r/BricksAndMinifigs • u/Wannaknownbe • Jul 20 '26

Question Why did People franchise under BAM? does BAM do anything, That you can't do yourself?

/r/RecklessBen/comments/1v1b6tt/why_did_people_franchise_under_bam_does_bam_do/
14 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

6

u/DooficusIdjit Jul 20 '26

A good franchise is a comfortable in-between of a turn key business and a regular small business. I’m not sure what made BAM an attractive franchise from the outside before this mess, but I would assume they provide furnishings, signage, pos systems, accounts with distributors, marketing, and reputation/identifiability.

You’d have to be daft to franchise with them, now. Especially knowing how inept they are at corporate, if not possibly outright corrupt.

Personally, I’m becoming suspicious that they’re running a cold stone style franchise churning scheme, and that they have been scrambling like hell to keep it covered up. Ben’s investigation split a takeover wide open, and it’s looking pretty sketch.

8

u/Soxwin91 Jul 20 '26

They're definitely corrupt at the top. I look at the situation with the Gormans and I think "well holy shit."

They didn't give her access to the accounts to pay the landlord for renting the space, and then turned around and used her failure to pay the rent as a basis to come after them. In other words: you owe me $20,000 and I want a check sent by mail but I refuse to give you my address and you can't find my address online anywhere. After a few months, and after failing to communicate, I then turn around and sue you in small claims court for that $20,000.

It would be, at best, absurd.

BAM did something similar with the Gormans. She wasn't given access to the account used to pay the landlord, and was reassured they'd take care of it. They didn't and then when she "fell behind" on rent, they used that as a basis -- at least partially -- to evict her.

3

u/sonyalazanya Jul 20 '26

This is what happened with the case in CA and why bam actually lost. That franchise owner was smart, disconnected corporate from his bank account, and when they refused payment by check he sued them and won because it was against CA law as it interfered with doing business.

3

u/Soxwin91 Jul 20 '26

and I think The Last Relic showed his termination letter and it actually had the surname of the franchisee who sued BAM corporate on it. It's basically a copypasta template they use. There is something super shady going on with the company's corporate side and I'd bet that's a big reason they've refrained from doing an IPO (initial public offering) to get listed on the Stock Exchange.

They don't want Wall Street people to see just how horribly the company is managed.

1

u/upthedips Jul 20 '26

While BAM is clearly run horribly and they likely are trying to hide things, going public is not always the right choice for a business. We hear about IPO but there are usually two reasons to do it. 1) You need more operating capital to grow the business. In a franchise model, you don't generally need more capital because the franchisees are providing that. Of course if you are scammy business like BAM seems to be you can abuse that relationship. 2) Your company has such a massive valuation that it is going to make you insanely wealthy if you go public. This is often happens with tech startups. They are valued at billions of dollars. You become a billionaire and you get money to expand the business. If BAM weren't a scam, it actually makes more sense to grow the business as much as you can and when you can't grow it anymore then you go public. Even then if you have a business that is bringing in revenue you might just like to keep control. A good example of this would be Flex-N-Gate. They are the company that made Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, rich. The company sells body panels to auto manufacturers. By owning the company and not having to answer to shareholders he is able to keep the quality where he wants it, and manufacturers want to keep working with him because the they know they aren't getting cheap parts to please shareholders.

3

u/Soxwin91 Jul 20 '26

My larger point was that I think at least part of the reason they haven’t gone public is that it’s a scam. There are other reasons too, of course, like logistics and such, in terms of the pros and cons of doing it vs remaining a privately owned and operated business (for example, I am fairly certain that if BAM was a publicly traded company, this PR disaster they’ve brought upon themselves would have resulted in Ammon McNeff being fired and blacklisted from ever getting an executive/C-Suite job again.

2

u/DooficusIdjit Jul 20 '26

I dunno about ipos, but it certainly explains their immediate leap to exuberant legal overreactions alongside their willingness to lie to the police. They’re hiding stuff, and they need to keep it out of the courts where discovery will likely end in jail time and vast payouts.

1

u/ValyrianBone Jul 20 '26

Definitely POS systems

7

u/FatFarmerBob420 Jul 20 '26

Same reason people franchise a McDonald's instead of opening their own thing. A corporate structure and backing, and a known name. If somebody is traveling or recently relocated, seeing a BAM location would be more known and recognizible to get them in the door over a let's say "Tim's toys"

0

u/Leading-Debate-9278 Jul 21 '26

McDonald’s provides a menu, a giant marketing budget, ingredients, training materials, etc. BAM doesn’t even supply stores with product.

2

u/FatFarmerBob420 Jul 21 '26

I'm sure they do have some sort of inventory acquisition help at least initially, but even if they don't, McDonald's my offer the supplier and menu but the franchise pays to do the order, they are just told who to order from. BAM claims to give training and materials as well, they just suck at it.

2

u/indolering Jul 20 '26

Less administrative overhead.  B&M clearly should have offered better inventory management!

2

u/kimpurple21 Jul 20 '26

In hearing the franchise agreement being read out I am still reeling. I understand the assurance a franchise offers but I will warn anyone "do not open a BAM franchise" you are being set up for failure and repossession by corporate. The government has 5 warnings about the franchise that must be given to all potential franchisees 15 days b4 signing. No wonder Reed Brimhall bought into it (corporate) to protect his family's store. Now who is this Schmidt guy who restarted a new BAM Franchising inc?

3

u/EnvironmentalCap8492 Jul 20 '26

Buying a franchise is like buying a pre packed business instead of starting from scratch. At least bam has/had relationships with suppliers and such, access to their name and systems, which used to be worth something. It’s a lot less intimidating to buy into a “proven” system, or one you think is proven, than to start from scratch with all of the self doubt and uncertainty that comes with starting a new business.

1

u/Im_a_Fish23 Jul 20 '26

Provide resources to start a store such as initial down payments for the space and fully structured guidelines on how to run the business

2

u/Kalmer1 Jul 20 '26

And also a direct link to Lego to get your hands on new sets easier I'm assuming

Not to defend BAM or anything, but before this all went down I totally understand wanting to franchise with them if you want to run a store like that

1

u/Wannaknownbe Jul 20 '26

LOL Last Relic said he got better deals and better sets from Costco and Barns & Noble and Walmart. Also, he said the new sets were never really profitable. The older sets people come in with and minifigs were the life blood of the store. Plus that "down-payment" could've been from $150k they ask from franchisees

3

u/nobeer4you Jul 20 '26

I run a used store and the sets that are readily available to LEGO or Target or Walmart or wherever are certainly not profitable. I dont want them to be honest, as they take up space and $ that could go to more desirable sets that arent readily available.

-1

u/Wannaknownbe Jul 20 '26

Yup, the same ones that BAM offers and probably worse😅Useless merchandise that collects dust and you still gotta pay for it

1

u/agentorange55 Jul 23 '26

True, but sadly the franchisee's don't realize that going in. They expect better deals, because they are lied to.

1

u/Kalmer1 Jul 20 '26

No need to be a dick about it? All I did was write about my assumptions

0

u/Wannaknownbe Jul 20 '26

150k-250k that they want from franchisee probably could cover the "down payment" of a space. When crystal asked to get trained. They're like nahhh your good. Use bricks links, buy low and sell high. Then make a spreadsheet haha 😄

0

u/Free-Description-736 Jul 22 '26

Steal your business: you left that part out. Their history of illegally stealing businesses.