This is the BBC.

In this edition of the bottom line, we're looking at franchising.

Is it the low-risk way to start running your own business?

Hello and welcome to the programme.

I don't know if you saw the film The Founder.

It's highly recommended, particularly for an audience to this program. It was out a

couple of years ago. And it's the story of Ray Croc, the man who made McDonald's, what it is today.

And it is a pretty good introduction to our subject today as well, franchising. The concept is

quite simple. You take a well-established brand like McDonald's, and you let independent proprietors open their own branches.

What the proprietor gets is the ability to run their own business using an off-the-shelf proven model, taking away a lot of risk.

What McDonald's gets from the deal is payments for the use of their name and their processes.

In the UK, there are over 900 different franchises available,

from oven cleaning to teaching maths, fast food, to home care.

So today we'll analyse why it succeeds and where it can go wrong, from anyone's point of view.

And let's meet my guests, a franchisee, a franchisor and a lawyer.

Always good to have one in the room. First up, let's meet the franchisor. Ken Deary, Chief Executive of Right at Home, a company that provides home care, mainly for elderly people.

Just tell us about the operation then, Ken.

Yeah, quite interestingly, Evan, I've been both a franchisee and a franchisor.

So I started life in franchising as a franchisee for Mr. Crox business being McDonald's. So, you know, and during that time, I think I was probably

one McDonald's most successful franchisees winning the British Franchise Association's

franchisee of the year, the first McDonald's person to do that. How many McDonald's branches were

in your purvey? I had four, which was a maximum you could have at the time since then

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