What geographic areas are covered by the competitive restrictions for Hydrodog franchisees after termination?
Hydrodog Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
its outer shell, or build a different shaped shell around the shell.
- 17.3 Confidential Information. You agree that, upon termination or expiration of this Agreement, you will immediately cease to use any of our Confidential Information in any business or otherwise and return to us all copies of the Manuals and any other confidential materials that we have loaned to you.
- 17.4 Competitive Restrictions. Subject to applicable law, upon termination or expiration of this Agreement for any reason whatsoever (and you have not acquired a Successor Franchise), you and your owners agree that for a period of two (2) years commencing on the effective date of termination or expiration neither you nor any of your owners will have any direct or indirect interest (e.g. through a spouse or child) as a disclosed or beneficial owner, investor, partner, director, officer, employee, consultant, member, Manager, representative or agent or in any other capacity in any Competitive Business operating:
- (a) within the Territory;
- (b) within twenty-five (25) miles of the Territory; or
- (c) within twenty-five (25) miles of any other HydroDog Business's Territory in operation or under development on the later of the effective date of the termination or expiration.
If any person restricted by this Section refuses voluntarily to comply with the foregoing obligations, the two (2) year period will commence with the entry of an order of an arbitrator, or court if necessary, enforcing this provision. You and your owners expressly acknowledge that you possess skills and abilities of a general nature and have other opportunities for exploiting such skills. Consequently, enforcement of the covenants made in this Section will not deprive you of your personal goodwill or ability to earn a living.
17.5 Our Right to Purchase.
- (a) Exercise of Option. Upon our termination of this Agreement in accordance with its terms and conditions, or your termination of this Agreement without cause, we reserve the right, exercisable by providing written notice to you within sixty (60) days from the date of such termination, to purchase the Business from you, including the leasehold rights to the HydroDog Vehicle. (The date on which we notify you whether or not we are exercising our option is referred to in this Agreement as the "Notification Date"). We have the unrestricted right to assign this option to purchase the Business.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 43–166)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Hydrodog's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees and their owners face competitive restrictions for two years after the termination or expiration of their franchise agreement, provided they have not acquired a Successor Franchise. These restrictions prevent them from holding any direct or indirect interest in a Competitive Business operating within specific geographic areas.
The restricted areas include the franchisee's original Territory. Additionally, the restrictions extend to a 25-mile radius around the franchisee's Territory and a 25-mile radius around any other Hydrodog Business or its Territory that is in operation or under construction. The restrictions are effective from the termination or expiration date of the franchise or the date the franchisee complies with the restrictions, whichever is later.
A "Competitive Business" is defined broadly as any business involved in owning, operating, managing, or franchising pet grooming, pet care, pet products, or services that compete with Hydrodog's offerings. This definition encompasses mobile, fixed, internet-based, and catalog-based businesses. However, it excludes any Hydrodog Business operating under a franchise agreement with them, or any other business that Hydrodog, at its sole discretion, determines to be non-competitive.