Pros
There really is nothing good to say.
Kontras
I owned and operated an Advantaclean franchise for 10 years in New Bern, NC. My 10 year contract ended with a whimper on 8/28/22. After sending monthly royalty payments that easily surpassed $700,000, I am left with a business that is not sellable. In fact, over the last 5 years or so Advantaclean has gone from 220+ US franchises to less than 200. Franchises that have fulfilled their contract are not renewing and are simply going away, with the owners selling assets attempting to recoup their original investment. Very little contact with anyone from Advantaclean or HFC as the end of my 10 year contract approached. They didn’t care. They didn’t care about my concerns when I was under contract with them and they didn’t care when I had concerns about resigning with them. Completely different when I was being courted by them 10 years ago. There were 6 in my graduating class 10 years ago. Only one signed a renewal; one flamed-out early, and I don't know what happened to him; three are like me letting the contract expire and quietly going away. The only one who did okay was the owner in Dallas, who briefly became the new president of Advantaclean when Advantaclean was bought by HFC and JM Family and HFC and JM moved the new headquarters from Charlotte to Dallas, taking over the new president’s store. Don’t believe what they tell you. You will be a slave to Advantaclean, on the hook for minimum royalty payments, advertising and technology fees and paying for their health insurance and retirement benefits with nothing left for you and your employees. You will be working 60+ hours a week, you will find it difficult to take time away (I haven't had a real, get-away for more than a long weekend, vacation in 10 years), and after everyone else gets paid, including the hefty royalty payment to HFC, there might be a little left over for you. No health insurance, no retirement. What bothers me the most about this 10 year long experiment of mine is that 10 years ago I took $205,000 from my 401(k) to start this business, if I had left that in an S&P Index Fund that $205k would be worth $735,737. After selling the assets I might end up with $300k. Over the past 10 years, after working long hours and spending many sleepless nights worrying about jobs, employees, cash flow, etc, my 401(k) return was sent to Advantaclean. Looking back, that is a very depressing thought.