What happened to the Flywheel Canada locations, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, and how does this relate to 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
1_800_Got_Junk Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Flywheel Accelerator Inc., a British Columbia, Canada corporation (“Flywheel Canada”), and Flywheel Accelerator USA Inc., a Nevada corporation (“Flywheel USA”), are together referred to in this disclosure document as “Flywheel”. Both Flywheel entities have a principal business address that is the same as ours. Flywheel was created to help facilitate a smooth transition of certain existing long- term franchise partners in their desired exit from the system. Flywheel did this by purchasing and operating the businesses as affiliate-owned franchises.
In April 2024, Flywheel USA entered into a joint venture with franchisee Southwind Waste Services LLC through the entity 604816 LLC, in which both parties transferred their 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchised businesses to 604816 LLC, with Flywheel USA removing itself from the direct management of franchised businesses and retaining a minority ownership position in 604816 LLC (referred to as “DBA”). In December 2024, 604816 LLC then purchased the only two Flywheel Canada locations, Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island, resulting in all former Flywheel locations now being operated by DBA, with Flywheel owning a minority ownership position.
Source: Item 1 — The Franchisor and any Parents, Predecessors, and Affiliates (FDD pages 5–9)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Franchise Disclosure Document, Flywheel Canada locations in Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island were purchased by 604816 LLC in December 2024. Flywheel was created to help facilitate a smooth transition of certain existing long-term franchise partners in their desired exit from the system by purchasing and operating the businesses as affiliate-owned franchises. Flywheel USA entered into a joint venture with franchisee Southwind Waste Services LLC through the entity 604816 LLC in April 2024, where both parties transferred their 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchised businesses to 604816 LLC. Flywheel USA removed itself from the direct management of franchised businesses and retained a minority ownership position in 604816 LLC, referred to as “DBA”.
This means that Flywheel, which initially acquired these locations to help with franchise partner transitions, ultimately sold them to DBA, an entity co-owned by Flywheel USA and Southwind Waste Services LLC. Now all former Flywheel locations are operated by DBA, with Flywheel retaining a minority ownership position.
For a prospective franchisee, this indicates that 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has a system in place to manage transitions of existing franchises, using entities like Flywheel to temporarily operate locations. The sale of Flywheel Canada locations to DBA suggests a further step in streamlining franchise operations, potentially consolidating ownership under experienced franchisees or joint ventures. This could be seen as a positive sign, indicating that 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is actively managing and optimizing its franchise network.