What is the dependency for the Buff City Soap franchisee's Protected Area to be in effect?
Buff_City_Soap Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Franchisee must operate the Makery at a site within the Designated Area.
Upon Franchisor's approval of the Premises and the Parties' execution of Exhibit G identifying the location of the Premises, Franchisee's Protected Area will be described in Exhibit G and deemed incorporated herein.
Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement (including without limitation Franchisor's reserved rights set forth in Section 2(e)), and subject to Franchisee's full compliance with this Agreement and any other agreement between Franchisee or any of its Affiliates and Franchisor or any of its Affiliates, neither Franchisor nor any Affiliate will operate or authorize any Person other than Franchisee to operate a Buff City Soap makery in the Designated Area until Franchisee's Protected Area is identified, and thereafter will not operate or authorize any Person other than Franchisee to operate a Buff City Soap makery in the Protected Area during the Term.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 2(d) will not apply to any Buff City Soap makeries operating or in development by any Person within the Designated Area as of the Effective Date.
- (2) The Protected Area described above will affect where Franchisee may solicit business sell products and services.
Franchisee can sell services and products to anyone from anywhere so long as such sales do not result from any direct solicitation activities outside of Franchisee's Protected Area and the services provided and products sold are being performed within the Protected Area.
Franchisee acknowledges and understands that Franchisor, other franchisees, licensees and company-owned businesses reserve the same right to service customers and sell services and products to anyone from anywhere without compensation to Franchisee.
Franchisee is prohibited from soliciting and marketing by any means (i.e. promotional materials, advertisements, Internet, social media, mobile applications, SMS texting, telephone, or any other means, electronic or otherwise) outside of its Protected Area and must not specifically engage in target marketing (defined below) within the Protected Area of another Buff City Soap® Makery (franchise and/or a company/affiliate owned business).
Target Marketing means a concerted effort by a franchisee to solicit and obtain customers through any type of advertisement or marketing, directed at all or a portion of another franchisee's Protected Area.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 69–186)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Buff City Soap's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the franchisee's Protected Area is dependent on several factors. First, the franchisee must operate the Makery at an approved site within the Designated Area. The Protected Area is established once Buff City Soap approves the Premises and both parties sign Exhibit G, which identifies the location of the Premises. This exhibit is then incorporated into the franchise agreement.
Buff City Soap will not operate or authorize anyone other than the franchisee to operate another Buff City Soap makery in the Designated Area until the Protected Area is identified. After identification, this exclusivity extends to the Protected Area itself during the term of the agreement. However, this protection does not apply to any Buff City Soap makeries already operating or in development within the Designated Area as of the Effective Date of the franchise agreement.
To maintain the Protected Area, the franchisee must fully comply with the franchise agreement and any other agreements with Buff City Soap or its affiliates. The franchisee's ability to solicit business and sell products is also affected by the Protected Area. While franchisees can sell services and products to anyone from anywhere, they cannot engage in direct solicitation outside their Protected Area. This includes target marketing within another Buff City Soap makery's protected area.