February 21, 2008
Big Chill
International Dairy Queen's plan to convert existing outlets to its new DQ Grill & Chill or DQ/Orange Julius concepts has had a frosty reception, according to this article. Snowballing opposition has four Dairy Queen franchisee associations spanning across ten states in the U.S. District Court to stop what they allege is a forced conversion program and unreasonable requirement, imposing a mandatory investment of thousands of dollars. The franchisees also allege problems with surcharges added to the prices of certain products, claiming that the surcharges should be credited against franchisee advertising contribution requirements, and that imposing the surcharge violates franchise agreements which do not require any advertising contributions.
Posted by franchiselawblog at February 21, 2008 11:17 AM