“What would the legal ramifications from corporate actually look like if we tried to leave?” BAM’s contract now charges a terminated owner royalties for every month left on a ten-year term.
On October 10 Coach’s Archives read out an email it says came from a current Bricks & Minifigs owner. The question is the writer’s, who says the store “can barely afford to keep our doors open” and that there is “so much time left on our franchise agreement.” BAM’s own agreement has changed twice on what a terminated owner owes. Through 2020 an owner BAM terminated for default owed royalties for the rest of the term or three years, “whichever comes first.” The 2021 form dropped the three years and charges for every one of “the remaining months in the term.” The 2023 form doubled the term from five years to ten and raised the renewal fee from $2,000 to $5,000, and BAM’s own marked copy shows the old figures struck through. Since 2021 the disclosure document has listed the section that lets an owner end the agreement as “None.”
PRIMARY SOURCEBAM’s franchise agreements and disclosure documents, 2017 through September 2026. Four letters from BAM’s lawyers, two of which BAM filed in court.
AS REPORTEDThe email Coach’s Archives read out on October 10, 2026, and the channel’s statement that it has verified the writer owns a store.
UNRESOLVEDWhether BAM is asking owners whose agreements are ending to renew for ten years, as the channel says it has heard.
“I’m scared to share who I am”
Coach’s Archives is run by Coach, a host of Echo Base Network. On October 10 he published a video built around one email.
He says the channel knows who the writer is and had heard from the writer before, and that “we have already verified their standing with Bricks and Minifigs. They are a legitimate store owner right now in the present.” He does not name the writer or say how the check was made.
The email is on screen as he reads it, and nothing on screen names a person, a store or a state.
Hi guys,
I’ve been silently watching every video, and I finally decided to reach out because I honestly don’t know who else to ask.
I have so many questions about how TJ and Jen were able to do this. They don’t know me, and I’m scared to share who I am because I genuinely worry about possible retaliation and what could happen to us.
We still have so much time left on our franchise agreement. One of my biggest questions is: what would the legal ramifications from corporate actually look like if we tried to leave?
We could never afford a major legal battle. At this point, we can barely afford to keep our doors open. On top of that, we have so much tied up in loans and in this business. Walking away isn’t as simple as closing the doors and moving on. We could lose everything we’ve invested while still being responsible for the debt we took on to open the store. That’s terrifying for our family.
We don’t have someone like Ben reaching out to help us or offering us a way out. We’re just trying to survive while dealing with the phone calls, vandalism, negative reviews, and social media hatred from people who are angry because we haven’t left yet.
I wish people understood that staying doesn’t necessarily mean we agree with everything that has happened. For some of us, we simply don’t know how to leave without potentially destroying ourselves financially.
Jen’s letter sounded so much like what we have been feeling. We keep trying to tell our staff that things will get better, but at some point, we don’t know how to keep saying that when things aren’t getting better.
We never wanted any of this. We just wanted to own a store, build something for our family, and bring something fun and positive to our community. Instead, we feel completely defeated while watching more and more come out on YouTube and wondering what we are supposed to do.
We understand that you may not have answers or information you can share with us. I was just hoping that maybe you know someone we could safely reach out to - someone who understands what franchisees in our position are dealing with and could help us understand what options we actually have.
I’m sorry for reaching out somewhat anonymously. I hope you can understand why I’m scared.
You were honestly the only people I could think of to write to.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Coach reads “TJ” and “Jen” as TJ Roberts of the Tucson store and Jen Martin of the Sarasota store, which reopened under new names in September (October 9). “Ben” reads as Benjamin Schneider, the YouTuber Reckless Ben. On his own stream he described an offer he said he had put out to franchise owners, “You can put Reckless Bricks on your store. You can just pay me zero percent” (September 12).
The writer worries about “possible retaliation” if identified, and writes of hostility “from people who are angry because we haven’t left yet.”
“I wish people understood that staying doesn’t necessarily mean we agree with everything that has happened.”
“Whichever comes first”
Every form of BAM’s franchise agreement since 2017 makes a store that is not operated “for five (5) consecutive days” a ground for termination. Since 2021 it is one of the events that end a franchise “without notice, at our discretion,” unless BAM approved the closing in writing beforehand or a fire, a flood, another casualty or a government order caused it (September 17).
What the owner then owes has changed. In the forms of 2017 through 2020, an owner BAM terminated for default paid the royalties and advertising fees BAM “would have received,” for “either (1) the remaining term of this Agreement or (2) a period of three (3) years (whichever comes first).”
BAM wrote its own example into the clause. If “48 months (4 years) remain on the term of this Agreement, then the Royalty Fee payment under this subsection (a) would be $X multiplied by 36 (3 years)” (the 2020 edition, pages 126 and 127).
The form BAM issued on April 30, 2021 is a new agreement, and the three years are not in it. “If we terminate this Agreement for cause, you must pay us liquidated damages equal to the average monthly Royalty Fees paid by you during the 12 months immediately preceding the period multiplied by the remaining months in the term of this Agreement” (the 2021 edition, page 99). Every form since carries the same sentence (September 27). Since 2024 the section also calls the formula “a reasonable, good faith pre-estimate of those damages” and says it “does not cover any other damages.”
The same 2021 edition changed a row in the disclosure document’s Item 17, headed “Termination by you.” In the editions of 2017 through 2020 it read: “If we have materially failed to comply with terms of the FA after 90 days’ notice.” In 2021 it reads “None” and “Not applicable.”
Since 2022 the row has said an owner “may terminate the Franchise Agreement under any grounds permitted by” state law. The section of the agreement it points to is still “None” (the September 2026 amendment, page 53).
Five years became ten
The formula multiplies by the months left, so a longer term means a larger sum.
In BAM’s 2021 and 2022 forms the term was five years and the renewal was five. The 2023 form BAM filed with Minnesota is a marked copy, with the old words struck and the new ones underlined (the marked 2023 edition, pages 77 and 78).
The first term and the renewal each went from five years to ten, and the renewal fee from $2,000 to $5,000. Every form since says the same.
Terminated one year into the 2020 form, an owner owed at most 36 months of royalties and advertising fees. One year into the current form, the formula runs for 108 months of royalties. The royalty is 6 percent of monthly revenue or $500 a month, whichever is greater. For an owner who paid the $500 minimum in each of the last twelve months, that is $6,000 for every year left (the September 2026 amendment, pages 14 and 129). The document’s note on royalties tells a buyer, “If your Franchise Agreement is terminated, you may be required to continue such royalty payments for the term of your Franchise Agreement” (page 18).
BAM’s document attaches addenda for particular states. The North Dakota addendum says provisions that make a franchisee “consent to termination or liquidated damages” are “not enforceable in North Dakota” and are “deleted from the Disclosure Document and Franchise Agreement.” The California addendum says “certain liquidated damages clauses are unenforceable” under that state’s Civil Code (pages 382 and 375). The Minnesota section of the franchise agreement says BAM will follow the statute requiring, “except in certain specific cases, that we give you 90 days notice of termination (with 60 days to cure)” (page 175). Other states have their own rules (the law in each state).
To renew at all, the 2021 form and every form since make the owner sign BAM’s “then-current form of Franchise Agreement that may include different Royalty Fees, marketing fees and other fees and charges,” take “a renewal term with no additional renewal rights,” and give “a general release of any and all claims against us or our Affiliates and our and their respective officers, directors, attorneys, shareholders and employees.”
In the video Coach says: “If your franchise agreement ends, the word is that Bricks and Minifigs is now trying to get everybody to renew with a 10-year contract, not a five-year contract.” He does not say where he heard it.
BAM’s current form sets the first term and the renewal at ten years each. An owner who signed the 2021 or 2022 form holds an agreement whose own renewal clause reads “an additional five (5) year term.”
The disclosure document’s own table puts the term differently from the agreement attached to it. Item 17 says the term matches the store’s lease, “not less than 10 years or more than 12 years,” and five to seven in the 2022 edition.
After the store
The agreement bars a former owner, “for a period of two (2) years (or three (3) years if we purchase your Store as provided below),” from any competing business in the territory or “within a radius of five miles” of any Bricks & Minifigs store. The disclosure document’s summary of the same clause says three years and 25 miles (September 12).
Each owner of the company that holds the franchise “must personally guarantee” what it owes (the September 2026 amendment, page 51).
Four letters
Four letters from BAM’s lawyers to owners whose franchises BAM was ending, or warning it would end, are public. BAM filed two of them in court itself.
On September 1, 2023 the lawyers ended the Canby, Oregon franchise “effectively immediately.” The letter said “BAM’s purchase of any of the assets will include a global release to all claims against BAM” (August 3).
On November 24, 2023 they sent the Messers, who held three franchises, a notice of default with 30 days to cure. If the franchises ended, it said, they would owe liquidated damages by the formula and would have to “Sell to BAM your interests in the Franchises, all Accepted Location,” with the equipment, fixtures and leases. BAM sued the Messers’ company on January 4, 2024, and the case was dismissed that August (September 27). BAM’s 2025 disclosure document lists three Messer stores among the franchisees who left, one under “Transferred to New Owner” and two under “Mutual Termination” (the 2025 edition, page 287).
On November 14, 2024 they ended the Salem franchise “effective immediately.” The letter demanded $97,393.70 within 15 days, the sum BAM said was unpaid, and “liquidated damages equal to the average monthly Royalty Fees paid by you during the 12 months immediately preceding the period multiplied by the remaining months in the term.” It imposed a covenant “For three years, commencing on today’s date.” It said BAM would be “purchasing the assets of the Franchise” after an appraisal. In place of the $97,393.70, the liquidated damages and attorney’s fees, it offered this: BAM “is willing to assume ownership of the Salem, OR store, all of BAMF Salem 1’s assets (including but not limited to inventory and fixtures), and a waiver of all claims against BAM” (August 19). The letter was copied to Ammon McNeff, BAM’s chief executive. The store passed to BAM that evening.
On December 12, 2024 they ended the franchise in Wesley Chapel, Florida at once. The letter put the owner’s debt at “approximately $163,734.22,” liquidated damages included, and counted “approximately $80,000 in unpaid Franchise Fees stemming from the purchase of the Wesley Chapel location,” a store BAM had sold him. On its last page it offered to waive “any payment owed” if he “agrees to transfer ownership of the franchise location and all of the franchisee’s assets (as defined in the Franchise Agreement), and to further comply with all post-termination obligations under the Franchise Agreement” (September 27).
The stores of the two owners the writer asks about reopened under new names on September 12 and September 19. The Tucson store has been shut since September 17, and its website says a new location is coming. On September 19 Matt McNeff, BAM’s chief operations officer, told franchisees the Tucson store “will be shut down and will be remaining permanently closed” and that BAM would take “the appropriate steps and actions necessary” in Sarasota. The lock on the Tucson store was changed on September 23, and BAM has not said in public whether the locksmith was its. On October 2 an email told the Sarasota store’s customers “our Sarasota store is closed.” The store says it is open (October 9). Martin has written that formal notices came first and then a termination notice (October 3).
The fair reading, and its limit. The email is one writer’s account. Coach’s Archives says it knows who the writer is and has verified that the writer owns a store, and it does not say how. Fixed terms, covenants not to compete, releases on renewal and damages for early termination are common in franchise agreements. BAM’s document makes the release and the covenants “subject to state law,” and each owner is bound by the agreement that owner signed, not by the current form. All four letters went to owners BAM said were in default, and the $97,393.70 in the Salem letter and more than half of the Wesley Chapel figure are sums BAM said were already owed. The email does not say when or where its writer signed, so it does not show which form binds the writer. BAM has not said in public what it is offering owners whose agreements are ending. None of this is legal advice. The right of reply is open to BAM and to every owner.
The record
Coach’s Archives, October 10, 2026. BAM’s 2020 disclosure document. The 2021 edition. The 2022 edition. The marked 2023 edition. The 2025 edition. The September 2026 amendment. Item 17 across four editions. The law in each state. August 3: the Canby letter. September 27: the Messer and Wesley Chapel letters. August 19: the Salem letter. September 17: the five-day clause. October 9: Tucson and Sarasota. October 3: Jen Martin’s post. September 12: Tucson opens.
Sources. Coach’s Archives, “ANOTHER BAM Owner Reaches Out About Bricks & Minifigs - Scared to Leave,” YouTube, October 10, 2026. BAM Franchising, Inc., Franchise Disclosure Documents and franchise agreements issued April 11, 2017 through April 8, 2026, and the amendment of September 2026; Minnesota Department of Commerce, franchise file 9006. The letter of September 1, 2023, Exhibit 2 to BAM’s complaint in BAM Franchising, Inc. v. Plastic Palette, LLC, Clackamas County Circuit Court No. 23CV36974. The letter of November 24, 2023, Exhibit K to BAM’s verified complaint in BAM Franchising, Inc. v. Madventures, Inc., Utah Fourth District No. 240400022. The Notice of Immediate Termination of November 14, 2024, Exhibit D in BAMF Salem 1, LLC v. BAM Franchising, Inc., Utah Business and Chancery Court No. 260200029. The letter of December 12, 2024, as shown in CAMELOT331, “Former Bricks & Minifigs Owners Sent Me His TERMINATION Letter.. It’s Bad,” YouTube, June 30, 2026. Everyone named here is presumed to have acted lawfully.