After the Brightstar Care franchise agreement ends, is a franchisee prohibited from providing services to customers within their former territory who were serviced by the agency during the agreement's term, including National Accounts customers or referral sources?
Brightstar_Care Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- (a) solicit any customers within the territory covered by this Agreement that were serviced by the Agency during this Agreement's term, including, without limitation, any customers defined as National Accounts customers or referral sources; or
- (b) provide services to any customers within the territory covered by this Agreement that were serviced by the Agency during this Agreement's term, including, without limitation, any customers defined as National Accounts customers or referral sources.
For purposes of this Section 14.3, "Similar Business" means any business that provides: (1) supplemental healthcare staff to institutional clients, such as hospitals, Medicare agencies, hospice agencies, assistedliving centers, nursing homes and clinics; (2) homecare services—whether comprehensive care services (including medical and non-medical care services), solely non-medical care services, or solely medical care services—to private-duty clients within their home or residence (the reference to "private-duty clients" means clients who receive care in their homes or other places of residence regardless of the nature of the payor for such care (e.g., a private individual, long-term care, commercial insurance, National Accounts payor, Medicaid, etc.)); (c) case management and care management services; and/or (d) any other services, technology or devices, or products we may now or in the future authorize you to offer or sell in connection with the Agency's operation. The obligations described above are in addition to your other post-term obligations in this Agreement described in Sections 14.1 and 14.2. The nonsolicitation restrictions above are in lieu of your post-term non-competition obligations under Sections 11.4.3 and 11.4.4 of this Agreement.
Source: Item 17 — RENEWAL, TERMINATION, TRANSFER AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION (FDD pages 81–92)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Brightstar Care's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, after the franchise agreement ends, a franchisee is restricted from soliciting or providing services to customers within their former territory who were serviced by the agency during the agreement's term. This includes National Accounts customers or referral sources.
This restriction means that a former Brightstar Care franchisee cannot actively seek out or offer services to any clients or referral sources that were served by their agency while they were still operating under the Brightstar Care franchise agreement. This limitation is in place to protect Brightstar Care's established customer base and referral networks.
The FDD defines "Similar Business" as any business that provides supplemental healthcare staff to institutional clients, homecare services to private-duty clients, case management and care management services, and any other services, technology, devices, or products that Brightstar Care authorizes franchisees to offer or sell. The non-solicitation restrictions apply instead of the post-term non-competition obligations outlined in Sections 11.4.3 and 11.4.4 of the Franchise Agreement. Therefore, franchisees should carefully consider these post-term obligations and how they might impact their future business activities after leaving the Brightstar Care system.