Dutch retail giant Ahold has been accused of stifling its franchise partners in the Netherlands, according to a report in a Dutch newspaper.
The Volksrant newspaper has claimed franchisees of Ahold’s Albert Heijn chain feel the company is curtailing their freedom and stopping them from growing.
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The report said the atmosphere between the retailer and its franchisees is so bad that they only talk through a mediator. A problem, the newspaper said, is that Albert Heijn has first refusal on any franchise-owned stores that come up for sale and always asserts the right, preventing other franchisees from doing so.
A spokesman from Albert Heijn said around a quarter of the company’s 850 stores are franchise-owned and it has worked with them since 1983. He sought to play down the claims of tensions with the retailer’s franchisees.
He said: “Together with them, we have developed a model which is very successful and beneficial for everyone. The main advantage of the model is that each franchisee is truly rooted in their local community and know their customer base inside out. This allows them to be very close to the customer and to cater to their needs.
“We have always been, and are now, in constructive discussions with our franchisees to ensure that the relationships develop with the environment around us and can be as successful in the future as they have been in the past.”
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