US state Maine forms independent association to back up franchise businesses

Franchise owners from the state of Maine, USA, have recently formed the Maine Franchise Owners Association (MFOA), an independent organization aiming to unite franchise owners in the Maine community and to provide advocacy for the local legislation.

MFOA, whose head office is located in Portland, the largest city in the state, is funded by fees paid by franchise owners.

Bangor is the city with the most franchise units in the state of Mine, USA.

Memberships programs range from $100 to $5,000 and are classified in four different groups: the Maine Franchise Owners program, Friends of Maine Franchise Owners, Sponsor Membership, and the limited-time Founding/Lifetime Membership program.

Maine has some 3,500 franchised units which employ directly over 38,000 citizens according to a report examining the impact franchising has on Maine’s economy.

Bangor is the city with the largest number of franchise units, or 98. Next in line is Portland with 95 franchises, followed by South Portland and Augusta with 67 and 63 franchise units respectively.

Many franchise chains have more than one unit in the state, including Pizza Hut, Subway, UPS, Holiday Inn, Hardware Ace and Planet Fitness.

The main objective of the association is to make Maine a better place for business.