At whose discretion does the City Publications franchisee relinquish the Franchised Business telephone number upon termination?

According to City Publications's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the franchisee must relinquish or transfer the Franchised Business telephone number to City Publications or its designee at City Publications's discretion. The franchisee is also responsible for notifying the telephone service provider and all listing agencies about the termination or expiration of their rights to use any telephone number or directory listings associated with the City Publications name or marks. The franchisee must also authorize the transfer of the same to City Publications or at their direction.

This means that upon termination or expiration of the franchise agreement, the franchisee loses control over the business's phone number and listings. City Publications has the sole right to decide whether to take over the phone number or assign it to someone else. This is a fairly standard practice in franchising, as it ensures brand consistency and prevents a former franchisee from potentially diverting customers to a competing business using the established phone number.

For a prospective City Publications franchisee, this highlights the importance of building a business that relies on more than just a phone number for customer acquisition. While the phone number is an asset during the franchise term, its loss upon termination should be factored into the overall business strategy. Franchisees should focus on building customer relationships and brand recognition through other channels to mitigate the impact of losing the phone number.