What happens to unspent advertising contributions to the Bojangles fund at the end of the fiscal year?
Bojangles Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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.
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, Bojangles is not required to spend all advertising contributions to the Marketing Development Fund in the fiscal year in which they accrue. Any funds that are not spent during the fiscal year are carried forward and used as provided in Paragraph 3 of Item 11, which details the permissible uses of the fund. These funds are not returned to the franchisees or company-operated restaurants that contributed them.
This policy means that Bojangles has the ability to accumulate advertising funds over time, which could potentially allow for larger or longer-term advertising campaigns. However, it also means that franchisees do not have direct control over how their contributions are spent in the short term. Franchisees are entitled to receive an annual accounting of the expenditures of the Fund upon written request to Bojangles.
It is important to note that Bojangles does not maintain separate bookkeeping accounts for the Fund, and the Fund is not audited separately. Instead, the Fund is reviewed as part of Bojangles's annual audit. This arrangement may provide less transparency compared to a separately audited fund, which is a fairly common practice in the franchise industry. Prospective franchisees may want to inquire further about the specifics of the annual audit and how the Fund's expenditures are reviewed.