Who is responsible for paying the advertising fee for Body Brain Center?
Body_Brain_Center Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
ministration of the advertising fund. A financial accounting of the operations of the advertising fund, including deposits into and disbursements from the advertising fund, will be prepared annually and made available to you upon request.
- (b) Contributions from You and Us. On the sixth (6 th) day of each month, you must pay us an advertising fund fee equal to 0.5% of your Program Sales for the prior month's operations. We will deposit into the advertising fund all: (i) advertising fund fees paid by you and other franchisees (unless we allocate the fees to an advertising cooperative); (ii) fines paid by you and other franchisees; and (iii) rebates or other payments we receive from suppliers based on franchisee purchases. Any company-owned Body & Brain Center or Body & Brain home-based business will contribute to the advertising fund on the same basis as our franchisees. However, if we modify the amount or timing of the contributions that must be made to the advertising fund, any company-owned Body & Brain Center or Body & Brain home-based business that is established or acquired after the modification may contribute to the advertising fund utilizing the modified amount or timing. Except as stated in this Section, we have no obligation to expend our own funds or resources for any Advertising Campaign.
- 9.2 Marketing Assistance From Us. We will provide you with a standardized marketing plan for your Business. The marketing plan will be included in the Manual. We may create and make available to you advertising and other marketing materials at no additional charge. We may make these materials available over the Internet (in which case you must arrange for printing the materials and paying all printing costs). Alternatively, we may enter into relationships with third party suppliers who will create the advertising or marketing materials for your purchase.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPT (FDD pages 43–178)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Body Brain Center's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are required to pay an advertising fund fee. Specifically, on the sixth day of each month, a Body Brain Center franchisee must pay the franchisor an advertising fund fee equivalent to 0.5% of their Program Sales from the previous month.
The franchisor, Body Brain Center, will then deposit all advertising fund fees collected from franchisees into the advertising fund. This fund may also include fines paid by franchisees and rebates or payments received from suppliers based on franchisee purchases. Notably, any company-owned Body & Brain Center or home-based business contributes to the advertising fund on the same basis as franchisees, ensuring a unified approach to advertising contributions.
However, the document also mentions an "advertising cooperative." The initial cooperative advertising fee is 0.5% of Program Sales. The amount of this fee can be adjusted or even eliminated upon a majority vote of all franchisees within the cooperative. If the franchisor or an affiliate operates a majority of the Body & Brain Centers within the cooperative, they can only increase the fee with the consent of all franchisees in the cooperative. The franchisor collects these cooperative advertising fees and pays them to the advertising cooperative, unless the franchisor administers the cooperative themselves.
This dual structure means that a Body Brain Center franchisee may be subject to both the general advertising fund fee and a cooperative advertising fee, depending on whether an advertising cooperative is in place and how it is managed. Prospective franchisees should clarify with Body Brain Center whether they will be part of an advertising cooperative and how those fees will be managed in addition to the standard advertising fund fee.