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Franchisees File Law Suit Against Edible Arrangements

by Ed Teixeira

Edible Arrangements the franchisor that sells floral like designs from sculpted fresh fruit has been sued by a group of franchisees. Read further details of this story.

A group of 170 franchisees filed a lawsuit on September 20th against the franchisor, Edible Arrangements. The suit was brought in federal district court in Connecticut.

Edible Arrangements, which is based in Wallingford, Connecticut has over 780 franchisees in its network. The company started franchising in 1999 and has grown significantly over the past 10 years.

The EA Independent Franchisee Association which represents a number of EA franchisees brought the action. Numerous sources reported that Justin Klein, the attorney representing the franchisees stated that Edible Arrangements has altered its business arrangement with franchisees over the last several years. As a result, Klein stated, the franchisees have seen expenses increase because of new mandates implemented by Edible Arrangements.

Klein stated “The mandates that the franchisor is requiring the franchisees to implement is in violation of its contractual obligations and general principles of fairness,” Klein said.

Klein reported that the EA Independent Franchisee Association has been in existence for about a year and includes some Connecticut franchisees, Klein said, although he declined to identify any who are participating in the lawsuit. There are 32 Edible Arrangements stores in Connecticut, including eight in the New Haven area.

For the past year there have been reports of franchisee dissatisfaction and the lawsuit could be the result of a failure of the parties to resolve their differences.