Are the headings and captions in the Bens Soft Pretzels agreement considered when interpreting the agreement?

According to the 2025 Bens Soft Pretzels Franchise Disclosure Document, the headings and captions within the franchise agreement are included only for ease of reference. They should not be considered when construing or interpreting the agreement itself.

This means that if there is ever a dispute about the meaning of a particular section of the agreement, neither Bens Soft Pretzels nor the franchisee can argue that the heading or caption of that section should influence how it is understood. The interpretation must be based solely on the actual text of the agreement, not on the descriptive headings.

This clause is fairly standard in franchise agreements. It aims to ensure that the legally binding terms are those explicitly written in the body of the contract, preventing either party from later claiming that a heading implied something different than what was actually agreed upon. Franchisees should therefore focus on carefully reading and understanding the substantive content of each section, rather than relying on potentially oversimplified or misleading headings.