“Making It Work” is a series about small-business owners striving to endure hard times.
When Kenneth Laskin flew to California to meet with executives at Burgerim, a start-up chain of restaurants, he was made to feel not just like another prospective franchisee, but like part of a family.
The company’s executives, he said, made a point one evening of highlighting their common Jewish faith by praying with him in Hebrew.
At the time, in 2017, Mr. Laskin believed he was being offered a plum deal. He paid $50,000 for the right to open up as many Burgerim franchised restaurants as he wanted in Oregon. “I got an entire state,” Mr. Laskin recalled.
Today, Burgerim has run into trouble, leaving a trail of financial problems, a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and broader regulatory scrutiny of whether protections for franchisees like Mr. Laskin are adequate.
The challenges highlighted by Burgerim come as franchising continues to grow as a way that people are choosing to start small businesses.