FRANCHISE-CHAT.COM CELEBRATES FOUR YEARS OF SERVICE TO WORLD FRANCHISE COMMUNITY

November 29, 2003 - Franchise-chat.com (www.franchise-chat.com), the global franchise news and discussion portal, celebrates its fourth year of service to the franchise community this week. Callum Floyd established the site in November 1999 while at university completing his PhD researching franchising. In the four years since 1999, Franchise-chat.com has linked to more than 5000 news stories. Today Franchise-chat.com is visited by thousands of prospective and existing franchisees, franchisors and affiliated suppliers from more than 40 countries, each week.

Franchise-chat.com is a comprehensive franchise portal. It brings franchise news stories from around the world to one location, and provides a forum where prospective/existing franchisees and franchisors, and other interested parties, can interact, ask questions and debate franchise-related issues. The site also contains resource articles, written by franchise experts, on buying a franchise, franchising a business, how franchising works and current trends. Finally, the Franchise-chat.com Internet site contains numerous outside links to franchise magazines, associations, Internet directories, research institutions, and books.

Initially, Callum just wanted to keep abreast of world franchising news while undertaking his academic research. But finding franchise news stories was time consuming, and he soon realised others might appreciate news stories located.

"I was frustrated with the slow process of finding franchising stories, which often contained a wealth of useful information, tips and advice Nothing has changed for me (since I do the updating), but now others get the benefit of finding and reading them. Most importantly, others can also gain from the information."

A second key objective also spurred the development of Franchise-chat.com. Callum wanted to establish a forum where visitors, whatever their involvement in franchising, could interact, ask questions and discuss franchise-related issues. The discussion forum has proved a success.

"Visitors post messages covering all aspects of franchising, good and bad. Sometimes things get a little hot, but that adds to the interest. Recent discussion topics include concerns about certain franchise opportunities; the Low Carb diet revolution and how this influences franchise concepts; understanding UFOCs; who are the best business/franchise concepts; and, the importance of selecting top locations."

Franchise-chat.com has proven popular with the franchise community. Numerous executives from the largest franchises subscribe to the sites newsletter, and Callum regularly receives messages of thanks from potential and existing franchisees, franchisors, franchise consultants, attorneys, bankers and publishers.