Franchise owners - a New York Times article worth reading

Anyone owning a food franchise or thinking of buying one ought to read this article from the New York Times: Left Holding the Bag in the Land of Fast Food. Other franchise owners may still fidn the article helpful. The writer uses the outbreak of e. coli cases at fast food restaurants as the starting point for discussing the riskiness of a franchise business.

After such a crisis, being a franchise owner is both a blessing and a curse. While the franchise has the marketing clout and financial strength of the parent company to back it up, it is also largely dependent on the parent company’s public relations and advertising to lure customers back.

From this lawyer's viewpoint, the question is - to steal a phrase from Capital One - what is in your franchise agreement?