Franchise agreements form the foundation of your brand’s operational success and franchisee relationships. This workshop takes a business-focused approach to managing, enforcing, and updating agreements—not from a legal advisory standpoint, but from the perspective of franchisor executives and leaders responsible for brand growth. Participants will learn practical strategies for protecting the brand, strengthening franchisee partnerships, and ensuring agreements are applied consistently and effectively across the system.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the business impact of key provisions in franchise agreements.
• Develop processes for monitoring and supporting compliance across the system.
• Apply effective business strategies to address breaches while preserving relationships.
• Oversee renewals, transfers, and terminations in ways that protect the brand and franchisee confidence.
• Anticipate and adapt to external changes that may influence how agreements are managed operationally.

Fran-Guard™ is the franchise industry’s gold standard in franchise sales compliance training, originally developed by the International Franchise Association (IFA) and adapted for Canada by the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA). This newly refreshed program reflects the Canadian legal and regulatory environment while maintaining the global best practices that have made Fran-Guard™ the benchmark for responsible franchise growth.

This session examines the legal and business foundations of franchise sales compliance in Canada, common risk areas and costly mistakes, and practical frameworks for embedding ethical, compliant practices into franchise development. Participants will gain a clear understanding of how disciplined compliance protects franchise systems, strengthens brand credibility, and supports sustainable long-term growth.

Key Takeaways:

1. Understand the legal and regulatory requirements that govern franchise sales and disclosure in Canada.

2. Recognize common franchise sales compliance risks and mistakes that can expose franchise systems to legal and reputational harm.

3. Evaluate practical compliance principles to support responsible franchise recruitment and sustainable system growth.

The resale of an existing franchise creates significant demands on a franchisor’s limited organizational resources, which can often be better deployed on recruiting new franchisees or supporting existing operators.

Managing franchise resales so that they occur as quickly and efficiently as possible is in the best interests of the franchisor, the franchise network, and the franchisee whose business is for sale.

By clarifying and expediting the process, not only can the franchisor reduce the demands on their resources but can facilitate the exit of selling franchisees (who can often be disengaged or underperforming) with more aligned and higher-performing operators.

This workshop explores how to manage franchise resales to achieve better outcomes for franchisors and franchisees alike.

Learning Objectives:

• Explore key steps in the resale process
• Discover ways to work with franchisees more effectively for better resale outcomes
• Identify and discuss procedures to maximize franchisee engagement during the sale process
• Analyze common difficulties faced by buyers, vendors and franchisors