Our vision
Clarity isn’t a feature. It’s the prerequisite for good decisions in franchising.
Why we built Clearly
Franchising is one of the most accessible paths to business ownership — but the process is complicated.
The FDD is written based on federal guidelines from the FTC* to keep franchise disclosures consistent. But franchise brands all operate differently. You don’t run a restaurant — or interact with the franchisor — the same way you would with a home repair company or a retail outlet. One document can’t capture every nuance of every business model, but the FDD is expected to do all of it.
We didn’t build ClearlyFDD to replace attorneys or give legal advice. We built it because the FDD — the single most important document in franchising — is dense, long, and confusing for the people signing it. And that’s a problem for everyone: buyers who don’t know what they’re signing, brokers who lose deals during FDD review, franchisors who end up with mismatched partners, and attorneys who spend billable hours on orientation instead of strategy.
Relationships between franchisors and franchisees are complex. ClearlyFDD is here to help everyone understand the obligations they have to each other — before they sign, because mistakes are expensive.
From the blogHow to Read an FDD: all 23 required Items, explained — with a video walkthrough by our founder →The stakes, in three numbers
$45,000
Average initial franchise fee§
The ticket to entry — paid before build-out, equipment, or working capital. Disclosed in Item 5 of every FDD.
$189,500–
$455,300
Typical disclosed total investment‡
At these stakes, fully understanding the agreement isn’t optional — it’s the foundation of every good decision.
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IFA recommendations to improve the FDD†
The IFA’s 2024 Responsible Franchising guidelines name four ways to make the FDD clearer. ClearlyFDD does all four — detailed below.
§ Average Item 5 initial franchise fee across all franchise brands in the ClearlyFDD directory.
‡ Median Item 7 range across 1,751 current FDDs on Clearly, excluding hotel and lodging brands. Updated August 2026.
† The International Franchise Association’s 2024 Responsible Franchising initiative outlines best-practice recommendations for improving FDD clarity, including an executive summary, conversational format, sharper focus on Items 7, 19, and 20, and modernized delivery.
* The Federal Trade Commission’s Franchise Rule requires franchisors to provide a Franchise Disclosure Document to prospective franchisees at least 14 days before any agreement is signed or payment made.
Responsible franchising
The four changes the IFA recommends — and how Clearly makes them.
The IFA’s 2024 Responsible Franchising initiative† outlines best-practice recommendations for improving FDD clarity. We didn’t build Clearly to check these boxes — we built it the way a former franchisor thought it should work, and discovered the IFA had named the same four fixes.
An executive summary
The IFA recommends
The Clearly Report™ is exactly that: the most-requested Items reported, explained, and cited by Item number and page — a summary you can trace back to the source.
A conversational format
The IFA recommends
Every report is written in plain English — and Clara answers questions about the filing in your own words, citing the Item and page for every answer. No opinions, no legal advice.
Sharper focus on Items 7, 19, and 20
The IFA recommends
Initial Investment, financial performance, and system size lead every brand card, comparison, and report in the directory — the three Items buyers ask about first, surfaced first.
Modernized delivery
The IFA recommends
A digital Workspace instead of a 500-page PDF: searchable, year-over-year comparable, downloadable, and saved to your Library permanently.
Clearly today
Not a thesis. A working directory.
§ Every figure on this page is drawn from the filings.
§The Workspace — Dunkin’, 2026 FDD
§Founded and exited Dogtopia
From the founder
“The best franchise relationships start with full understanding on both sides — before anything is signed. I’ve seen that from every seat: as a founder, and since then advising dozens of franchisors and even more prospective franchisees. Both kept running into the same wall: the FDD is complicated, even for the people who write it. It shouldn’t have to be this hard.
Clearly is built on a simple belief — when franchisors and prospects can talk openly and clearly about the business, everyone makes better decisions.”
— Amy Nichols, Founder
LinkedIn →The FDD is written for compliance, not clarity. We translate it.