their own futures, being in business for themselves but not by themselves, and a success rate so high only self-defeating morons who spit in the face of the Success Fairy will not succeed.

Conversely, the Angry Franchise Ranters portray franchising as a deep dark abyss run by a coven of flesh-eating vampires who lure hapless but courageous entrepreneurial virgins and feed on their hopes and dreams until all that is left is an empty shell, massive debts, repossessed homes and ex-spouses and kids that blame it all on them.

The CMs are much more prevalent than the AFRs, but the AFRs make up for it in sheer volume and annoyingness.

Introducing our newest AFR&B (Angry Franchise Ranter & Blogger):  Bloody Franchise

Bloody Franchise is the newest AFR&B (Angry Franchise Ranter & Blogger), a newcomer with all the subtlety, flair and intellectual depth of a WWF wrestling character.  Bloody Franchise left a scathing comment on my recent post (SUBWAY Attorney Joins Spy Store Franchise) about a young attorney joining a soon-to-launch franchise.  Although he knows nothing about either the attorney or the franchise, BF viciously attacked both for the sole reason that they are involved with franchising.

I clicked the link over to BF’s wordpress.com blog only to find an image of a white wolf howling next to a flowing river of blood (Did I tell you he was subtle?).  Even more disturbing was seeing my name in the first sentence of the blog post, which included more ranting about the young attorney he knows nothing about (BF writes: Thanks to Sean Kelly (naivete does have its upsides) for letting us know about people like Ms Church…)

(Wow.  Am I now famous enough to have my own franchise stalker?  Cool.  Sort of. )

Further down a hint of BF’s ranting AFR&B manifesto:

The only people a franchisor needs today on staff is a dishonest, slick and smooth sales force, an in-house lawyer with all of the franchisor tricks in her bag… and a gullible broker (a guy like Sean*) to promote their snake oil**.  Add a PR person to tell the world how successful franchising and especially the franchisor has been and is (they could also hire you for this Sean***) and voila - you’re a franchisor.  Sit back and collect the royalties, the franchise fees, spend the franchisees money on advertising (and get to go to Nascar and PGA events) and when the franchisee gets pissed off, they have to go to detention (otherwise known as arbitration).  This too is controlled by vendors who cater to the franchisor.  And when you learn that the franchisor is the master and you are the slave, you can come out, broke!

While, like many ranters, BF chooses to remain anonymous, it’s a fair bet that he is an unsuccessful franchisee who was never given NASCAR tickets to his company’s own race, and that he went up against his franchisor in arbitration and lost.  Now he feels his only recourse is to lash out at anything and everything remotely franchise-related.  He will remain anonymous and will not give any details so that no one can challenge his version of his victimhood, and in the naive belief that posting under “Bloody Franchise” will keep him from getting sued for the libelous rants he will eventually get sued for.

The problem with Angry Franchise Ranters is that they may actually have some good points worth sharing - but no one will listen. They are solely interested in venting and attacking everyone and everything, even potential allies.  They are not interested in warning others from making their same mistakes, and they want to see their former franchise system topple, no matter how many other franchisees get hurt.  They are primarily out for revenge, and that negates the good they could possibly do.

To me, the key message you need to understand is that whether you are buying a franchise or starting your own business, the buck stops with you.  It’s up to you to thoroughly investigate, research and plan your new business.  The painful truth is that there is no safety net whether you start a franchise or go it alone.

Listen to the Cloud Merchants, consider the Ranters warnings, and in the end rely only on your best judgement and the advice of those who will be in it with you.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

* I’m not a broker.  Never was a broker and have never sold franchises.

** I do not promote snake oil.  In fact, the only product I publicly endorse is the Green Prosperity Prayer Hankie.  Why?  Because it works!

** I’m sure they’ll want to hire me after this exposure

IMAGE:  FranBest.com

Quiznos has announced that CEO Dave Deno has resigned and the franchisor’s founder and largest shareholder, Rick Schaden, is taking over the reins again as the chief executive. 

Deno had joined Quiznos as president in 2007 and became CEO last September.  The company statement said he resigned “for personal reasons.”  Schaden had stepped down from day-to-day operations in 2007 after growing the chain from 18 franchisees in 1991 to more than 5,000 today.

In a released statement, Schaden said:

“I am excited about working closely with franchise owners to improve restaurant operations. I also look forward to spending time with the outstanding Quiznos management team developing new products. Moving forward, our strategy will be exactly as it is today. Our primary focus will be on increasing restaurant profitability for our franchise owners by bringing value and convenience to consumers so that they frequent Quiznos more often.”

Quiznos is one of the most controversial major franchise players in the nation.  According to franchise site Blue Mau Mau:

The Quiznos system has been riddled with problems and litigation over the past seven years. According to some lawsuits, franchisees allege that the company has been engaged in illegal and deceptive business practices, inducing unwitting prospects to purchase and operate Quiznos stores. The documents state that with 4,636 franchises in the U.S. today, a number that is continuing to grow, Quiznos classifies the majority of its franchisees as financially distressed.

WHAT DO QUIZNOS FRANCHISEES, INVESTORS & PUNDITS THINK OF QUIZNOS & SCHADEN’S RETURN? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

If ever there were a group in need of an economic bailout, it would be the hundreds of victims of the most blatant franchise scam in recent history:  Cuppy’s Coffee.  Just in case any government official or agency cares (why start now?), there are three distinct groups of victims struggling to recover from their own financial Katrinas:

Cuppy’s Coffee “Depositers”:  As many as 100 or more individuals paid upfront construction deposits ranging from $29,500 to more than $100,000 that were to be returned if they failed to find a location or secure financing for the project;  however, when they requested their refunds they got nothingbut a runaround.

Cuppy’s Coffee “SNO-ed” Franchisees: Dozens of Cuppy’s Coffee depositers who were able to secure funding commitments from lenders for their $150K - $300K investments ended up in the industry category of “Sold Never Opened” (SNO).  Since the Cuppy’s construction entities (Elite Manufacturing, Supreme Building Technologies) were more efficient at collecting payments than paying subcontractors, fulfilling commitments, not getting sued  and avoiding bankruptcy, many SNO-ed franchisees ended up with unfinished sites, liens on equipment they paid for, massive debt and no coffee shops.

Cuppy’s Coffee “Orphan” Franchisees: The final group of Cuppy’s Coffee victims consists of those who somehow battled through the process, incurred extra expenses of $100,000 or more, and somehow managed to get their cafe or drive-thru unit opened despite the fact that the parent company and related entities have disappeared and the corporate officers seem to be in hiding.  Of course, the challenges facing these businesses are enormous, as they are burdened with extra debt and expenses while receiving none of the franchise support they were promised.

Despite the odds, orphaned Cuppy’s Coffee continue to open somehow.  Some recently opened locations include:

Cuppy’s Coffee - Wilmington, DE Claudia & Alan Robbins managed to open in November, 2008.

Cuppy’s Coffee - Eagle, ID Franchise owners Larry and Marci Addleston opened their cafe December 8, 2008

Cuppy’s Coffee - Clawson, MI Franchise owner Steve Ott opened January, 2009

Cuppy’s Coffee - Mansfield, OH Franchise owner Bill Lewis celebrated his Grand Opening February 6, 2009

[Photo, right, Claudia Robbins promoting her Cuppy's Coffee in Wilmington, DE with a local team mascot.  Claudia is the one on the left.  Photo courtesy Cuppy's Wilmington]

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH CUPPY’S COFFEE?  DO YOU HAVE A LOCATION TO LIST?  SHARE AN INSIGHT BELOW.

A commenter named James claims he was taken to the cleaners by Service Brands, Int’l.  He recently closed his 1-800-DRYCLEAN franchise.  What do you think?

My name is James, I owned a 1-800-Dryclean franchise. 1-800-DryClean is a national franchise operation. The franchisor’s U.S. home office is in Ann Arbor, MI. 1-800-DryClean is part of Service Brands International whose brands include MOLLY MAID and Mr. Handyman. We deliver dry cleaning door-to-door. I feel that I have been wronged from Service Brands International, which has 600 Franchises under its name. I believe that they are selling territories that they know will not be successful. I have invested around $75,000, $45,000 for the franchise initial start up, and the rest, expenses of trying to get this route up and running, this is an estimate, the money could be more. On October 24th , 2008, I went out of business. The home office sent out a letter to all of my customers that stated that I am out of business and if you would like to own a business in Leominster, MA please let them know. They are trying to sell this territory, knowing full well that it will never reach the goals that they have set. I believe they are just trying to get the initial franchise fee, which is around $45,000.

Here are some of the many complaints I have against Service Brands. I have been fighting with them through emails on almost all of these points through the last couple of years and have kept all of the emails. At one point, it seemed liked they were going to change some of their policies, but never did.

READ ON @ UNHAPPY FRANCHISEE.

ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH SERVICE BRANDS FRANCHISES?  THE 1-800-DRYCLEAN FRANCHISE? SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Is Now The Perfect Time to Buy a Franchise?  Some think so… especially those who sell franchises.  In this Fox Business interview, Franchoice CEO Jeff Elgin discusses why he feels now is the perfect time to start your own franchise… and which segments of franchising are best in a down economy.

Franchising in 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDbx4itBPcE

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

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FEATURED STORY:

TanWorld: Creating the Next-Generation Tanning Salon Franchise

OVERVIEW Interview with Tanworld V.P. Bob McQuillan

Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

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Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.

According to a story on Top New Franchises, Fairway Divorce Solutions has opened a new franchise…  Just in time for the bust January divorce season!

Established in 2006, Fairway Divorce Solutions offers a first-of-its-kind alternative to the traditional system of divorce by offering “a new divorce paradigm that saves money, time, stress and protects the children. Charging a flat fee, Fairway Divorce Solutions uses a common sense step-by-step proven approach called The Fairway Process™.”

The Canadian company is growing aggressively with franchises in Victoria, BC; Edmonton, AB; two in Calgary, AB; and one in Saskatoon, SK. Expansion plans into Eastern Canada and the United States will begin in 2009.

Read more here:  New Divorce Franchise Opportunity

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Graphic credit:  FranBest

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Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

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(Top New Franchises) Top New Franchises is the interactive scouting report for finding and promoting the best new and emerging franchise opportunities. If you have information about this franchise opportunity, or if you’d like to nominate or promote another new franchise opportunity, email us at info[at]ideafarm.net.

Whistleblower Dan Baxter didn’t get heat, but he did get fired.

According to a report by King 5’s Jesse Jones, the Pizza Time employee who contacted the press about the owners forcing employees to work without heat has been terminated. According to franchise owner and husband-of-the-boss Luke Benjamin, the firing was “amicable” (meaning that the Benjamins won’t contest Baxter’s unemployment compensation application).

While whistleblower stories make for great drama, don’t look for Russell Crowe to portray Dan Baxter any time soon. The employee, who was already suspended, not only initiated and starred in Jones’ initial story, he actively fanned the flames of outrage that ensued with aggressive posting of Internet comments against his employers. Once the story rose to fever pitch, Baxter seemingly tried to cash in on his 15 minutes of fame. In one comment left on the first Pizza Time post on FranchisePick.Com, Baxter wrote:

daniel baxter

Jan 3, 2009 at 5:33 pm

I am the manager of that store and the one seen on king 5 (go to king5.com) and was fired over this any donations (money, job offers, legal aid) would be appreciated contact king 5 or email me [deleted] I am not the only worker who has been suspended or fired over this.

Baxter was an active participant in the 300+ comment discussion that followed the original King 5 story.  Many of the comments called for a boycott and picketing of the much-maligned pizza shop.  In one comment, Dan Baxter posted his email address as P-O-P-E@[withheld].net.  Coincidentally, an active commenter named POPE posted a humorously awkward extortion attempt on the King 5 site:

At this point our advice to the owners is to offer them employees especially Dan and John a settlement and don’t think that it will work unless it is in the 10s of thousands. Unlawful punishment of an employee for complaining about a safety hazard(cold) is against the law. Check the regulations. Harassing workplace is a class action lawsuit. On top of all that employee/employer confidentiallity was violated by the owner when she aired dirty laundry publicly that is now widespread on the internet. Lawsuit again and john has a liable/defamation of character suit because he has no criminal record. Not to mention a lawsuit for keeping employee tips. If you want to save your business settle this quickly before it ends up in the courts. Dan is an employee of 10 years. That is a career employee. Has anyone ever seen a lawsuit where an employer is ordered to pay an employee for the rest of his life. What a can of worms.

With phrases like “Harassing workplace is a class action lawsuit” and “a liable/defamation of character suit,” one would hope that POPE’s not planning a career impersonating attorneys.

With lines like “…offer them employees especially Dan and John a settlement and don’t think that it will work unless it is in the 10s of thousands” and “If you want to save your business settle this quickly…” a career as an extortionist is probably out, too.

Though prison does have one advantage:  Free heat.

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Also read:  Franchise Pick:  Franchisee From Hell! Awards: Luke Benjamin, Pizza Time,  Franchise Pick:  Can the Lacey Pizza Time be Saved from Itself? What do you Think?,  BizLevity:  Dirty Franchising, The Sequel, They Had The (Pizza) Time Of Their Lives , Leadership Turn:  Leaders From Hell Win Award, The Seattle Traveller:  Lacey Pizza Time Feels the Heat but Employees Don’t, Small Business Boomers:  Boss From Hell? Or Frustrated, Cost-Conscious Employer?, BrandCurve:  Pizza Time, or Hypothermia Time?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

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Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

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Franchisees, customers & experts vote for their favorite new franchises at Top New Franchise: Who’s hot. Who’s not.

The story of the Lacey, WA Pizza Time franchise owner who supposedly made its employees work without heat has quickly become a case study in PR crisis management.  The pizza shop owners have been vilified by hundreds of angry comments online, and threatened with boycotts and picket lines.  Neither the franchisees nor the corporate office has issued a statement nor responded in any meaningful way.

The business guru bloggers of b5 Media’s Bizzia channel have been volunteering their tips and advice in comments and posts.  In the BrandCurve post Pizza Time, or Hypothermia Time?, Katherine Liew discusses three options the owners can pursue to avert this crisis:

Pizza Time has a few options…

Remove the troublesome elements and try to keep it quiet. This is what the company HAS done, and many others have tried previously. However, this doesn’t work, especially today when negative word of mouth travels like wildfire.

Rebrand the company and hope that everyone forgets. Not a good way to treat your customers, and also expensive, but a rebrand with revised company policies could be something to think about in the future.

Reform the company - quickly issue an apology, compensate the employees and show that the company is actively working on solving the problem. This would be the smartest course of action for Pizza Time to take, like Nike did with their child labour scandal.

Rebrand?  A name change to Stone Cold Pizza or Frost-Bites Pizza might be apropos.  However, as a franchise, these owners they are contractually unable to change their name from Pizza Time. However, they could rebrand to a degree by bringing in new management, allowing Corporate to run the store for a period, sell to new owners, etc.  Somehow create the perception of a new and improved Pizza Time.

[Or how about a sign:  NOT Freezing our employees since 2009!]

In times of crisis like this, franchisees should be able to turn to the franchisor for help.  Where is the Pizza Time franchisor?  Why the silence?  Hibernation?

Related Bizzia posts:

Franchise Pick:  Franchisee From Hell! Awards: Luke Benjamin, Pizza Time

Franchise Pick:  Can the Lacey Pizza Time be Saved from Itself? What do you Think?

BizLevity:  Dirty Franchising, The Sequel, They Had The (Pizza) Time Of Their Lives

Leadership Turn:  Leaders From Hell Win Award

The Seattle Traveller:  Lacey Pizza Time Feels the Heat but Employees Don’t

Small Business Boomers:  Boss From Hell? Or Frustrated, Cost-Conscious Employer?

BrandCurve:  Pizza Time, or Hypothermia Time?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

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Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

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On the heels of Pizza Hut’s viral video effort, the 25-unit Pizza Time franchise chain has gone viral, too… much to their dismay.  The King 5 video of the Pizza Time owners who allegedly forced their employees to work in sub-freezing temperatures as a punishment is being delivered across the net.  Check it out:

The blogosphere weighs in:

Franchisee From Hell! Awards: Luke Benjamin, Pizza Time

Lacey, WA Pizza Time owners Luke & Gretchen Benjamin were immediately winners of our prestigious FFH! award, putting them in such distinguished company as Subway’s Cousin Vinny Agnello, Holiday Inn franchisee Charles Morais, and Quiznos’ sex offender and murder suspect Michael Mele.

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Can the Lacey Pizza Time be Saved from Itself? What do you Think?

Pizza Pundits offer their advice for saving the Lacey Pizza Time.  Best idea wins a large Pizza Time pizza.  2nd best wins an extra-large Pizza Time Pizza.

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Dirty Franchising, The Sequel, They Had The (Pizza) Time Of Their Lives

Bizlevity’s Mark Jabo’s idea for saving the Lacey Pizza Time is to turn it into a musical.  Good timing:  Patrick Swayze should have time on his hands once his new TV series debuts this month.

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Leaders From Hell Win Award

Miki Saxon at  Leadership Turn bestows yet another title upon our Heroes, and also makes a good argument for the use of raping and pillaging as employee perks.

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Lacey Pizza Time Feels the Heat but Employees Don’t

Our very own Bizzia channel editor Mary Jo Manzanares and blogger at The Seattle Traveller lives just a pepperoni’s throw from Lacey, WA.  One wonders if her constant travelling is motivated by the quality of the local pizza.

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Boss From Hell? Or Frustrated, Cost-Conscious Employer?

There always has to be a rational, nice person willing to consider both sides who just ruins it for the rest of the mob ;)  Jean Murray at Small Business Boomers invites all comments, pro and con, and has set up a poll.  After the poll results are in… we attack at dawn!

Other links:

King 5 story, Boss of the Year at No-Name247, BuzzFeed,  Pizza Time on The Consumerist

Also check out:  PIZZA HUT: Viral Video Appeals to Racist Moron Demographic

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

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Visit FRANBEST’s: Unbiased franchise information, franchise interviews and detailed, searchable information on 400 franchise and business opportunities.

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