Court rejects claim Seven-Eleven unjustly ended franchise contract

The article does not mention if the terms of his franchise agreement explicitly states the store must remain open 24 hours a day every day. That seems like an awfully important detail to omit.

The manager seems to be someone that quickly confronts anything he thinks is wrong, which is not necessarily bad, but it can explain why there are so many complains against the store. This may not mean he is a bad manager, but it obviously gives a clear reason for 7-eleven to terminate the contract even if the real reason is the reduction of hours.

To be fair, all he had to do was hire a extra staff willing to do night shifts. There are plenty out there who prefer working at night which is very quiet. Practically have the whole store for yourself.

He was just too cheap to get another staff. 7 eleven policy is to make sure their stores are available 24/7 to it's customers. That's all they ask of you once you want to be part of their franchise. If you aren't willing to fork out the cash, then maybe you should be take the 7 eleven brand name.

Yea, that is what Japanese courts do. Just another arm with which the state thumps the little guy.

Ignorant and prejudiced.

The article does not mention if the terms of his franchise agreement explicitly states the store must remain open 24 hours a day every day. That seems like an awfully important detail to omit.

Actually the company side once compromised over the business hours. The contract was then officially terminated as the headquarters received public complaints about servicing of the owner's shop. The company claimed there were 9 times as many complaints as the average amount per shop (and the Osaka court recognised this point). The story above also misses this critical info.

This is a cross-charge court battle, and I think the defamation charge pressed by the company is reasonable.

There seems to be a rejection spree from Japanese courts these days! Mostly they are in favor of big companies and never "for" the common people.

If you sign up for a franchisee agreement you agree to those conditions, there are plenty of students that would of worked the night shift which is usually dead. Could of saved himself heaps of money in the long run.

He agreed to the contract when buying the franchise.

That is how these things work.

My sister owned a Subway franchise in Canada, it was in a mall food court, rules 7 days a week, no closing if the mall food court is open.

Employee didn't show up to open she had to run and do it until a replacement could be found.

And that is why she sold her franchise.

You know the rules and conditions, they are not going to give you an exemption or everyone will want the same.

A friend and her parents ran a Daily store way out in the countryside. When her parents got old and she could not run the store 24 hours, she terminated the contract, but Daily never removed the signage. She makes bimonthly trips to Costco to stock the store herself (she'll break down humongous packages into manageable portions) and runs it at the hours that suit her - much to the delight of her clientele, who have no other options and the Costco stuff is better than what Daily offers anyway.

As usual court going by the basic flow chart, no place for having some sense of Humanity.

He agreed to the contract when buying the franchise.

That is how these things work.

My sister owned a Subway franchise in Canada, it was in a mall food court, rules 7 days a week, no closing if the mall food court is open.

Employee didn't show up to open she had to run and do it until a replacement could be found.

And that is why she sold her franchise.

You know the rules and conditions, they are not going to give you an exemption or everyone will want the same.

Good for your sister, but she wasn't operating a Subway 24 hours a day 365 days a year in a country with an acute labor shortage. I doubt she had to go to the extremes some of these convenience store franchisees are being put to. 66% of convenience store franchise operators reported being overworked (ie not able to take any days off per week), and only 19% were able to take one day off. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/11/b5734b5d3b0f-govt-survey-shows-most-convenience-store-owners-overworked.html

Others have literally been worked to death after putting in over 200 hours of overtime per month:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161230/p2a/00m/0na/006000c

Just saying "Contract says they have to do everything the company tells them no matter what" isn't a particularly useful response to this problem.

Just saying "Contract says they have to do everything the company tells them no matter what" isn't a particularly useful response to this problem.

Obviously you have never dealt with a franchise.

Welcome to the real world.

This is how nearly all franchises work and why any business advisor/consultant will tell you to think long and hard before buying into a franchise.

You don't want the problems of over work and a 24 hour business, then do not buy into a 24 hour convenience store!

Unless he bought his franchise well over 30 years ago 7 eleven has been 24 hours since the day he bought into it.

It is like buying a house near the airport then complaining the airplanes are noisy.

7-Eleven: good food, horrible service.

You don't want the problems of over work and a 24 hour business, then do not buy into a 24 hour convenience store!

Yup, that is good advice for someone thinking of getting a franchise.

But as someone who, as an outsider, is just trying to judge whether or not these contracts, which are literally driving people to death from overwork, are beneficial or harmful to society its not much of an argument.

I use self-regies almost exclusively.

Soon these stores will be mostly unmanned.

he should have just open his own store using his own name, then he is free to choose his opening hours.