The franchise relationship table has twenty-three rows, and the one governing the most physical, most expensive work is usually described in the fewest words. Buyers read the renewal and termination-for-cause rows, because those decide whether the relationship continues. Row (i) decides what happens in the four weeks after it doesn't, and almost nobody prices it, because the summary makes it sound like paperwork.
The shortest summary in the table
Item 17 is a fixed grid. The rule at 16 CFR § 436.5(q) requires a table headed THE FRANCHISE RELATIONSHIP with a lettered row for each of twenty-three provisions, a column naming the governing section of the agreement, and a column summarizing it. Row (i) is "Franchisee's obligations on termination/non-renewal."
The FTC's own model of how that row gets filled in is instructive. In the sample Item 17 published in the agency's Franchise Rule Compliance Guide, the fictional franchisor Belmont answers row (i) in a single clause: obligations include complete de-identification and payment of amounts due, followed by a pointer to the post-term non-compete row further down. That is the shape you will see in real documents too. One clause about identity, one clause about money, and a cross-reference.
Two details in that sample repay attention. The summary sends you somewhere else, so row (i) is never the whole answer on its own. And the section number Belmont cites for row (i) is the same one it cites for non-curable defaults: termination triggers and termination consequences tend to be drafted in the same article of the agreement, which is where you should go read them.
What "complete" turns out to include
De-identification sounds like taking down a sign. In a mature system it is a list, written by people who have watched former franchisees keep trading on a brand they no longer license. Expect most of the following: exterior and interior signage, the pylon sign, awnings and window graphics, the paint scheme and trade-dress colors, menu boards, packaging and printed collateral, uniforms, vehicle wraps, hold music and recorded greetings, proprietary fixtures bearing the marks, and every copy of the operations manual.
Three mechanics turn that list into a number. Who bears the cost, which is almost always you. How many days you have, which in most agreements runs from ten to thirty and starts on the effective date of termination rather than the day you finish arguing about it. And whether the franchisor has a self-help right — language letting it enter the premises, remove or cover the marks itself, and bill you. Self-help clauses are common and not by themselves a red flag, but they convert a disputed deadline into an invoice you did not authorize.
One asymmetry is worth noticing before you choose a site. If you lease, the de-identification you owe the franchisor sits alongside whatever restoration you owe the landlord, and the two can require opposite work on the same wall. If you own the building, you pay to strip a brand off an asset you keep, at the moment the revenue that justified the build-out has stopped.
The assets the clause quietly reassigns
The part of row (i) that surprises people has nothing to do with signage. Modern agreements treat the channels that route customers to your unit as brand property, and require you to hand them over on termination rather than merely stop using them. The recurring items: the local telephone number, the domain name and any variants you registered, directory and review listings, the Google Business Profile for the location, the local social accounts, brand-domain email addresses, and in many systems the customer list with contact details and purchase history.
Two clauses make that transfer enforceable in practice. One is an assignment covenant obliging you to execute whatever the carrier, registrar, or platform requires. The other is a limited power of attorney authorizing the franchisor to sign in your name if you don't. Read whether the power of attorney is limited to these transfers or drafted broadly, because the difference matters.
The practical hazard here has nothing to do with bad faith. If you built the unit's following on an account tied to your own name, or ran one phone number for the franchise and your other business, disentangling them under a ten-day clock is genuinely hard. Register every channel as a separate, brand-scoped asset on day one and the eventual handover stays administrative.
Money that comes due the same week
The second half of the standard row (i) summary is payment of amounts due, and that phrase compresses several obligations that accelerate at once: unpaid royalties and advertising-fund contributions through the termination date, the balance on any note or equipment lease held by the franchisor, amounts owed to affiliated suppliers, an audit fee if an audit is pending, and in many agreements a liquidated-damages figure calculated on the unexpired term. Prevailing-party attorney-fee provisions sit on top.
Whether any of it is collectible from you personally is a different clause. A personal guarantee is the instrument that carries these amounts past the entity and onto your own balance sheet, and guarantees are routinely drafted to survive the agreement they secured.
The option that decides who owns the equipment
Row (o) of the same table — the franchisor's option to purchase your business — is where the physical assets end up if the franchisor wants them. Read three things. What it covers, since some options reach only equipment and inventory while others reach the lease and the whole going concern. How the price is set, typically a formula such as book value or depreciated cost, frequently excluding goodwill by express language. And when the franchisor must decide, because an option exercisable weeks after termination lets it choose with your closing numbers in front of it.
Read row (o) together with row (i). If the option is exercised, some of the de-identification you were dreading becomes the buyer's problem. If it lapses, you own a room full of equipment that has to be stripped of marks before anyone will buy it.
Obligations with no end date
Some duties simply keep running. Confidentiality covenants over recipes, pricing, and system documents commonly have no expiry. Indemnity obligations for claims arising from your period of operation survive by express drafting, which is why tail coverage on your liability policy is worth pricing. Record-retention clauses can require you to keep books available for audit for years after closing. And the post-term non-compete — row (r), the one row (i) points at — sets the outer limit on what you can do next, and where.
Pricing row (i) before you sign
Work the row the way it was designed to be worked. Note the section number in the middle column, open that section in the agreement exhibit, and read it in full rather than trusting the summary. Write down the deadline in days and what event starts the clock. Get the contractor estimate. List every channel the clause requires you to assign. Ask the franchisor, in writing, whether a self-help right exists and whether the power of attorney is limited to these transfers.
Then find two former franchisees. Item 20 requires the franchisor to publish the name, city and state, and business telephone number of each franchisee whose outlet left the system during the most recently completed fiscal year, by termination, cancellation, non-renewal, or any other cessation of business. Those are the only people who can tell you how the clause behaved in practice: how long the franchisor actually allowed, what it demanded be removed, whether it exercised the purchase option, and what the exit cost once the revenue had stopped. Expect some of them to be unable to answer, since the same item requires the franchisor to warn you that current and former franchisees may have signed provisions restricting their ability to speak openly about the system. Bring the section and the estimate to a franchise attorney. Row (i) is a bill with a due date, and it is far cheaper to read while you still have the option not to sign.