Does Craters & Freighters have the right to establish call centers?
Craters_Freighters Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 9.7 Call Center. Franchisor reserves the right to establish, operate, or contract with one or more call centers for the purpose of receiving incoming telephone calls or other communications from prospective customers and/or placing outbound telephone calls or other communications to prospective customers. Such call center(s) may be operated by Franchisor, an Affiliate of Franchisor, or an independent third-party. Franchisor may, but is not obligated to, allocate business generated by such telephone calls or other communications to Franchisee; provided, however, Franchisor will use its best efforts to direct telephone calls or other communications from prospective customers located in the Territory to Franchisee. Franchisor reserves the right to use Marketing Fund monies for such call center(s).
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 49–50)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Craters & Freighters Franchise Disclosure Document, Craters & Freighters retains the right to establish and operate call centers. These call centers can be managed directly by Craters & Freighters, by an affiliate, or by a third-party contractor. The purpose of these call centers is to handle incoming and outgoing communications with prospective customers.
While Craters & Freighters is not obligated to allocate business generated from these call centers to the franchisee, they will use their best efforts to direct calls from prospective customers within the franchisee's territory to that franchisee. This suggests that while the franchisee may benefit from the call centers, there is no guarantee of receiving leads or business from them.
Furthermore, Craters & Freighters reserves the right to utilize marketing funds to operate these call centers. This means that a portion of the franchisee's marketing fees could be used to fund the call centers, which may or may not directly benefit the franchisee's specific location. This is a common practice in franchising, where marketing funds are often used for broader, system-wide initiatives in addition to local advertising.