News & Insights

Popular fast food franchise Mad Mex has a fresh new look with its first major rebrand in more than a decade.

The revamp includes a new menu catering to a range of dietary requirements and nutrition preferences, new logo and uniforms for employees, as well as more environmentally friendly packaging.

Mad Mex founder and CEO, Clovis Young, said that the franchise has “always provided our customers with tasty, all-natural, food that fuels their lifestyle and helps them achieve their goals.”

Mad Mex’s decision to revamp is a great example of a franchise reinventing itself to reflect what consumers want, while remaining true to their core offering. Importantly, Mad Mex worked with franchisees to create a consistent fresh look and feel across all outlets, not just its marketing material.

Many franchises achieve success but can start to struggle when the marketplace changes and they become less relevant. Take a leaf out of Mad Mex’s book and what your customers want so that you can adapt to changes and remain ahead of your competitors.

If you’re considering rebranding your franchise, here some basic points to keep in mind:

• Franchisees typically carry out the rebrand for their outlet under the supervision of the franchisor, including paying for it, so it’s important that you involve your franchisees in the process ahead of time – especially if a franchisee has multiple outlets!
• Ideally, rebrands should be carefully planned before being implemented so you should have plenty of time to include anticipated costs and timing in your franchising agreement. At the very least, anticipated costs and timing must be included in your disclosure document (this goes for minor changes to layout, signage, etc too).
• Don’t forget to update any relevant trade marks, such as your logo, if they are part of the rebrand. You also need to include any changes to your intellectual property in your disclosure document.
• Failure to give fair warning of a rebrand and associated financial outlay can result in significant penalties for breaching the Franchising Code.

If you’d like to find out more about what you need to do from a legal viewpoint when rebranding your franchise, please contact Racha Abboud.

The information contained in this article is general in nature and cannot be relied on as legal advice nor does it create an engagement. Please contact one of our lawyers listed above for advice about your specific situation.