Drafting a franchise agreement

Drafting a franchise agreement by Gouache Avocats meets strategic challenges for the franchise network: 

• it must translate the organization chosen by the franchisor to organize its relations with franchisees and manage its network; 

• it must organise the security of the brand’s income; 

• it must ensure the legal security of the franchisor by protecting its brands, its know-how, the perimeter of its network; 

• it must make it possible to preserve the perimeter of the distribution network ; 

• it must make it possible to maximize the value of the network, or even to create shareholder goodwill ; 

• it must integrate the dimension of the market and competition law, to protect the brand from the risks of vertical cartel and restrictive practices of competition, including advantage without consideration and significant imbalance  ; 

• It must ensure compliance with rules subject to criminal sanctions (personal data law for example). 

Drafting the franchise agreement    

GOUACHE Avocats’ approach to draftingdistribution contracts   , andfranchise agreements  , is simple: 

• (i) the contract is a  technique for organising your network : we are interested first of all in you, your job, the way you want organize your relationships with your distributors. For this, we listen to you and have designed exclusive digital tools to help you in your reflection and guide you in your choices. We are with you. We welcome you to discuss with you the choices to be made and help you decide by sharing all our experience of the franchise and your sector of activity. 

• (ii) the clauses of the contract must be clear and easily understandable, both for your future distributors or franchisees, who must understand the consideration and the reason, and by the judge who will be responsible for deciding the dispute to which the contract could give rise reduce the judge’s interpretative power, which is a source of insecurity for companies. For these reasons, we have used legal design techniques to further improve the presentation of our contracts and their accessibility, without giving up any of our contractual management tools. We were assisted in this by one of the leading French legal design consultancies. 

• iii) the drafting of the clauses of the franchise agreement is worked in a scientific way to ensure the greatest legal certainty: we have in-house litigators, based on our significant experience in distribution litigation, and of Franchise in particular and on a systematic analysis of case law (weekly cabinet review feeding an exclusive internal knowledge base); these clauses follow a validation process involving a law professor. 

Jean-Baptiste Gouache is the authorof   : 

• 8 LEXISNEXIS Jurisclasseur booklets, covering the entire franchise right ; 

• of the fascicle of the permanent dictionary of business law “ franchise law ” published by LEFEBVRE DALLOZ ; 

used as a documentary source by lawyers and corporate lawyers. Every year, we are the authors of a reference column dedicated tofranchise law   in the Review of  Competition, Consumer Contracts, which reviews all the case law in franchise law. 

He trains students of the law faculties of the Sorbonne and Aix-Marseille (M2 Concurrence Distribution) in franchise law. 

 
A good franchise agreement for a sustainable franchise network    

The choice and quality of yourfranchise agreement   will directly depend on: 
 

– the level of control of yourfranchise network   (product image, price homogeneity, scope of points of sale); 

– the promotion of thefranchise network.    

We master the techniques of lease management associated with franchising, capital franchise, hotel franchise with management mandate and more generally all complex distribution arrangements implementing a franchise contract. 

A team recognized in the market as a reference in franchise law and distribution law   
  
The firm puts its expertise at your disposal to provide you with the best possible contract to successfully launch and develop your  franchise   network. 
 
The Gouache Avocats distribution team is classified by Décideurs as Essential in Franchise Law (the highest distinction in the ranking) and Essential in Distribution Law. Our quotations are preparedFranchise Agreement” in the documentation of one of the most prestigious legal publishers, Lexis Nexis.  

 
A multidisciplinary approach to building your franchise network

  Gouache Avocats can help you  master the profession of franchisor, by introducing you to partners who are also recognized in their field:   

1.  Modelize your income, your investments and your expenses of franchisor from the standard income statement of your future franchisees, defined from that of your pilot: the profitability of the model is organized. 
2. Setting Your   FranchiseeTarget

    : we build the seduction discourse of this target and the contact acquisition plan for this target. Our partners can provide you with candidates and ensure the visibility of your offer of franchise.   

3. Transforming contacts into firsts franchisees : you know how to process leads effectively so that your candidates become your franchisees. 
4. Implementation of the operating manual and training materials: the recruited   franchiseeswill be able to replicate your success and respect your brand.
5. The first franchisees trained, we organize your animation and the animation supports: you have the tools to ensure that the network is efficient and managed. This animation will be the guarantor of the proper functioning of thefranchise network   and protecting your brand image.
6. We are constantly following you to improve your performance and accelerate your development.

This support is intended to allow you to master thefranchisor’s profession  , a condition for the successful development of your franchise store. 

 
At each stage, the materials delivered to you by our organizational consulting partner have been seen by Gouache Avocats, so that they do not expose you to unanticipated legal risks (example: your operating manual will not organize a price policy or an absolute territorial partitioning of the clientele). 
 
We provide you with a coordinated mission with all the partners, experts, most often members of the college of experts of theFrench Franchise Federation, as is Jean-Baptiste Gouache, who leads the team dedicated to franchise networks.   

Each year, Jean-Baptiste Gouache and his team intervene to draft or resume the drafting of 50 to 60 new franchise contracts. They have important benchmarks in all sectors of activity.