Corporate names

[DrFaroohk]

I don't know if this is a hate, per se, more of just an annoyance. But anyway I see a lot of big corporations with different "real names". i.e. when I worked for Circle K...the name of the company isn't even Circle K! Nor was it Couche tard. The name on my pay stub was "Mac's Convenience Stores, Inc." Same as when they fired me and I applied for unemployment - there was actually a big confusion because the corporate name for Circle K was listed as Gibb's Oil, Inc. (which they used to be part of back in the 80's I guess...)

Well why didn't they either A) call the store "Mac's" or B) call the company "Circle K, Inc."? It just makes it more confusing.

[HYHYBT]

Sounds like a franchise. For instance, I worked at what, for the purposes of this thread, I'll just call a VERY well-known fast food chain... but I've never been employed by WW-KFFC. The company I worked for had, depending on the year, between 10-14 stores and is named "Northeast Georgia Inc."

(This, by the way, is why I thought it funny for a while to have my location listed as "somewhere in Northeast Georgia.")

Which serves well in another way, too: had the fast food franchise thing not worked out, the owners could have done nearly *anything* else, so long as they didn't move, and kept the name.

[muses_nightmare]

There are Actually Convenience stores called Mac's, (if you didn't know), they probably just have different "brand" names for different stores or something. Like the whole Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy thing. Or Naturalizer, which is run by Brown Shoes (or something like that, I wasn't there for long so I can't remember).

When I was with Chevron, I never worked for "chevron" I worked for my manager's company, so if a new manager came in, he would have to rehire everyone, well not have to, which could have been a problem, like when I got "rehired" to work at the store I had been at for nearly a year by the new manager, he dropped my pay rate down by $1, and there wasn't a damn thing I could say about it. It's a really weird way for the business to work.

[smileyeagle1021]

Sounds like a franchise.

I was thinking the same thing... when I worked from Carl's Jr. my paychecks came from Rocky Mountain Restaurants.
Almost all the national chains don't operate their own outlets, rather they franchise out to smaller companies who will take the risk of ownership in exchange for the name. The hotel I work at is a franchise, we take over the risk of losing money and pay a percentage of room revenue (I believe it's something like 10%) and in exchange we get a nationally recognized name, nationally provided advertising, and a worldwide reservation network. Fast food restaurants pay their portion of sales in exchange for advertising and a premade menu that already has the market research done for them. 7-11 (and other convenience store) get the recognizable name as well as the trademarked products (just try to buy a slurpee anywhere other than 7-11). It's a business model that makes sense, everyone wins. The local owner gets the support of a nationwide network and corporate has the task of managing individual stores taken off of their hands... corporate has lower costs and the owner has higher revenue.

[powerboy]

When I worked for the storage place, I was not working for HLSS. I was working for the owners main business. It was confusing for the EDD, when I got laid off.

[muses_nightmare]

When I worked for the storage place, I was not working for HLSS. I was working for the owners main business. It was confusing for the EDD, when I got laid off.

I know what you mean, like I said at Chevron I worked for the manager's company, not for Chevron itself. So when I was moving and trying to get EI I had to talk to several people and explain to them that no, I didn't have 3 different jobs, just three different managers at the same job. It was a pain in the ass.

[jackfaire]

Well why didn't they either A) call the store "Mac's" or B) call the company "Circle K, Inc."? It just makes it more confusing.

If it is a Franchise then you do not work for Circle K you work for Mac's Convenience Stores Inc.

It's not done on a whim it is a legal issue. The person who formed the Mac's had two choices he could open a convenience store and do everything all on his own shop for vendors establish people to order his product from etc or he can contract with a company who already has the infrastructure set in place.

The smart thing to do is to go with a franchise because then he has a ready made infrastructure to tap into helping ensure his success.

The legal part is that while he is now paying Circle K for the right to use their infrastructure and use their name on his store he is not Circle K themselves and cannot claim that he is.

Thus his DBA (Does Business As) name is Circle K but that is not the name he has registered for tax purposes of which your payroll is involved. His Taxes are filed under Mac's Convenience Store since those are his responsibility not Circle K's.

If he were to sign your checks Circle K he would be committing fraud.

I hope that answers the question.