THE BIZOP NEWS

Alard was among a group of pizza franchise buyers who hoped to make lots of dough, but ended up being burned by the chain, operated out of Toronto.

CTV primetime investigative news show W-5 aired a full feature on the pizza pie- in-the-sky titled Taking Your Dough. It also reported Toronto police had been investigating the chain and even the same man with whom Alard struck his deal. That man was Torontonian Reza Solhi. Solhi could not be reached for comment.

According to W-5, there were dozens of cases just like Alard's with similar franchises going back years, all run under different names, including 3 for 1 Pizza, the Pizza One, Pizza Uno and Anthony's Kitchens. Toronto police uncovered a trail that went back a decade." (my emphasis)

Apparently, Reza Solhi is going by the name of "Bobby" Solhi these days. He is operating a wholesale business in Scarborough.

Why does Reza Solhi and others like him continue to get away with fraud?

Well consider the so-called due diligence advice given out by the Canadian Franchise Association:

"While even the best businessman can fall victim to a professional con artist, there are ways to minimize your chances of being taken when buying a franchise.

The Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) posts a list of questions to ask franchisers on its website and also requires all of its members to comply with a code of ethics that includes providing potential buyers with disclosure documents.

Such documents are only legally mandatory in Ontario, Alberta and Prince Edward Island, but CFA members in all provinces must provide them. The documents include information on who runs the franchise, whether any stores have closed or gone bankrupt, and whether any litigation is ongoing. They will also provide a list of existing franchisees.

"You should talk to them. That's going to be your best source of validating whether the information you're getting from the franchiser is valid," says Lorraine McLachlan, president and CEO of the CFA. Pizza One was not a member of CFA, she said."

I have no problem with the CFA, but it is nonsense to think that a trade association funded primarily by franchisors is going to give you proper due diligence for nothing.

The CFA is not going to review the franchisor's disclosure document. That is just silly.

And in any event, the disclosure document in this case was so flawed that any professional that you retained should have told you that; many of Solhi's victims didn't obtain professional advice, even when they had hired a lawyer.