Over the next few weeks we will be blogging on interesting takeaways from this year's ABA Forum on Franchising Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington. I attended a very interesting and useful program on unique issues in alternative venues. During the presentation an attendee brought up a fundamental issue facing franchise systems with franchisees located in airports and military bases: ACCESS. Security compliance in these alternative venues can make normally standard matters extremely complicated.
The franchisor and franchisee have to think about how each and their representatives are going to get their people and their products in and out. Many leases in airports allow only the lessee access to the terminal or restricted area. In one case, an attendee at the program in the audience mentioned that it was required to buy a ticket each time he wanted to send a representative in to inspect the franchise location – a mistake he said he'd never make again! In another case the audience member was required to maintain security clearances in 8 different airports and spoke about how onerous and cumbersome it was to keep these clearances current. Finally, franchise systems have to consider how they will get products and equipment in and out as well. Many airports and venues have strict guidelines for shipping products in and out of the restricted area.
The takeaway? Always negotiate security clearance issues and think about the practicalities of getting people in and out of the venue before entering into a franchise arrangement.
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