Regarding site selection and acquisition/lease for a Kitchen Solvers franchise, which paragraphs in the Franchise Agreement and Area Development Agreement contain detailed information?
Kitchen_Solvers Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Site Selection: You are responsible for locating a Territory that meets our standards and criteria and that is acceptable to us. We may designate the boundaries of the Territory you identify. We generally will respond within 30 days of your request for approval of a proposed Territory. If we do not approve the Territory you propose, we will permit you to examine alternative search areas for your Territory until you and we agree on the Territory. The Franchise Agreement does not identify any time limit for locating or approving a site or any consequences if we cannot agree on a site. The Territory will be identified before you sign the Franchise Agreement and you may operate your KITCHEN SOLVERS® Business out of your home without obtaining our consent. When approving a Territory, we will consider local competition, population and character of the Territory, demographic surveys and customer information, the comparative advantages of a particular market and market penetration. A Territory will have a minimum of 85,000 owner occupied households. If you operate your KITCHEN SOLVERS® Business outside your home, you must provide a site for the showroom that meets our site selection guidelines and the showroom must be located in your Territory. You must provide the proposed lease agreement for the office site (if outside your home) and for the showroom before you sign the lease, and you and the landlord must enter into our designated form of Collateral Assignment of Lease Agreement (see Appendix E to the Franchise Agreement) for each lease agreement. We have no responsibility for the lease, as it is your sole responsibility to evaluate, negotiate and enter into the lease. If you choose to have an office location or showroom, you must obtain our consent to the site. If we do not consent to a site, you may propose another site or continue to operate the business from your home.
If you enter into a development agreement, we do not determine location of future KITCHEN SOLVERS® Businesses. You must, however, submit each prosed site to us for approval in accordance with the process disclosed above.
Source: Item 9 — Franchisee's Obligations (FDD pages 24–25)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Kitchen Solvers's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the responsibility for site selection falls primarily on the franchisee. The franchisor, Kitchen Solvers, offers guidance and approval, especially if the franchisee chooses to operate from a location outside their home. Item 11 of the FDD details the site selection process, stating that the franchisee is responsible for locating a territory that meets Kitchen Solvers' standards. Kitchen Solvers may designate the boundaries of the territory and generally responds within 30 days of a request for approval.
If a franchisee chooses to operate their Kitchen Solvers business outside their home, they must secure a site for a showroom that aligns with Kitchen Solvers' site selection guidelines and is within their designated territory. The franchisee must provide the proposed lease agreement for both the office site (if applicable) and the showroom to Kitchen Solvers before signing the lease. Additionally, the franchisee and the landlord must enter into Kitchen Solvers' designated form of Collateral Assignment of Lease Agreement.
For franchisees entering into a development agreement, the FDD states that Kitchen Solvers does not determine the location of future Kitchen Solvers businesses. However, each proposed site must still be submitted to Kitchen Solvers for approval, following the same process as individual franchise agreements. The Franchise Agreement does not identify any time limit for locating or approving a site or any consequences if they cannot agree on a site.
The FDD emphasizes that Kitchen Solvers bears no responsibility for the lease agreement itself; it is the franchisee's sole responsibility to evaluate, negotiate, and enter into the lease. If Kitchen Solvers does not consent to a proposed site, the franchisee can propose an alternative site or continue operating the business from their home.