What factors determine whether a Belocal franchisee is considered an 'active franchisee'?
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.
We had a total of 135 BELOCAL publication franchises during the Reporting Period. We excluded the Commission payments made to publications that were not in print for the full year. We do not include information for franchisees who have been operating less than one year because we do not consider that information to be as reliable as information from franchisees who have been in operation for at least one year. We also excluded the Commission payments made to publications that were managed by 4 franchisees whose Commission payments were calculated using a different formula than the rest of our franchisees. We do not include in this disclosure document financial information about Publications managed by our affiliate. We do not include in this disclosure document financial information about our franchisees who operate the 13 Test Publications.
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 specifically for the purposes of Item 19, which discusses financial performance representations. Belocal considers a franchisee to be 'active' if they are actively involved in in-print activities for at least one Belocal publication for the entire Reporting Period, which was from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
This definition is important because the financial performance data presented in Item 19 is based only on the results of these 'active franchisees.' Belocal excludes data from franchisees who were not in print for the full year to ensure the information is reliable. This means that the financial figures presented may not be representative of new franchisees or those who are not fully engaged in the business.
Prospective franchisees should understand this definition and its implications. If a franchisee is not considered 'active' under this definition, their performance data will not be included in Item 19. Therefore, it is crucial for potential franchisees to assess their commitment and ability to be actively involved in the business from the outset to achieve the financial results presented. Additionally, it is important to note that Belocal had a total of 135 publication franchises during the reporting period, but only 88 franchisees met the criteria to be considered 'active'.