Can I sell my franchise?

If you have had enough of being a franchisee, you can sell the business on, but don’t be under any illusions over how easy it will be.

Contrary to common perception, your franchisor won’t just buy back the business from you. This would place a huge and unfair onus on the franchisor and would effectively allow you to fail without any consequence to yourself.

You will need to find someone to purchase the business and your franchisor may demand to approve the person you’ve lined up. Again, your contract will guide you as to the procedure.

“The franchisor will often help with the sale because, by and large, they will want to see you succeed and don’t want to spend time managing changes to franchisees,” says Steve Wright, executive director of the Franchise Council of Australia.