The Fédération Française de la Franchise (French Franchise Federation), the professional federation for franchisors and their franchisees, applauds the work carried out by the government to support businesses since the start of the crisis, but stresses the vital importance for its members, a breeding ground for VSEs and SMEs, of going further today on the subject of rents.
First and foremost, let's dispel an established misunderstanding: under the guise of "big names", our franchise networks are made up of independent entrepreneurs who have taken out a loan - most of the time backed by guarantees on their personal assets - hired their employees, concluded contracts with suppliers and, naturally, signed their lease.
Behind these brands are no multinationals! A few figures: the average franchisee employs 9*people - and is 47 years old.
The specific nature of this model, which generated sales of 68 billion euros and 757,852** jobs (direct and indirect) in 2019, must be taken into account in the discussions currently underway, as no solution has yet been found for our companies:
- Half (47.2%) of them are not eligible for the rent cancellation announcements aimed at very small businesses, as they do not meet the conditions for access to the solidarity fund, notably those linked to the number of employees, and/or the ownership of several sales outlets via a parent company;
- Nor are they eligible for advertising by the federations of major landlords , since only a minority of them have a "foncière" as landlord (22.3%), the majority having an SCI as owner (55%), 5% an institutional landlord and 17% an individual.
It's clear that 77% of these entrepreneurs are not covered by the advertisements of the major real estate companies.
