Can franchisee contributions to the Bojangles advertising fund be used to defray Bojangles' general operating expenses?
Bojangles Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
, regional or market promotions). No sums paid by you or other franchisees to the Fund will be used to defray any of our general operating expenses except for such reasonable administrative expenses and overhead, if any, as we may incur in activities reasonably related to the administration or direction of the Fund and advertising programs, including conducting market research, preparing marketing and advertising materials, and collecting and accounting for assessments for the Fund.
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- We are not required to spend all advertising contributions to the Fund in the fiscal year in which they accrue. However, any funds accrued and not spent in the fiscal year received shall be carried forward for use as provided in Paragraph 3 and are not returned to the contributors. We do not maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the Fund, and the Fund is not audited separately. The Fund is reviewed as part of our annual audit. You may receive an annual accounting of expenditures of the Fund upon written request to us at the following address: Bojangles Opco, LLC, c/o Bojangles' Restaurants, Inc., 9432 Southern Pine Boulevard, Charlotte, North Carolina 28273, Attention: Marketing.
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- During the 2024 fiscal year, 43.3% of the monies in the Fund were spent on production of marketing materials, 32.5% for marketing promotions, 9.4% on media research (i.e.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 37–49)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Bojangles's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisee contributions to the Marketing Development Fund can be used to cover some of Bojangles's general operating expenses. Specifically, the FDD states that franchisee contributions can be used for reasonable administrative expenses and overhead that Bojangles incurs while administering the fund and advertising programs. These expenses include conducting market research, preparing marketing and advertising materials, and collecting and accounting for fund assessments.
For a prospective Bojangles franchisee, this means that a portion of their contribution to the Marketing Development Fund will not be used directly for advertising but will instead cover Bojangles's administrative costs. While this is a common practice in franchising, it's important for franchisees to understand how their contributions are being used. The FDD also indicates that during the 2024 fiscal year, 14.8% of the monies in the Fund were spent on administrative expenses, which included expenses arising from storage, distribution and management of fulfillment house for point of purchase materials, costs of implementation and support of the system-wide gift card program and a portion of marketing employee salaries and expenses.
Bojangles does not maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the Fund, and the Fund is not audited separately, but the Fund is reviewed as part of their annual audit. Franchisees can request an annual accounting of the Fund's expenditures in writing from Bojangles. This provides a degree of transparency, allowing franchisees to see how the fund is being managed and how their contributions are being spent. Franchisees should carefully review these accountings to ensure that administrative expenses remain reasonable and that the majority of the fund is being used for its intended purpose: advertising and promotion of the Bojangles system.