What is in our Agreements!

Hi there:

For those of you that have not yet heard, I lost the summary judgment and the court ruled in the corporate benefit. But, I’m preparing for appeal, and also seeking an attorney to represent my company. As a pro-se and a lay person, I am not able to represent other entities including my own company. The fight still goes on.

However, what I have learned after two and half years of litigations and over 30,000 pages of documents exchanged and reviewed, is that the franchisee agreement(s) that we each entered into in the hope of making a living and put all our hopes, money and hard work behind it, is not worth the paper that is written on. The agreement is so out of wack and it is so much one side it and in the benefit of the corporate that you would not have a chance in the world to challenge the illegitimate conducts of the corporate.

Changing the formula, no problem it is right there, they have the right to change the system!! Did you know that the “system” means the very essence of the products and the brand that got us into this business to begin with? As the capable corporate attorneys’ have argued, Baskin Rubin changes its donuts formulas and accordingly no one expected our products to be the same (other than the fool franchisees and their customers). If corporate can save money by changing the very essence of the products so be it. There is a very reason for the corporate to change what we all come to know and love, the brand that we stood by for all these years. The freezer burns! not because of our freezers settings but due to sudden loss of butter fats! All shortages, the shrinkages of the tubs, the marketing campaigns that only benefitted the corporate! So what, there is nothing you can do? Ask about “Super premium” nature of products? What super premium, show me anywhere in the agreements that it is said or refers to the “supper premium” products!!!! You and I know what we were told and promised, but if it is not in the agreement, can you prove it in the court of law? This is the question. Is there anywhere in these agreements that marked the products as the Supper premium (deliberate misrepresentation)! If the corporate changes it’s “System” (products formulas) tomorrow and decide to sell popsicles, there is absolutely nothing you can do!! You are not sure, read your agreement(s). Can you afford to take them to court?

The lack of support, unfair competitions, high cost of products and every other issues that we have had in the recent years, so be it, they are all according to the corporate legal team, is within the terms of the agreements!! This is not what I have signed for, to be cheated out of the very products that I come to trust and believed on. From loss of butter fat to the lack of ingredients, to fill by volume to discounted pre-pack products and unfair competitions it is all there, if you have a wild imaginations or very capable attorney you can find it in the same very agreement that we all have agreed, signed and paid for. The system and the way it is set up, it is only for the benefit of the corporate and you’re only as good to them, as the “Seven Eleven” in the corner. Knowing what I know now, I would have never ever gotten involved with this business or this corporate. This is not the organization that worth our supported, our loyalty, our money and lives for.

My suggestions are with what I learned in the past few years, if you can sell, sell and get out as soon as you can. If you opt to stay and renew, then negotiate and have an experienced attorney look the agreement over, comb the agreement for word by word, know your rights. Look for words that seem one thing and means something else. If the corporate does not give in to your demand, be prepared to walk away at any time. This is your money, your investment and your lives. And remember this is not the products that we used to know 5 years ago, so trust your customers, when they say it is icy, and then it is icy. Or when it tests like rubber, believe them, it does test like rubber. Sometimes the reality is too harsh to believe! There is more to come. Good luck to all of you.

Mehrdad

The Subjects that affected your business!

Hi there,

Please specify the subject(s) that you maybe able to testify:

1- Item 19th of the Franchisee Circular Offering,

2- Overvalued presentation of the shops,

3- Shortages of products,

4- Sales of the discounted pints and pre-packed by your local businesses and its effect on your business.

5- The high costs of equipments, including that of Micro’s System, lack of support and maintenance.

6- The false and misguided marketing campaign.

7- Underweight tubs of products,

8- The deteriorating promised quality of the products including: Reduced butter fat, The texture, lack of chunks, stale elements and etc,

9- The lack of delivery of products and or the shipments to your shop(s),

10- Sale of the tubs of products to non-franchisees and other businesses,

11- Unfair business practices,

12- The delivery of the damaged and or out of code products,

13- The effect of competing against your own brand!

Any other issues that have affected the profitability, survival and or closure of your shop(s). Please specify: ______________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________.


Please mark ( ) the subject area(s) that you feel, you are able to testify and return a copy to me at xshops@aol.com

Franchisees ongoing struggle

Subject: 16 CFR Part 436
My name is Kevin Bores and I am a Domino's Pizza Franchisee in Minnesota. I am writing in regard to proposed changes in the Franchise Rule. It is my understanding that the Franchise Rule offers no protection after a franchise contract has been signed. I believe that unless contract extensions and renewals are identical to the initial agreement, some sort of protection needs to be extended to all franchisees already under contract. I signed my first Franchise Agreement with Domino's Pizza in 1980, my second in 1982 and my third in 1992. I will have to sign a new agreement ibn 2002. Each of the agreements which I signed were more restrictive than the previous, and the next agreement I will sign will be more restrictive than the one I am currently operating under. All the agreements offered by my Franchisor are non-negotiable. I must either sign their agreement or sell. They do not even consult the Domino's Pizza national Franchisee organization (IFAC) for input concerning the potential harm the contract might do to existing franchisees.
As a Domino's Pizza franchisee I have two options at renewal time:
1. Sign an agreement that is substantially different and substantially more one-sided than the previous agreement.
2. Sell the business.
Selling the business is often not an option because Domino's Pizza (through its franchise agreement) controls that market by not only regulating the value of the business, but by also regulating the potential list of buyers.
Recently Domino's Pizza found me in default of my contract and felt that I would have a difficult time curing the default. To that end they made me an offer to purchase my 5 Domino's Pizza stores. The price they offered was the price spelled out in my contract. This contract price is significantly less than it was 10 years ago but significantly more than what is shown in the contract that will be offered next year.
That offer was for $600,000. This represented 1.5 times my yearly cash flow. After deducting for other obligations required in the Franchise Agreement, paying my debt, and paying my capital gains taxes, I would have had to pay Domino's pizza to finish the purchase. Last month I had this same business independantly appraised for sale at $1.8 million. But I cannot sell it to anyone but a Domino's Pizza employee who is approved by Domino's Pizza. Its in my Franchise agreement.
You might ask, why I don't use some of my cash to reinvest in another business so that I can afford to sell. I can't. Under my Franchisee agreement I'm not allowed to do that either. I'm trapped.
Each time a franchisee signs a new agreement, it is just that. New. A franchisor should not be allowed to tighten agreements year after year knowing that the franchisee can not walk away from his substantial investment. We are no different from indebted coal miners who continue to buy from the company store because, even though they will never be able to pay off their bill, at least they have a job if they keep buying.
Would you please look into how franchise agreements are unilaterally evolved to the detriment of existing franchisees. Every franchise agreement looks good up front, but that agreement always changes and we have no protection from these changes.
Thank You.

Tubs weight records and quality issues

Hi again;
I am also in need the records you may have on the following subjects:
1- Any records you could provide on the tubs weight between 2002 and 2004,
2- Any quality issues that you may recoded, records of substandard products you may received at anytime between 2002-2008,
Anyone kept any records of these items? Please email; such information, records or recollection to me at xshops@aol.com

Thank you,
Mehrdad

Records of Tubs and Pints Prices

Hey there,

Does anyone remembers how much we paid per bulk tub (ice cream frozen yogurt and sorbets) and Pint per sleeve, between 2002 and 2004, anyone kept any records of them? Could you, email; such information, records or recollection to me at xshops@aol.com Thank you,

Mehrdad

Pint sales at Target now!

Act now or it will be too late!

Hi All,

With what I have learned so far unless you guys get your acts together and unit in a single voice, it would be very difficult to achieve your goals of profitability and any return on your investments. The under cutting of your shop(s) profits and creating a parallel market to compete with you was not accidental, the sale of discounted pints in direct competition with your shops is very much a deliberate act. There is no way the corporate would link the supermarket sales to the scoop shops as some of you have hoped, it is the other way around! How many of you were aware that your own distributor is in direct competition with you, very shops they supply offer catering services? Have you checked the distributor’s website recently? They (at least our local one) offer catering events with 5-6 brands including that of your brand and the equipments with it!! That’s right, any corporate, private, public, cities, large and small, could book and request the ever growing pre-packed items and the equipment including ice cream cart with it, the distributor would drop it off and pick it up, therefore they bypass the scoop shops, and increase their profit, it is win win for the distributor and the corporate and only loser in this cycle are the franchisees. You develop the market with your customer service, community works, all that free samples and free cones and scooping at the events, but the corporate wants your clients and their buck (market share). Within few years, you are out, corporate need to protect their market then you become dispensible, your investment is gone, years of your hardship is gone and corporate does not give a dam about what you did and how much you have lost. To them, you are just casualty of doing business. I would have started a boycott. Tell your customer to stop buying Supermarket products in support of their neighbourhood scoop shops and to keep scoop shops alive campaign. Keep records of shortages, lighted tubs, when products texture is not what they used to be, when the chunks are gone, test and look different and customer complains record all that and let the corporate know, not just by a passive posting but by shouting and demanding it to be right. It is after all your investment down the drain!

Do it before time run out. If I were you guys and still wearing the corporate hat, I would think about myself and my family first, forget all the feel good promises and false self-serving marketing campaigns and premium products nonsense. With what I have learned, I am not sure if the super premium products as we used to know still exist. I found myself defending the integrity of very same products that I never owned, I just had a pleasure of serving it! The argument put forth is that, the corporate owns the brand, the formula and the goodwill and they can very much do anything that they are dam pleased. If they want to change their formula and come down with anything they come down with, you are obligated to serve, and there is not much you can argue. Forget that at one point we were promised super premium products, premium ingredient and company that supported social justices. None of that exists today. I am seeing them with their gloves off and I am horrified with how expose you and you investments are.

Anyhow, forgive me, I was busy keeping up with all the stuff that I had to respond and or produce in the past few months and could not keep you up to date. In the coming days or as soon as I could, I would list my witnesses for the trial, and those of you that have any concerns and or would not be able to attend the trial, can call me direct to discuss your concerns and or scheduling. The trial is currently schedule for December 7, 2009. It may change, we are still waiting to hear with the possible scheduling changes.

Mehrdad
xshops@aol.com

Passing of a good man!

It is with a great sadness that I recently learned the passing of our friend and one time franchisee from Canada "Gary Lackstein". He was forced to shut down 17 shops across Canada, and during our recent discussion he shared with me, how corporate rebuffed his plead for accountability and support, how he had lost over 6 million dollars of his own money and corporate threatened to sue him if he goes public! how his partner tuned his back on him and made a deal with the devil to save his own. I wish Gary eternal peace and deepest sympathies to his family.

New Email Address

Dear friends;

In the light of the Ben & Jerry's recent objection in the use of my old email address(s) for the scoop shops to communicate with you! please note my new email as: xshops@aol.com

Many thanks for your continued support and attention to this matter,

Mehrdad

Less Product, Same price

This is not new, we are all too familiar with the Unilever and Ben & Jerry's Deceptive practices for the past 4-5 years!

Less Product, Same Price

From: NPR
Market Place
February 16, 2009
6:30 PM -7:00 PM

"With the price commodities going up this year Luby says shrinking containers might be the lesser of three evils. The other two being cheaper ingredients, which would change the taste of your peanut butter, or alienating even the most loyal consumers with higher shelf prices. Now, Skippy is made by Unilever, a food conglomerate that also put a dent in the bottom of Hellmann's mayonnaise and shrank your carton of Breyer's ice cream. No one there would go on tape but when I raised the deception question, a spokesman said the new weight is clearly marked on the package. And Frank Luby says the per ounce and per pound labels on the grocery shelf really help.
Luby: So, yes, it's deceptive. But I think it would be even more deceptive if you didn't have that level playing field that's created by the per ounce comparisons, which we can take a close look at when we go to the supermarket."

You can hear the story, titled "Less product, same price", on the Marketplacewebsite,athttp://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/02/16/pm_deceptive_packaging/

hey everyone, thank you for your interest and support on this case, hopefully everyone would benefit from the outcome of the ongoing litigation with BJ! In order to avoid further confusions, and BJ one side opinion, I have started this blog and from now on I would post my actual argument and court filed document with BJ for your information! Mehrdad