The Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) is a document listing all franchise outlets nationwide. With the increasing desire to expand local businesses nationwide, franchising has become an increasing option for companies to grow their businesses, sell more products and services and therefore receive additional royalties from franchise outlets. Due to Federal and State regulatory bodies, each one of these outlets must be listed in the UFOC. Each potential franchise buyer must receive a UFOC document within 10 days prior to purchase.

A Franchisor Business Management Team should find it very important to constantly update any information in the UFOC exhibits, which are attached to the UFOC document. One should be aware that there are often irregularities between information and the UFOC document and the franchise agreement with what is in the exhibit pages. Usually the discrepancy is apparent where the number of outlets and names and addresses of each franchisee are listed. In the litigation section of the UFOC document it is not required to cross-reference the exhibit pages of franchise outlets names and phone numbers. The reason for this is because a franchise in litigation may have been terminated from the franchise system and is no longer an outlet hence the person is no longer a franchisee.

It is also common that the company name they use on the UFOC document may not be their actual name and it could be difficult to contact them or find out exactly who they are. It is a major issue keeping the outlet pages and phone numbers organized in the UFOC document as they change and sometimes are being built before a phone number has been established. Also, people who have unlisted numbers have the option to have their numbers kept unlisted for privacy reasons. Most franchisees do not disclose this information in the UFOC document because of the many requests from potential franchisees, which can disrupt running the business and an individual's family life. Some legitimate franchise buyers waste the time of franchisees by calling them up and asking them a multitude of questions throughout the day and night. The dilemma is more sophisticated franchise buyers demand such information from the UFOC document so they can get accurate information from current franchisees prior to making a purchase decision for a franchise business.

Many franchisees desire that no phone numbers or addresses be listed in the UFOC document. Their reason for this is they view the document as one used by lawyers, competitors, and those wishing to hurt the franchisor. Most current franchisees would like to have a potential franchise buyer submit any request in writing the nearest location of a franchise once qualified.