Are redeemed coupons included in the Regular Gross Sales calculation for a Best Brains franchise?

According to Best Brains's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the calculation of Regular Gross Sales for royalty fee purposes has specific inclusions and exclusions regarding coupons. Best Brains franchisees must pay a royalty fee of 14% of Regular Gross Sales. Regular Gross Sales includes all sales or revenues derived directly or indirectly from the Franchised Business, including on and off premises sales, as well as registration fees for any program and business interruption insurance proceeds.

However, Regular Gross Sales does not include sales taxes collected from customers and paid to the appropriate taxing authority. Critically, the amount of all coupons redeemed at the Franchised Business is also excluded from Regular Gross Sales, but only if the coupons have been previously approved by Best Brains and only if such coupons have been included in Regular Gross Sales initially.

This means that if Best Brains approves a coupon program, and the franchisee initially accounts for the value of those coupons in their gross sales figures, they can then deduct the redeemed coupon amounts when calculating the royalty fee. This ensures franchisees are not paying royalties on revenue they did not actually receive due to the coupon redemptions. It is important for franchisees to obtain prior approval for any coupon programs to ensure these deductions are permissible and to properly account for the coupons in their sales records.