JFA Brisbane has conducted a large number of investigations on behalf of national and state Master Franchise Holders, whereby they have had concerns a particular franchisee was possibly not acting in accordance with their contractual obligations or the best interests of the franchiser.

Case Study No. 1

A large national franchiser was concerned one of their franchisees was not accurately reporting their takings.  There was some speculation as to whether or not the franchise owner, who only worked in the business on a part-time basis, was personally responsible for the sudden drop in takings, or whether staff theft was the cause.  Another consideration was whether there was some other unknown reason for a legitimate drop in customers.

JFA Brisbane was hired to initially conduct surveillance at that franchise business and note the daily customer numbers.  This was subsequently compared with the reported takings and a substantial anomaly was revealed.

We where then required to install a smoke detector at the premises - the premises were owned by the franchiser.  However, this "smoke detector" had a hidden camera inside and was positioned to see the cash register and the amounts it recorded with each sale.  Staff theft is often facilitated by staff ringing up a lesser amount on a register, but providing the customer with the correct change for the full amount.  They then later pocket the difference.  A few dollars reduction on hundreds of transactions over a single week becomes quite a significant amount.   

Our efforts resulted in two staff members being identified as responsible for the reduction in takings.

Case Study No. 2

We were contacted by a state franchise holder who had concerns one of their franchisees was conducting business under his own business name and not that of the franchise.

Preliminary searches had established the franchisee was advertising in a local paper under his old business name.  The franchise involved a particular trade service and we contacted him by telephone to undertake a the installation of some equipment.  Those telephone conversations were legally recorded and on his attendance to install that equipment, video was taken of his franchise vehicle, which now advertised his other business.  Covert video (with audio) was also taken as he undertook that installation, which also showed the branding of his other business name on a polo short he wore.  

During our general discussions with the subject of our inquiry, we were able to obtain information as to his current workload, planned relocation of the business and other information, which was highly relevant to our client's interests.

At the conclusion of the installation, paperwork was obtained clearly showing the subject's business name and his signature.

All of the collected evidence, including a detailed Statutory Declaration of our activities, were supplied to our client's lawyers to support anticipated litigation.


The above Case Studies are but two examples of how JFA Brisbane can assist national and state Master Franchise Holders.