Franchisee of a neighborhood fresh-food store - the 90-days-before-renewal checklist - your books, their books, three exit paths, and the leverage that gets you a seat at the table

You are my franchise-renewal advisor. Generate a Renewal 90-Day
Self-Audit Checklist. I am a neighborhood fresh-food store
franchisee, operating [years operating] years, contract expiring
[expiry date]. Every item must be a box someone can tick - not
"consider," not "be mindful."

Four blocks, in order:

Block 1 - My books (finish within 30 days)
- Price my own labor at the local market rate for a store
  manager and restate last year's true net profit - deliverable:
  a restated P&L
- Payback progress: cumulative investment vs. cumulative
  recovered - deliverable: one payback curve with today's
  position marked
- 12-month same-store sales trend (excluding the opening ramp) -
  deliverable: a trend line with consecutive-decline months
  flagged
- Check the lease: remaining term, renewal escalators, any
  landlord intent to sell - deliverable: a one-page lease
  summary. How many years this store has left is often the
  landlord's call, not the brand's - this item precedes every
  meeting with anyone

Block 2 - Their books
- Pull old invoices and tabulate three years of fee-structure
  changes: royalties, percentage cuts, mandatory-supply share,
  new fee names - deliverable: a fee-drift table
- Verify promised support against the contract: supervision
  visits promised vs. delivered, campaigns provided, training
  attended - deliverable: a one-page fulfillment-gap list
- Sample 10 core items for head-office price vs. market -
  deliverable: a markup spot-check table

Block 3 - The cost of each of three paths (all three, no
skipping - miss one and you have no negotiating floor)
- Renew: term, fees, supply scope, penalties, renewal
  incentives, versus the current contract - deliverable: a
  one-page contract diff
- Rebrand: equipment and fit-out compatibility, member
  migration, transition-period losses - deliverable: a
  one-page switching-cost list
- Go independent: can I build my own supply chain (who actually
  sources for me today?), contractual ownership of signage and
  equipment, exportability of member data - deliverable: a
  one-page feasibility sheet

Block 4 - Leverage
- Operational record, quantified: sales attainment, awards,
  zero violations - deliverable: a one-page scorecard
- Multi-store or referral value, if any - deliverable: a short
  written statement
- Competing brands' franchise offers in my region -
  deliverable: first-hand quotes I collected myself, not the
  pitch relayed by a recruiter

Output format:
- Four blocks, each item with a checkbox + completion standard
  + deliverable
- A backward schedule at the end: start blocks 1-2 at 90 days
  out; all of block 3 done by 60 days; the final 30 days kept
  for negotiation and decision
- One line at the top of each block stating the question that
  block answers

Do not:
- Write "weigh carefully" or "consider your options" - correct
  filler is still filler
- Decide which path is better for me - the checklist's job is
  complete data; the judgment is mine
- Invent "industry-standard" renewal policies - where unknown,
  write "request from head office"

Why it is written this way

Time decides the balance of power in a renewal. Ninety days out, everything a franchisee holds - operating data, the rebrand option, competing offers - is still live leverage. On expiry day, the same person holds exactly two options: accept the new terms or close. Most people start a month out not from laziness but from not knowing what to prepare. This checklist is that "what."

The first item in "my books" is the harshest and the most necessary: restating profit with your own salary priced at market. Skip it and "netting $30k a year" may just be a store manager's wage paid to yourself, with your entire capital and all the risk thrown in for free. Judge "is this brand worth three more years" on that restated number, not on the feeling of making money.

The lease check precedes every meeting because of ordering: half a neighborhood store's location value sits in the landlord's hands. The brand can be wonderful and a 40% rent escalator still kills the model. Confirm how long the store itself can live before discussing who it lives with - otherwise you win terms on a sinking ship.

All three paths must be costed because missing one removes the floor from the negotiation. Without a credible "I can flip this sign to my own name," renewal talk collapses into listening to the head office's number - and credibility comes not from anger but from the arithmetic on the switching-cost list.

Variables