Bryce Bell

Bryce Bell, who died on 24 June 2014 in Australia, founded the Franchisors Association of Australia  in 1983 and served as executive director until 1994. He played a major part in establishing many of the events and relationships that have made franchising such a strong sector on both sides of the Tasman.

The organisation later changed its name to Franchisors Association of Australia and New Zealand Ltd after a chapter was established in NZ in 1989, with Bryce’s support and encouragement. It is now known as the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) and it embraces both franchisors and franchisees.  

David McCulloch used to attend board meetings of the FAANZ over the ditch until New Zealand set up its own association in July 1996 with David as the inaugural chairman. We could see pending franchisor legislation was imminent in Australia so we formed the FANZ and set up our voluntary code of practice. I was on the board at that time and became chairman of the FANZ in 1997 following David.

Bryce was a warm supporter of New Zealand and franchising here. I met him for the first time about 1992 when I visited the office at Parramatta and found him extremely helpful.  I encountered him again at a conference and he subsequently asked me to contribute to and proof read his book Franchising Down Under, a history of franchising in Australia and NZ published in 2003.

Bryce loved people, was always cheerful and was extremely passionate about franchising. He was rightfully one of the first to be inducted into the Australian Franchise Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his contribution to franchising over the years.