“We actually try and find divisions that appeal to different demographics,” Penman says. “There’s a lot of women around, and they want business, but they don’t want to go out building fences. What can appeal to them?”

Penman, 70, says he would also like to see a lifestyle coaching division called Jim’s Health. “You’d have somebody who’d be like a personal trainer, but not just for fitness – for diet, everything, mood. A lot of things affect mood ... even like time spent outside with your friends, minimising your commuting, controlling debt,” he says.

An author of three books, Penman says he is currently in the midst of writing another one called Health and Happiness. “People have very wrong ideas about [happiness]. They think it’s all to do with making more money. But money’s got very little to do with it.”

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The founder and CEO sees himself as one of the few good franchise network operators remaining in the $170-billion franchising sector that a 2019 parliamentary inquiry report slammed for running business models that “manifestly failed” to fix “deeply rooted cultural problems”.

He pointed to previous reports by this masthead that uncovered systemic wage fraud at the country’s biggest food franchise operator, Retail Food Group, owner of Gloria Jeans, Donut King, Michel’s Patisserie, Crust Pizza and more. A 2015 joint investigation by this masthead and ABC’s Four Corners into 7 Eleven found systemic wage underpayment and doctored payroll records that led to an ‘independent review’.

‘I wish the Labor government would get off their arses’

Even now, Penman thinks more can be done to protect franchisees who, before signing on with a franchisor, must declare they have read disclosure documents he describes as “enormously elaborate, long, [and] complicated”.

The 70-year-old entrepreneur is calling on the Albanese government to strengthen regulation to help prospective franchisees make better informed decisions before committing. He proposes the idea of a review website similar to Glassdoor that would publish the results of anonymously surveyed franchisees about their experience.

“How responsive are they [franchisors]? How do you rate your income?” are some simple questions Penman suggests the survey could ask. Such a website would expose him and his network too, but he says he welcomes the scrutiny. “To be honest, I’d love it because I think we’d win big time, because I think we do give good support.”

He’s known for being unhesitatingly vocal about his views: during Victoria’s protracted lockdowns, he was an outspoken critic of Premier Daniel Andrews for deeming lawn-mowing a non-essential service and penned an open letter calling Andrews to resign.

“These aren’t multimillionaires. These are people who are ordinary battlers,” Penman says of franchisees. “I wish the Labor government would get off their arses and really do something to help people out in the community.” But he admits he doesn’t have the government’s ear on the matter. “They don’t listen to me at all.”

Penman isn’t waiting around for the authorities to do something about it. Another idea he’s currently working on is a division, ‘Jim’s Legal’, for this very purpose of “representing franchisees who have been ripped off by franchise laws”.

“We’ve got plans for it. We’ve got an inhouse lawyer, we’re trying to get it going as a business of some kind... We’re investigating it right now.”