Been there, done that. Would not recommend. Space Pirate has nailed the experience. I paid a lot of money for essentially a job, and ended up selling at a loss just to get my time and mental health back.
That was back around 2010 so I’m sure it’s an even more difficult situation for franchisees today.
Ask me anything, I guess?
It was a national tech store, so had a few hundred locations around the country. I just had the one.
One of the big challenges was having little to no say in brand or supplier decisions etc. Specifically, we also struggled with paying inflated wholesale prices with the franchisee or then benefiting from volume rebates which weren’t shared. Really crushed our margins!
I suppose in a smaller chain you might be a little closer to the franchisor, and you might have some influence, but ultimately you’ll always be the little guy.