LEGAL · EFFECTIVE JULY 31, 2026

Terms of Use

By using Franchise Watch Desk ("the site"), you agree to these terms. Read the Methodology page alongside this one — it explains how every number here is computed, which is most of what you need to use this site responsibly.

What this site is

Franchise Watch Desk is an independent research and monitoring tool. Every verdict, Health Index score, Distress Index flag, and FDD Risk Score is a computed opinion derived from public records — franchisors' own FDD Item 20 filings, SBA loan performance data, federal court dockets, and state closure notices — cited on the page that shows it. We take no payment from any franchisor, broker, or franchise system to appear, rank higher, or be omitted; the Methodology page states this explicitly and it's firewalled by design.

Not advice

Nothing on this site is investment, legal, financial, or tax advice, and using it doesn't create any advisory, fiduciary, or professional relationship between you and us. A Health Index tier or a risk score is context for reading a filing, not a recommendation to buy, avoid, or invest in anything. Franchise investment decisions are significant and irreversible — verify everything against the actual FDD, and get your own qualified legal and financial counsel before signing anything.

This includes the free CPA session offered at /consult: it's educational and brand-agnostic, provided by a CPA licensed in Virginia (out-of-state sessions are subject to that state's licensing rules), and is not a substitute for a formal engagement.

Accuracy, and what to do if we're wrong

• ▸ Every score and verdict links to the specific filing and Item it's drawn from — check the source, not just our summary of it.
• ▸ Coverage is real but partial: it leans heavily on Minnesota's registration-state filings today, so franchisors that never register there may not appear at all, and that bias is stated on the Methodology page rather than hidden.
• ▸ Figures marked ◆ SAMPLE are illustrative placeholders pending a real extraction — never cite them as fact.
• ▸ If a number is wrong, the underlying filing is the arbiter. Email us the brand, the page, and what you believe is correct, and we'll investigate and fix genuine errors.
• ▸ Public records themselves lag reality — an FDD reflects a franchisor's prior fiscal year, and litigation/closure feeds only cover what's been filed or reported. Absence of a flag is not proof of health.

No warranty

The site and everything on it are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied — including accuracy, completeness, timeliness, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. We work to source and compute everything carefully and say so plainly when evidence is thin ("Too new to judge," "Not Disclosed," confidence tiers on the risk score), but we don't guarantee any figure is error-free or current at the moment you read it.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, Franchise Watch Desk and its operator are not liable for any loss or damage — direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential, including lost profits or a bad investment outcome — arising from your use of, or reliance on, this site or any decision made in connection with it. You are solely responsible for your own due diligence and decisions. Nothing here limits liability that can't be limited under applicable law.

Third-party content and links

This site links to and cites material we don't control: FDD filings and other documents held by state regulators, SBA and EDGAR data, court dockets, news coverage, franchisor websites, and the Cal.com scheduler embedded at /consult. We're not responsible for the content, accuracy, or availability of anything on those third-party properties, and linking to them isn't an endorsement.

Ownership

The site's design, the Health Index / Distress Index / FDD Risk Score methodologies, and our written analysis are ours. The underlying source documents — FDDs, court filings, government data — remain public records belonging to whoever filed them; we cite and comment on them, we don't claim to own them. Brand and franchisor names appearing on this site are the trademarks of their respective owners, used descriptively to identify the system being discussed — that use doesn't imply any affiliation with, sponsorship by, or endorsement from the trademark holder.

Don't scrape, bulk-republish, or resell this site's computed scores, rankings, or analysis without our written permission. Linking to a page, or quoting a figure with attribution back to the source page, is fine.

Acceptable use

Don't use the site or its forms to submit false information, attempt to disrupt or overload it, probe it for vulnerabilities without authorization, or use it for any unlawful purpose. We may block access from anyone who does.

Availability and changes

We may change, add to, or discontinue any part of the site, or these terms, at any time. We'll update the effective date above when the terms change; continuing to use the site after a change means you accept the update. We don't guarantee the site will always be available or error-free.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, and any dispute arising from them or your use of the site will be handled in the state or federal courts located in Virginia.

Contact

[email protected] — corrections, permissions, or questions about these terms. See also the Privacy Policy.