Has anyone visited a franchise? I have a local Donut King in...

Has anyone visited a franchise?

I have a local Donut King in Eastern Suburbs Sydney, mentioned to the owner I was interested in purchasing a franchise in Queensland, and he seemed far too keen to sell. I only ever see OAPs frequenting the place, and business seems sparse. Obviously just one example out of 2500.

However I also recognise this is eastern suburbs, and I imagine not a great target demographic for Donut King. The likes of Donut Time seem like they have a much better grasp of the American food craze in Sydney.

But then I look at Michelles Patiserrie and that seems to make more sense as a business - people always need birthday cakes etc. And they're coffee seems like it would be nicer vs Donut King which seems more on a level with 7/11.

A certain percentage of franchisees are failing in any business, so even if RFG have a below average strike rate, if only half their business is franchise and it's only marginaly worse than others, it might only be 5% of their whole business affected beyond the norm - then this story could be driving a huge overreaction.

However the more concerning part is the change in executive leadership. The new guy has come from a GM role at Metcash so seems a big step up to CEO at a business with RFG's challenges (even if only driven by Fairfax news) - is someone with no CEO experience the best they could find considering the situation? Does anyone know how many shares Tony Alford still owns? I understand he no longer needs to disclose due to the decreased level of ownership he now has.