Can Better Blend collect payment for third-party vendors together with a markup?
Better_Blend Franchise · 2024 FDDAnswer from 2024 FDD Document
| Type of Fee | Amount | Due Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6% of your adjusted | Weekly, on | See Notes 1, 2 and 3. | |
| gross sales | Tuesday | ||
| Currently, 1% of | Weekly, on | We reserve the right to increase the | |
| your adjusted gross | Tuesday | Marketing Fund Contribution to 2% of | |
| sales | your adjusted gross sales. | ||
| As determined by | We have the right to establish local or | ||
| the cooperative. | regional advertising cooperatives. If you | ||
| Currently, none. | are a member of a cooperative, you and | ||
| other members may vote to require each | |||
| member to contribute between 1% and 5% | |||
| of adjusted gross sales to the cooperative. | |||
| We reserve the right to charge a | |||
| commercially reasonable fee for software | |||
| and other technology products and | |||
| services we provide. The technology fee | |||
| will not necessarily be a pass-through of | |||
| our exact costs. We may add, remove, or | |||
| alter the software or technology products | |||
| or services that we provide. The | |||
| technology fee will not exceed $500 per | |||
| month (subject to inflation adjustment). | |||
| If you send a manager or other employee | |||
| to our training program after you open, we | |||
| will charge our then-current training fee. | |||
| We have the right to require franchisees to | |||
| use third-party vendors and suppliers that | |||
| we designate. Examples can include | |||
| computer support vendors, mystery | |||
| shopping, and customer feedback systems. |
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 11–15)
What This Means (2024 FDD)
According to Better Blend's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document, Better Blend has the right to require franchisees to use designated third-party vendors and suppliers. These vendors can include computer support, mystery shopping, and customer feedback systems.
Better Blend can either have these vendors bill the franchisee directly or collect payments on behalf of the vendors. If Better Blend chooses to collect payments, they have the right to include a reasonable markup or charge an administration fee for managing the payment program.
This means that franchisees may not only have to pay the vendor's fees but also an additional amount to Better Blend for handling the payment. Prospective franchisees should inquire about which vendors are typically used, the average costs, and the typical markup or administrative fees Better Blend charges for this service to fully understand the potential expenses.