"Encroachment"

     In the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, he mentions an important concept known as “Encroachment” (Schlosser 99). Which basically means, that in the recent years the fast food industry has been rapidly expanding therefore, restaurants belonging to the same chain can end up within the same location. This can lead to competition against each other, which can draw away customers for the opponent and drawing sales down. Despite the fact that encroachment was a major issue for the franchisees, as per the franchisor there was a great benefit out of this situation because, the more the sales of restaurants emerged, the more the profit. However, the first federal legislation to regulate franchising was passed by Congress. By law, full disclosure of the rules must be clarified to the inspiring franchisee prior to any sale. The concept encroachment is important because, it has been one of top the reasons why most food chains get sued by the franchisees.