Does Brightstar Care make goods and services available to franchisees directly, or only through approved suppliers?
Brightstar_Care Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
, BrightStar Technology may charge you up to an additional $1,000 per aggregator for the initial integration and up to an additional $500 for any subsequent EVV version upgrade.
4.7 Vendor Evaluation Fee
If you request our approval to allow you to use an unapproved vendor for products or services and that request requires us to invest time and expense to evaluate the unapproved vendor, then you must pay us up to Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) for our time and costs conducting the evaluation if we choose to add the unapproved vendor to our approved vendor list ("Vendor Evaluation Fee"). Generally, no Vendor Evaluation Fee is payable if we do not approve the unapproved vendor. However, we will charge a minimum fee of $2,500 if the vendor, as part of its proposed scope of services, will need access to any of our technology platforms; this fee is to pay a third party for its risk-assessment services and is due whether or not we approve the vendor.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 117–118)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Brightstar Care's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees may request approval to use unapproved vendors for products or services. If Brightstar Care invests time and expense to evaluate the unapproved vendor, the franchisee must pay a Vendor Evaluation Fee of up to $5,000 if Brightstar Care chooses to add the vendor to the approved vendor list.
However, Brightstar Care will charge a minimum fee of $2,500 if the vendor will need access to any of their technology platforms as part of its proposed scope of services. This fee is to pay a third party for its risk-assessment services and is due whether or not Brightstar Care approves the vendor.
Brightstar Care also retains the right to offer BrightStar branded goods and services not then offered and sold through the BrightStar Care Agency Program, or goods and services under another brand, through franchised or non-franchised businesses, at wholesale or retail, within and outside the Protected Territory. These goods and services may be offered and sold through similar or dissimilar channels or methods of distribution, including the Internet and outlets that do business under the BrightStar name or another name.