How does the pre-opening assistance provided by Checkers (Item 11) relate to the franchisee's site selection and acquisition/lease obligations (Item 9)?
Checkers Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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assistance.
Pre-Opening Obligations
We will provide the following pre-opening assistance:
- We will provide guidance to you in locating and developing the Franchised Restaurant as we deem appropriate. (Franchise Agreement, Sections 3.02 and 3.03);
If you have suggested a location for the Franchised Restaurant which we approve before or concurrently with the execution of the Franchise Agreement, the location will be identified in the Franchise Agreement. If we and you have not agreed upon an approved location for the Franchised Restaurant before signing the Franchise Agreement, then you must select a site for the Franchised Restaurant within the geographic area we designate ("Designated Area"). You must, within 180 days after the date of the Franchise Agreement, locate and submit for our approval a site acceptable to us within the Designated Area for the Franchised Restaurant. We will approve or disapprove each site that you propose according to our general criteria for selection of a Checkers Restaurant or Rally's Restaurant site. The site must meet our criteria for demographic characteristics; traffic patterns; parking; character of neighborhood; competition from, proximity to, and nature of other businesses; size; appearance; and other physical and commercial characteristics. We will use reasonable efforts to help analyze your market area, to help determine site feasibility, and to assist in designating the location, although we will not conduct site selection activities for you. We will provide you with our standard site selection criteria and on-site evaluations of sites, as we deem appropriate. If you enter into a Development Agreement with us, you must select sites within your specified Development Area and we will approve them in accordance with our then current criteria for selection of a Checkers Restaurant or Rally's Restaurant site.
Before you acquire, by lease or purchase, any site for your Restaurant, you must submit a franchise site package to us in the form, content and substance as we then require.
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Checkers' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 11 details the franchisor's pre-opening assistance, which directly relates to the franchisee's obligations for site selection and acquisition/lease as outlined in Item 9. Checkers provides guidance in locating and developing the franchised restaurant as they deem appropriate.
Specifically, if a location isn't agreed upon before signing the Franchise Agreement, the franchisee must select a site within a designated geographic area. This site must be submitted for Checkers' approval within 180 days of the Franchise Agreement date. Checkers will then approve or disapprove the site based on their general criteria, considering factors like demographics, traffic patterns, parking, neighborhood character, competition, size, and appearance. While Checkers will offer reasonable efforts to help analyze the market area and determine site feasibility, they do not conduct site selection activities for the franchisee.
Item 9 further clarifies that site selection and acquisition/lease obligations are detailed in Sections 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, and Exhibit B of the Franchise Agreement, as well as Sections 3.01 and 3.02 and Exhibit A of the Development Agreement, and are further discussed in Items 7, 8, and 11 of the FDD. This cross-referencing highlights the interconnectedness of Checkers' assistance and the franchisee's responsibilities in securing a suitable location. The franchisee must select a site that conforms to Checkers' standard site selection criteria, which Checkers must then accept or reject based on their standard franchise site package, as mentioned in Item 11.