One of the realities of being a franchisee is the amount of control the franchisor has over the franchisee. This is one of the surprising lessons I learned when I became a multi-unit franchisee.

Here are only some of the areas the franchisor may exert control over your business:

1. Hours of operation. The franchisor may dictate how many hours you are open for business, and is under no obligation to grant a waiver even if you can prove that many of those hours are unprofitable. Remember, the franchisor makes money off the top of every sale, so any sales are profitable for the franchisor. In addition, for many franchisee, the losses are compounded because most franchisees are reluctant to let only one employee work by themselves, so either the franchisee works the slow hours by themselves, or they have 2 workers.
2. Location. The franchisor has the authority to dictate where the franchise is located, and can (and frequently does) refuse to grant a franchisees request to move the location even if it is not all that profitable. Furthermore, most franchise agreements do not provide for any location protection, so if the franchisor is growing aggressively, their net income may skyrocket at the same time that individual store profitability is suffering because the franchisor is approving stores very close together.
3. Pricing. Theoretically, the franchisor cannot mandate pricing, but look at the reality, especially when large franchises run national advertising on a price point. Those stores who don't participate will almost certainly be subject to increased scrutiny (translation: punishment) by the franchisor, and will probably lose business to the other nearby stores that are complying with the suggested price point.
4. Selling the franchise. The franchisee who wants to sell the franchise must not only find a qualified buyer, but that buyer must also be vetted by the franchisor and also obtain Area Developer approval. At the least, this slows down the sales cycle, and often times ends up killing the deal. I was trying to sell one of my franchises last year, and obtained a buyer who had $1MM in cash, and owned 3 convenience stores. The franchisor turned him down because he failed the standardized math test!

There are many other areas where the franchisor can exert control as well. When researching a franchise opportunity, be sure to understand how rigorous the franchisor currently is, and how much control the UFOC/FDD and Franchise Agreement gives to the franchisor.