Cooking Up A New Look

The Mexican Congress is reviewing a bill ("Bill") intended to amend the Mexican Industrial Property Law ("IPL") to regulate franchise agreements and to add new disclosure procedures. It is still uncertain whether the Congress will approve the Bill. Currently, the IPL franchise regulations are very limited, and do not regulate the content of franchise agreements. The Bill adopts a very different approach in order to protect franchisees from perceived franchisor abuses.

Can an elephant change its spots? Sometimes it feels easier to start a new brand than to change an old one-even if the old one seems ready for the bone yard. But how do franchisors who want to keep a valuable (but tired) nameplate breathe new life into it, attracting new customers while retaining the faithful--and convince its franchisees not only to have faith after years of malaise, but that change is what they need? Franchise UPDATE spoke with three franchisors who knew they had a good thing going-and figured out a way to make it fly once again.

As a college dropout with a highly successful father (a transplant surgeon), Brian Scudamore had a mission. He had started 1-800-Got-Junk? as a way to pay for college and now was determined to put his business to the test. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.