Legal stoushes are a reasonably common occurance in the franchise business. The number of disagreements in this instance is not especially material.

The Juice business I think took everyone by surprise. First by its rapid expansion and then by it's rapid contraction as operators discovered how easy it is to emulate. While RFG were perhaps silly to try their hand so late, they followed quite a bit of "smart money" in doing so. I don't have any insight into the disagreements with former franchise holders but would be surprised if RFG has a contractual liability and suspect judgement will be required to clarify a moral one.

Donut King has been a long term performer. Joint venture expansion into Asian markets would seem the most likely "winning" combination to add some growth "gloss" to the share price. The existing mature business in Australasia still has incremental growth prospects in any case. Growth by aquisitions will either be expensive or risky and new concepts are a lottery. I would be hoping they don't get too innovative.