Former Freshslice Franchisee Mohd Rafi Zamani Sues The Company After Claiming $130,000 In Losses!

After former Freshslice franchisee Mohd Rafi Zamani sues the company, claiming he is out $130,000 in lost goodwill and that he faced obstacles when trying to sell his franchise, many other franchisees have come out with their own horror stories of trying to deal with the company that they feel have not been treating those who physically run the stores with not much gratitude. And when DESIBUZZCanada reached out to Freshslice ownership for comment on what the company had to say regarding these serious allegations, their representative responded with what seems like threats to freedom of expression by ordering us not to write the story because it was already reported and that now only the courts should do the reporting because the matter is now before the court. In what seems like a threat to freedom of expression, Ell wrote: “Our further comments are as follows: do not proceed with this story. Not only has BIV already thoroughly explored the dispute, but the matter is now with the courts. Any further reporting should therefore be left to the court. If you write about this or any matter related to Freshslice Pizza’s litigation, we will consider it an invitation to arms, in which case we will take any actions necessary to defend ourselves against your libelous publication causing us undue and irreparable harm.” In a fitting reply to Ell, DESIBUZZCanada wrote: ‘Thanks for your response but we do not appreciate your threatening and dictatorial tone in threatening us not to print the story. We don’t live in a fascist state where you can tell the media to not print stories as BIV story stands in the public domain and we have the freedom of the press to write follow-up stories as we desire. “We are currently in the initial phase of reporting on your franchisees’ lawsuits against you and it can’t be left to the court to report as the court’s job is to give a decision on this matter. We are free to report on this and will follow up and report on the court’s decision which maybe in your favour or in Mr. Zamani’s favour. So refrain from telling the media what to do in this matter as we have done our job in asking your response and will include your full written statement in our story when we report on it,” we wrote.

By PD Raj – Senior Reporter DESIBUZZCanada

VANCOUVER – After former Freshslice franchisee Mohd Rafi Zamani sues the company, claiming he is out $130,000 in lost goodwill and that he faced obstacles when trying to sell his franchise, many other franchisees have come out with their own horror stories of trying to deal with the company that they feel have not been treating those who physically run the stores with not much gratitude.

And when DESIBUZZCanada reached out to Freshslice ownership for comment on what the company had to say regarding these serious allegations, their representative responded with what seems like threats to freedom of expression by ordering us not to write the story because it was already reported and that now only the courts should do the reporting because the matter is now before the court.

DESIBUZZCanada had written to owner Ray Russell that we are seeking your side of the story on this ongoing dispute with your former Franchisee owner Rafi Zamani and others regarding the sale of their individual franchise.

We are following up on an earlier story done by Business In Vancouver BIV, where a number of allegations were made against Freshslice and their alleged high-handed tactics. See story below.

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/former-freshslice-pizza-franchisee-sues-after-termination-10087476

Freshslice representative Rob Ell, responding on behalf of owner Ray Russell, Ell said: “We responded to Mr. Zamani’s baseless allegations in our filed Response to Civil Claim. 

And in what seems like a threat to freedom of expression, Ell wrote: “Our further comments are as follows: do not proceed with this story. Not only has BIV already thoroughly explored the dispute, but the matter is now with the courts. Any further reporting should therefore be left to the court. If you write about this or any matter related to Freshslice Pizza’s litigation, we will consider it an invitation to arms, in which case we will take any actions necessary to defend ourselves against your libelous publication causing us undue and irreparable harm.”

In a fitting reply to Ell, DESIBUZZCanada wrote: ‘Thanks for your response but we do not appreciate your threatening and dictatorial tone in threatening us not to print the story. We don’t live in a fascist state where you can tell the media to not print stories as BIV story stands in the public domain and we have the freedom of the press to write follow-up stories as we desire. 

“We are currently in the initial phase of reporting on your franchisees’ lawsuits against you and it can’t be left to the court to report as the court’s job is to give a decision on this matter. We are free to report on this and will follow up and report on the court’s decision which maybe in your favour or in Mr. Zamani’s favour. So refrain from telling the media what to do in this matter as we have done our job in asking your response and will include your full written statement in our story when we report on it,” we wrote.

Zamani’s lawsuit lays bare the business truth of operating a franchise outlet in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in B.C. Supreme Court.

Court documents outline a strained relationship between operator Zamani of a former Freshslice Pizza franchise in Richmond and the Burnaby-based franchisor.

Zamani filed the lawsuit against franchisor RF Franchising Inc. and a related leasing corporation (S.A. Leasing Ltd.) after the franchisor terminated his franchise agreement.

Zamani seeks a series of declarations and damages related to what he calculated is $130,000 in lost goodwill, as well as any profit that Freshslice has been making by operating his franchise since July 16, according to his notice of civil claim.

Freshslice said in its Jan. 13 response to Zamani’s notice of civil claim that there was no loss of goodwill and there are no profits from that franchise’s operations since the franchisor took over.

It added that it terminated Zamani’s franchise agreement for cause: “repeated findings of substandard operations.”

Some of Freshslice’s accusations, in its response to Zamani’s lawsuit, is that Zamani told staff to save money by reducing the amount of ingredients put on pizzas, that he wrongly left dough on a table at room temperature and that he did not add extra staff on a day when there was a big promotion.

None of the allegations has been proven in court and the litigants disagree on many specifics.

From his side, Zamani said he signed a franchise agreement with franchisor RF Franchising Inc. in December 2022 and that his 1420258 BC Ltd. signed a sublease agreement with S.A. Leasing Ltd. ten months later for the location.

Those contracts allowed 1420258 BC Ltd. to own and operate a Freshslice location at 3866 Bayview Street in Richmond, starting in December 2023, Zamani’s lawsuit alleges.

Freshslice counters that it did not grant Zamani the right to own a franchise, but rather simply the right to operate a Freshslice Pizza-branded restaurant at the location.

The two sides also disagree about the franchise’s financing.

Zamani alleged in his lawsuit that he paid $310,000 to sublease the franchise, $52,500 for an initial franchise fee and $25,000 for inventory. Of that $290,000 was to be financed by the franchisor.

“RF did not provide financing,” Freshslice said in its response to the lawsuit.

Without going into each of the many disagreements, the crux of Zamani’s lawsuit is his claim that Freshslice acted in a way that kept him from being able to sell the franchise to the highest bidder.

One offer Zamani alleged was for $465,000, but a condition was obtaining historical financial statements for the franchise location – something he said in his lawsuit that Freshslice did not provide soon enough.

Freshslice denies this.

No court date has yet been set.

Freshslice’s lawyer Vincent Li told BIV in an email that “generally speaking, we will next be exchanging evidence and having potential witnesses examined on said evidence (outside of court). We likely won’t see trial dates set until after examinations.”

Zamani is not alone in his angst against Franchise brass, other franchisees have also aired their disapproval of the way the company treats those who run the physical part of the business.

Several other Freshslice franchisees also reached out to air their grievances against the company including Jaskirat Singh, who is also suing Freshslice.

“I’m reaching out because I recently spoke with Rafi Zamani, whom I understand you’ve also been in contact with. I wanted to share my own difficult experience with Freshslice Pizza, as the past year has been incredibly stressful and the work environment extremely toxic,” another Franchisee told DESIBUZZCanada.

“I joined Freshslice on March 11, 2024, relocating from Ontario to British Columbia—a move of over 4,400 km—entirely at my own expense. Despite the significant financial burden (over $14,000), I believed this opportunity was worth the investment. However, from the very start, I realized the reality of the role was far from what had been promised.”

Many others, including workers, told DESIBUZZCanada sordid stories about the ownership team and it’s practices and bullying work environment including what they saw and were forced to endure. Due to the nature of anonymous nature of the subjects, we cannot fully report on the details that they have provided to DESIBUZZCanada about the conduct of Freshslice but it is something many of them are considering airing in the court to expose the company.

“I find all this very upsetting. We just want to stop getting bullied,” Zamani told DESIBUZZCanada.