Buying an existing Panago

What Panago says about existing stores

Panago’s opportunities page carries a section headed “Resale Opportunities” with one sentence: “Learn about choice existing stores for sale by contacting us” (as published, read Oct 20, 2026). It names no stores and no prices. Panago is telling prospective franchisees that it knows of stores whose owners want out and will introduce an approved applicant; the sale itself is still between that owner and the buyer.

Resale or new store?

Two kinds of Panago listing appear on Deavo. A resale is advertised by a franchisee, or a broker acting for one, and its asking price is that seller’s number for a trading store — an existing lease, equipment and a sales history are part of what is being sold. A new-store opening is advertised by or for the franchisor, and its figure is closer to Panago’s published average start-up cost of about $625,000, not including working capital. The cards below say which is which, and an asking price is what the advertiser wrote, not a valuation.

The franchisor still approves the buyer

Essentially every franchise agreement makes a transfer conditional on the franchisor’s consent, and Panago’s is no exception in principle — who has to approve a franchise resale explains the two approvals that run on separate tracks. Expect a transfer fee, expect to be asked to complete some or all of Panago’s five-week training programme (does a resale require retraining?), and check whether the store meets the current build standard, because a required renovation changes the real price (do I have to renovate a franchise resale?).

Disclosure before you sign

In Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan — the provinces where Panago is currently listed — the franchise statute, where disclosure applies, has the franchisor deliver a disclosure document at least 14 days before you sign anything or pay any money, and that document is where the royalty and advertising rates not published on Panago’s cost page are set out. The statutes’ exemptions are narrow and fact-specific, and a resale from a franchisee is the case where it most often matters whether disclosure applies at all — what disclosure a resale buyer gets explains how the rule works when the seller is a franchisee rather than the franchisor.

Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000 shows what such an exemption looks like. Section 5(7)(a) says the disclosure duty does not apply to “the grant of a franchise by a franchisee” if all four conditions hold: the franchisee “is not the franchisor, an associate of the franchisor or a director, officer or employee of the franchisor or of the franchisor’s associate”; the franchise is for the franchisee’s own account; in the case of a master franchise, the entire franchise is granted; and the grant “is not effected by or through the franchisor.” Section 5(8) adds that a grant is not “effected by or through” the franchisor merely because the franchisor has a right, exercisable on reasonable grounds, to approve or disapprove it, or because a transfer fee is payable — one set out in the franchise agreement or no more than the franchisor’s reasonable actual cost of processing the grant. So buying an Ontario Panago store from its franchisee may come with no disclosure document at all; whether it does depends on the facts of the sale, which is a question for a franchise lawyer before you sign.