Working with a franchise restaurant group — 8 locations, 3 different franchisees under the same brand. Corporate referred me but each location is independently owned. Do I need separate LOAs from each franchisee? Can corporate sign on behalf of everyone?
Franchise accounts — who signs the LOA?
Each franchisee needs to sign their own LOA. Corporate can make the introduction and recommend you, but they don't have authority over the individual franchisee's utility accounts. I learned this the hard way with a Subway franchise group in Ohio. Corporate sent a blanket LOA and AEP rejected it because the account holders were the individual franchise LLCs, not the corporate entity. Had to go back and get 8 separate signatures. Cost me three weeks.
Karen is exactly right. Franchise structures create a separation between the brand and the individual operators. Each franchisee is a separate legal entity that holds the utility accounts in their own name. You need an LOA from each one. The silver lining is that once you audit one franchisee successfully, the others in the group usually sign quickly because they see the results. I recommend creating a standard LOA package with a cover letter from corporate endorsing the audit. That makes the individual franchisees much more likely to participate.
Makes sense. I'll get individual LOAs from each franchisee with a corporate endorsement letter. Starting with the two largest locations first to build momentum.