I inquired about it when they spammed the Seattle Craigslist.

$50k is just the beginning. That's just the up-front cash to secure your franchise. The TOTAL investment for the franchise is $350k. The other $300k is due when you take delivery of the processing setup - fully self contained hooked up and ready to go installed in a cargo container. It is a "continous batch" processor and uses Magnesol for drywashing.

For that investment they will supply you with all the oil, methanol, lye and Magnesol you need to produce 30k-35k gallons a month IIRC. Then you sell the finished product back to them for $1 a gallon. So, they supply the raw materials, and you supply the location, labor, and the utilities out of your proceeds.

The catch is that there is only one operating plant right now, in Vancouver B.C. That and the fact that they are still developing their oil supply from - you guessed it ALGAE.

In theory they guarantee your initial investment if for some reason they never go into full production of algae oil or whatever. I decided that their guarantee would probably be worth about as much as the paper it was written on. They also couldn't give me anything like a firm prediction of when they would be ready to provide the supply of oil.

I decided to pass. If there were more guarantees of how soon they would be able to provide the required supply of raw materials, I might be more likely to seriously consider buying into it.

EDIT: I also forgot to mention, your franchise agreement includes an exclusivity clause - you can only use their supplies and have to sell all your production to them for the first 3 years as I recall. So no converting any locally collected grease into bio for sale or other commercial use during that time would be allowed...

One other thing is that they will dispose of your glycerol by product for you if you want them to - no charge. However, if you can find a local market for it (such as someone making all-natural soaps) you are better off keeping it and selling it yourself for a small profit. That's what they plan on doing with it if you let them have it.

As you can probably tell, I took a serious look at this and asked them some pretty detailed questions....

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1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown