Your Franchise Disclosure Document is 200–900 pages, and the person who handed it to you is selling you a franchise. This worksheet converts it into three scored checks plus one phone call that is worth more than all of them.
7-page fillable PDF · instant download after checkout · run it on any brand's FDD, as many times as you need.
Not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. An educational aid that organizes the questions you bring to the professionals you hire.
Buy the worksheet →Secure checkout by Stripe. Sold by Umbra Enterprises, LLC.
Not sure yet? Read the free buyer's guide first, or request the free worked example: this exact method applied to a real national brand's 900+ page FDD, every claim cited.
The checks run in order of predictive signal, not Item number. That ordering is part of the method.
The most predictive tables in the document, turned into four numbers: net unit change over three years, the attrition rate, pipeline vs. closures, and whether the former-franchisee contact list the law requires is actually there. Fixed GREEN / WATCH / STOP thresholds: you copy numbers off a page and compare.
One question: does the franchisor tell you what a unit actually earns? And what it means when the answer is no (it's legal, it's common, and it moves the entire burden of proof onto you).
Volume means nothing; direction means everything. The Lens sorts cases into noise (routine), signal (franchisees suing the franchisor over the economics), and the franchisor's own regulatory record, with thresholds for each.
Individual scores can mislead. When a shrinking system, no earnings disclosure, and franchisee economics lawsuits appear together, the Lens compounds them into a STOP: the same one story told three ways. The verdict page tells you exactly what to demand, in writing, before you sign.
A three-question script for calling five former franchisees (the page of the FDD nobody opens), plus what to hand your attorney so your expensive hour is spent on the questions that matter.
The FDD Red-Flag Lens is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. It is an educational aid that organizes questions for the professionals you hire. It does not give legal, financial, or investment advice and reaches no conclusion about whether you should buy any franchise. Score thresholds are the author's editorial judgment. Verify every figure against your own brand's current FDD.
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