What does Sunoco Retail LLC oversee regarding the Aplus marketing program?
Aplus Franchise · 2024 FDDAnswer from 2024 FDD Document
r expense. (Attachment 1. B.7. of the Franchise Agreement)
After you begin operating the APLUS Store, we will perform or direct our Designated Service Provider, which may be a designated area representative to perform:
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- Provide additional training, as we determine necessary to you, your Designated Manager, and any other employees. (Section 8.5.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 40–47)
What This Means (2024 FDD)
According to Aplus's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document, Sunoco Retail LLC oversees the Aplus marketing program and utilizes the Marketing Fee to administer the System-wide marketing, advertising, and promotion program. This means Aplus franchisees contribute to a marketing fund that the franchisor manages.
The Marketing Fee is up to $1,500 or 2% of Gross Sales each month, whichever is less. Currently, all franchisees contribute $750 per month. Aplus has exclusive control over the creative concepts and content of these programs, advertising placement decisions, and the allocation of Marketing Fee contributions to production, placement, and other costs. The franchisor can reimburse itself for personnel and administrative costs associated with providing services to the Marketing Fee.
It is important to note that the Marketing Fee is not a trust or escrow, and neither Aplus nor its affiliates have any fiduciary obligation for administering the Marketing Fee. There is no requirement that the Marketing Fee monies be audited, and Aplus does not provide an accounting on how Marketing Fee monies are spent. While most of the Marketing Fee monies are spent in the year in which they accrue, the remaining amount is carried over to the following year. Aplus is not obligated to ensure that expenditures from the Marketing Fee monies will affect any geographic area or will be proportionate or equivalent to the contributions to the Aplus Stores operating in that geographic area. Aplus also has no obligation to ensure that any Aplus Store will benefit directly or in proportion to its Marketing Fee contribution or from the development of advertising, business development and marketing materials and/or programs, the placement of advertising or otherwise. This gives Aplus significant discretion in how the marketing funds are used, which may or may not directly benefit each franchisee.
This type of arrangement, where the franchisor has broad discretion over marketing expenditures without a strict obligation to provide proportional benefits to each franchisee, is not uncommon in franchising. However, prospective Aplus franchisees should carefully consider these terms and evaluate whether they are comfortable with the level of control Aplus retains over the marketing program and funds.