Does Belocal include financial information about franchisees who operate the 13 Test Publications in the disclosure document?
Belocal Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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, financial information regarding franchisees who operate the 13 Test Publications is not included. Belocal had 135 publication franchises during the reporting period, but the financial performance representation in Item 19 only relates to 84 BeLocal Publications that were in print as of June 30, 2024, and had been in print for a full year, and to 88 franchisees who were active franchisees for the Reporting Period from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
Belocal excluded commission payments made to publications not in print for the full year, as well as those managed by franchisees whose commission payments were calculated using a different formula. The company believes that information from franchisees operating for at least one year is more reliable.
Prospective franchisees should be aware that the financial performance data presented does not reflect the performance of the 13 Test Publications or publications managed by Belocal's affiliate. Therefore, it is important for potential franchisees to conduct their own independent investigation and consult with financial advisors to assess the franchise opportunity.