HORN & HARDART Franchise Scam Ads Linked to Dennis Mason
Bogus Horn & Hardart franchise ads, which disappeared after being flagged as suspicious by UnhappyFranchisee.Com, were not placed or authorized by Horn & Hardart Franchise Group, according to the company. The Craig’s List ads appear to have been possibly placed by NJ-based franchise seller Dennis Mason.
(UnhappyFranchisee.com) More than a dozen Horn & Hardart franchise ads on Craig’s List announced a great opportunity to “own a piece of history” for only $25,000… by owning your very own Hard & Hardart franchise business.
The ads said to call “David Malin” at (888) 550-8020.
Unhappy Franchisee.com raised a number of red flags, questioning the authenticity of the ad in the blog post HORN & HARDART Franchise: Legit? Or Scam?
One of our red flags was that the number (888) 550-8020 is associated with controversial franchise broker Dennis K. Mason, and the name “David Malin” is similar to an alias he used in other franchise ads (Mr. Malinsky). Clicking on the “Other ads by the same user” button revealed that the author of the Horn & Hardart franchise ads was also running ads for NY Bagel Café franchises – both franchise opportunities Mason is believed to be promoting.
Almost immediately after the blog post appeared, all of the Horn & Hardart ads disappeared from Craig’s List.
The ads were quickly replaced with the generic message “This posting has been deleted by its author.”
Here’s an example of a now-deleted Horn & Hardart franchise ad:
HORN & HARDART CRAIG’S LIST FRANCHISE AD – DELAWARE
Horn & Hardart Says Franchise Ads Were Unauthorized.
In response to the blog post, Horn & Hardart Coffee (@HH_Coffee) replied through its Twitter account:
@UnhappyZ [that’s us] We do not use outside parties to market our franchise and did not authorize the craigslist ad you reference. TY [thank you] for the notice.
We emailed Albert Mazzone, President of Horn & Hardart Franchising Group about whether his company or one of their representatives ran the ads.
Mr. Mazzone wrote:
NO, THEY ARE NOT OUR ADS. WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY USING AN OUTSIDE COMPANY FOR SALES.
When asked if he was familiar with franchise broker Dennis Mason and his company Franchise Ventures, Inc., and whether Mason was a sales representative for Horn & Hardart, Mr. Mazzone wrote:
I AM FAMILIAR WITH MR. MASON. HE DOES NOT REPRESENT US AND ANY ACTIVITY HE MAY HAVE ENGAGED IN WAS NOT WITH OUR APPROVAL.
We have emailed Dennis Mason and asked him if he would confirm or deny placing the Horn & Hardart franchise ads, but have not received a response.
Dennis Mason Sold Ill-Fated Horn & Hardart Franchises in 2000s
It appears that franchise broker Dennis Mason sold Horn & Hardart franchises during the last unsuccessful H&H franchising attempt.
This might explain Albert Mazzone’s familiarity with Mr. Mason.
According to a PR professional who worked with Horn & Hardart during this period, Harold Katz and his son launched a Horn and Hardart franchise chain in early 2000. After selling and opening a number of franchised locations, and after the elder Katz’ death, the chain became mired in “ugly” franchisee disputes, failures and lawsuits.
Our crack research team located this 2002 classified franchise ad [pictured here] for the Horn & Hardart franchise opportunity. The phone number is the same as that used for many years by Dennis Mason.
The bottom line: Be very careful to make sure the ads you are answering are legitimate, and that you know who you are speaking to… Especially when you are dealing with one of these companies or other opportunities on Craig’s List.
ALSO READ:
FRANCHISE DISCUSSIONS by Company
HORN & HARDART Franchise: Legit? Or Scam?
DENNIS MASON Franchise Lawsuits, Controversies, Aliases & Warning
DENNIS MASON Franchise Complaints
Joe Smith, Dennis Mason & NY Bagel Café Franchise Exposed: 10 Things You Should Know
HAVE YOU HAD EXPERIENCE WITH DENNIS MASON, DAVID MALIN, HORN & HARDART FRANCHISE ADS?
SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE BELOW.
TAGS: Dennis Mason, Dennis K. Mason, Franchise Ventures, Anthony Stewart, David Malin, Horn & Hardart, Horn & Hardart franchise, Horn & Hardart franchise group, Albert Mazzone, Craig’s List, Franchises on Craig’s List
They’ll never stop.
Albert Mazzone and his company, Horn & Hardart franchising sold me the Exclusive Master Developing Rights in all of Florida and S. New Jersey to sell Horn & Hardart franchises as his Master Developer. This was 2016.
I paid him $29,500 down plus my legal costs and over $100,000 in expenses trying to build the business for two years. When I finally was ready to kick off my Horn & Hardart French Dip franchise concept he decided to close his franchise company in 2018 which stopped me from opening franchises through his company and literally put me out of business.
No franchise company, as he closed it, therefore I had nothing to sell.
Plus I opened a pilot shop to sell franchises from in Florida and NJ, which failed. I will do everything legally to show this Mazzone character as, in my opinion, a con man. He never offered to buy me out when he closed the company, or so he claims. We have a default clause in our contract and a buyout is required or at least first right of refusal, which in this case would have been offering me the company he closed. He closed it as he wanted to focus on his coffee company. This is the same Albert Mazzone who claims everyone else pretending to sell Horn & Hardart franchises is a fraud but him.
Well, I have a different opinion. He broke an iron clad contract we had and told me to sue him. He said that he has more money to defend the company than I do. Then he blocked my calls, blocked me on FB and blocked my Emails.
I have a franchise lawyer who claims my contract with him is a no lose situation. I’m about ready to start the lawsuits. We also have a clause in our agreement that I must sell Horn & Hardart branded coffee supplied by his company in my pilot (that failed). I ordered his coffee thru Ellis Coffee but he sent me some other brand of coffee for the duration of the life of my shop and said I must sell it. He claimed it was Horn &a Hardart Coffee. It was a brand called Presidential that the supplier said anyone could buy.
That’s my horror story and experience with this Albert Mazzone character who now is one of the owners of Horn & Hardart Coffee. We’ll also be suing them.
Al of the above is true. This had nothing to do with Dennis Mason or any ads that I responded to from a third party source. This contract with Horn & Hardart Franchising was directly with Horn & Hardart and it’s owner Albert Mazzone. Albert Mazone was paid directly by me and we spoke on the phone countless times when he was selling me on the idea of investing in Horn & Hardart. The rest of my horror experience with Albert Mazzone can be read in the above comment.
See above comments in my dealings with Albert Mazzone, owner of Horn & Hardart Franchising and Horn & Hardart Coffee.
Dennis K Mason, I will be the last thing you ever see……I’m coming for you……