Can the Bambu Marketing and Technology Fund be used for international media advertising?
Bambu Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Franchisee agrees that the Marketing and Technology Fund may be used for applications that promote Bambū shoppes, such as loyalty programs and other specialized applications that can add business to the shoppes, such as catering and charitable events, as well as for covering the costs of researching, preparing, maintaining, administering and directing advertising and promotional materials and public relations programs, including production of commercial print, radio, television, magazine, newspaper, Internet advertising, direct response literature, direct mailings, brochures, collateral materials advertising, surveys of advertising effectiveness, advisory council expenses, convention expenses, social media marketing, and other advertising or public relations expenditures, for any international, national, or regional media.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 52–209)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Bambu's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the Marketing and Technology Fund can be used for international media. Bambu has sole discretion over the Fund's usage. The fund can cover costs of researching, preparing, maintaining, and directing advertising and promotional materials, including internet advertising, for any international media.
This means that Bambu franchisees could potentially benefit from advertising on an international scale, increasing brand awareness and potentially attracting customers from various regions. However, franchisees should recognize that Bambu has complete control over how the Marketing and Technology Fund is spent, and there is no guarantee that any particular franchisee will directly benefit from international advertising.
Bambu also has the right to use the fund for technology-related expenses and to reimburse itself for administrative costs associated with managing the fund and advertising programs. This is a fairly standard practice in franchising, where marketing funds are used to support both advertising and the infrastructure required to manage those efforts. Franchisees should periodically request the unaudited financial statement to see how the fund is being spent.