What does 'active franchisee' mean for Belocal's Reporting Franchisees?
Belocal Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
This historical financial performance representation relates to Commission payments we paid from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 ("Reporting Period") to 84 BeLocal Publications that were in print as of June 30, 2024 and that had been in print for a full year ("Reporting Publications") and to 88 franchisees who were active franchisees for the Reporting Period ("Reporting Franchisees"). By "in print," we mean that the publication that had been in print for at least one year under the franchisee's management. By "active franchisee" we mean actively involved in in-print activities for at least one Publication for the entirety of the Reporting Period.
Source: Item 19 — FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPRESENTATIONS (FDD pages 55–59)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Belocal's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, an 'active franchisee' is defined in the context of the Item 19 financial performance representation. Specifically, to be considered an 'active franchisee' for the reporting period from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, a franchisee must have been actively involved in in-print activities for at least one Belocal publication for the entire duration of this reporting period.
This definition is important because the financial performance data presented in Item 19 is based on the results of these 'Reporting Franchisees.' Belocal excludes data from franchisees who were not active for the entire year, or whose commission payments were calculated using a different formula, to ensure the financial performance representation is based on a consistent and reliable set of data. This allows prospective franchisees to better understand the potential financial performance they might achieve under normal operating conditions.
For a prospective Belocal franchisee, this means that the financial figures presented are most relevant if they plan to be fully engaged in managing their publication from the outset. It also suggests that consistent involvement is necessary to achieve the levels of commission and net profit represented. The FDD specifically excludes franchisees operating less than one year, as well as those using a different commission formula, and the 13 test publications, indicating that these scenarios are not considered representative of typical franchisee performance.