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Business Description

TBFS is an Ohio corporation that was incorporated on May 2, 2011. Our principal business address is 10700 Montgomery Road, Suite 210, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45242. We do business under our name, T.B. FRANCHISING SYSTEMS, INC., and under our trade name, TRUBLUE. Our agents for service of process are listed in Exhibit K. We do not have any parents or predecessors.

Prior Experience

TBFS was formed to sell and support home and property management service franchises. We have offered TruBlue franchises since June 2011. We have never offered franchises in any other business or engaged in other business activities. Except as disclosed above, we do not have any parents, predecessors, or any affiliates that offer franchises or provide products or services to franchisees. TBFS has never operated a TruBlue franchise. However, a company named Tri-State Home Services, Inc., which is owned by the same individuals who founded TBFS, operated a TruBlue franchise from September 2011 through 2014.

Business Offered

TBFS is an Ohio corporation that was incorporated on May 2, 2011. Our principal business address is 10700 Montgomery Road, Suite 210, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45242. We do business under our name, T.B. FRANCHISING SYSTEMS, INC., and under our trade name, TRUBLUE. Our agents for service of process are listed in Exhibit K. We offer franchises to operate businesses that offer residential and commercial property management services under the business name TRUBLUE. As a TruBlue franchisee, you will offer residential and commercial maintenance and repair, lawn care, snow removal, and residential cleaning services. You will offer these services to all property owners. Most franchises will start by providing maintenance services and then later, if they desire, expand to provide cleaning services. We anticipate that your primary market will be busy, affluent professionals, seniors, individuals recuperating from injury or illness, and individuals with disabilities that hinder them from doing these tasks themselves. You will market your services through direct mail and Internet advertising (including online coupons such as Group on) targeted to potential consumers of your services, and through personal solicitation of referral sources such as nursing homes, in-home healthcare and senior care providers, senior centers, senior advocacy organizations, senior care and healthcare agencies, temples, churches and mosques, financial planners, real estate agents, home owners' and condominium owners' associations, and certain other retail businesses and charitable organizations. You will compete with businesses that offer handyman, lawn-care or house cleaning services individually, specialty contractors (such as painters and carpenters), and other businesses similar to your TruBlue franchise in the same geographic area, including those that may be franchised by other national franchise companies. TruBlue franchisees distinguish themselves from their competitors by building brand recognition within their local communities. You must be prepared to follow all of our standards and specifications for the quality of the services you will provide, customer relations, vehicles, and employee uniforms. We will train you to operate your TruBlue franchise. Prior experience in construction, building trades, house cleaning or lawn care is not required. The role of a TruBlue franchisee is not to perform the services themselves, but to lead and manage the daily operations of the franchised business. The services will be performed by your employees and/or contractors. You may operate the franchised business from an office in your home or from leased office space. Initially, you will use refurbished, used, client-provided, and/or rented equipment and supplies when performing services. we do not have any parents or predecessors.

Initial Fees

You must pay an initial franchise fee1 when you sign the franchise agreement. The franchise fee for a territory with a population between 175,000 and 200,000 is $39,500. If the population of your territory exceeds 200,000, you must pay an additional $500 for all or part of every 1,000 people over 200,000. You can reserve a specific franchise territory for up to 30 days by paying a non-refundable $5,000 deposit and sending us a signed Deposit Remittance Form. The deposit will be applied toward your initial franchise fee. For the first 24 months after you purchase your first TruBlue franchise, you may be eligible to purchase an additional TruBlue franchise at a 10% discount on the then-current initial franchise. We may cancel or modify this discount policy at any time. We participate in the International Franchise Association's Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative (“VetFran Program”). The VetFran Program encourages franchise ownership by offering financial incentives to honorably discharged veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. We offer a $2,000 discount from the initial franchise fee to veterans who meet the requirements of the VetFran program. You may receive only one discount or referral fee on the purchase of any given franchise. The minimum territory size has a population of 175,000. Except for the discounts described above, the minimum franchise fee is $39,500. We currently intend to impose each initial franchise fee uniformly except for the discounts described above. Each initial fee is fully earned when paid and is not refundable. We reserve the right to require you to pay an additional fee of $2,000 when you sign the franchise agreement in order to cover the cost of developing, constructing and designing your TruBlue web page, for SEO integration, and for development of the quoting software that you will use in your TruBlue business, but do not do so as of the issuance date of this disclosure document. We reserve the right to require you to purchase from our National Branding Fund up to $1,000 in pre-opening marketing materials and advertising to promote the business, but do not do so as of the issuance date of this disclosure document. We presently offer a rebate program called “The Winners' Circle” for new TruBlue owners that meet our qualifications and that achieve certain revenue goals. For qualifying owners, we will rebate $20,000 of the franchise fee they paid if they attain cumulative gross revenues of at least $400,000 during the two-year period after the Commencement Date; we will rebate an additional $10,000 of the franchise fee if they received the first rebate and attain cumulative gross revenues of at least $750,000 during the three-year period after the Commencement Date; and we will rebate the remainder of the franchise fee they paid if they received the first two rebates and attain cumulative gross revenues of at least $1,250,000 during the four-year period after the Commencement Date. The “Commencement Date” is the first day of the month following the month in which the training program for new owners is completed. If the owner fails to achieve any one of these revenue goals then he or she will not be eligible to receive any additional rebate. To be eligible for any rebate, the owner must not be in default under any agreement between us, must be current on all obligations to us, must have timely reported all gross revenues as required by the franchise agreement, must have paid when due all royalties, national branding fees, and other amounts due under the franchise agreement, and must have substantially complied with all other material terms and conditions of each agreement and instrument between us. NOTE: The revenue goals above are not to be construed as projections or estimates of actual or potential earnings, sales, or revenues. We make no representation that you or any other TruBlue owner has or will be able to achieve any of the revenue goals required to receive a rebate under this program. See Item 19 of this Disclosure Document for our disclosure regarding financial performance representations. We reserve the right to cancel or modify this rebate program at any time, but owners who have already been accepted into The Winners' Circle will be permitted to complete the program. Your franchise agreement does not give you any option, right of first refusal, or similar right to acquire additional franchises. However, you may purchase a right of first refusal to purchase an additional franchise territory at any time. The price for a right of first refusal is $3,000. This fee is non-refundable and will be credited toward the initial franchise fee if you exercise the right of first refusal. A right of first refusal would give you the right to purchase a specific territory first if another prospective purchaser shows an interest in purchasing the territory. Typically, you would have 7 calendar days after receipt of written notice to exercise the right, and we must typically receive your entire balance 7 calendar days after your receipt of notice. However, if our franchise disclosure document is amended after the time that you bought the right of first refusal, we will give you both written notice and a copy of our amended franchise disclosure document at the same time. You would then have 16 calendar days after your receipt of the notice and the amended franchise disclosure document to exercise the right of first refusal. Under these circumstances, we must receive the entire balance within 16 days of your receipt of both the notice and the amended franchise disclosure document. A right of first refusal lasts for 1 year. We reserve the right to change the price for a right of first refusal at any time. A right of first refusal agreement (attached to this disclosure document as Exhibit J) must be signed at the time you purchase a right of first refusal.

Financing

We do not offer direct or indirect financing. We do not guarantee your note, lease, or obligation.

Franchisee Revenue and Profit

The FTC's Franchise Rule permits a franchisor to provide information about the actual or potential financial performance of its franchised and/or franchisor-owned outlets, if there is a reasonable basis for the information, and if the information is included in the disclosure document. Financial performance information that differs from that included in Item 19 may be given only if: (1) a franchisor provides the actual records of an existing outlet you are considering buying; or (2) a franchisor supplements the information provided in this Item 19, for example, by providing information about performance at a particular location or under particular circumstances. We do not make any representations about a franchisee's future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets. We also do not authorize our employees or representatives to make any such representations either orally or in writing. If you are purchasing an existing outlet, however, we may provide you with the actual records of that outlet. If you receive any other financial performance information or projections of your future income, you should report it to the franchisor's management by contacting Jeffrey D. Siehl, 31 General Counsel, 10700 Montgomery Road, Suite 210, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242, (513) 563-8339, the Federal Trade Commission, and the appropriate state regulatory agencies.