What specific items must a Buona franchisee cease using after termination or expiration of the franchise agreement?
Buona Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Upon termination or expiration of this Agreement, all rights granted to Franchisee under this Agreement will immediately terminate, Franchisee shall cease to be a licensed franchisee of Franchisor, and:
(a) Franchisee shall immediately cease to operate the Franchised Business as an Buona Business, and shall not thereafter, directly or indirectly, represent to the public that the restaurant is or was a Buona Business;
(b) Franchisee shall immediately and permanently cease to use, by advertising or in any manner whatsoever, any menus, recipes, confidential formulae, equipment, methods, procedures, techniques associated with the System, the Marks, and Franchisor's other trade names, trademarks and service marks associated with the System.
In particular, and without limitation, Franchisee shall cease to use all signs, menus, advertising and promotional materials, stationery, forms, packaging, containers and any other articles which display the Marks;
(c) In the event Franchisee continues to operate or subsequently begins to operate a restaurant or other business, Franchisee shall not use any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of the Marks in conjunction with such other business which is likely to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive, and further agrees to remove all unique markings, colors, décor, Marks and other features ("Trade Dress") that identify the Franchised Business as a former Buona Business, and otherwise take all necessary steps to disassociate itself from the System and Franchisor, including but not limited to, the removal of signs and all Trade Dress from the premises of the Franchised Business and destruction of printed materials.
(d) Franchisee acknowledges that all telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, telephone directory listings, e-mail addresses, social media accounts, websites, internet addresses, listings or other presence on the Internet (collectively "Identifiers") used in the operation of the Franchised Business constitute Franchisor's assets, and upon termination or expiration of this Agreement, Franchisee will take such action within five (5) days to assign to Franchisor or Franchisor's designee as determined by Franchisor, all of Franchisee's right, title and interest in and to such Identifiers and will notify the telephone company and all listing agencies, internet service providers, domain name registrars, social media platforms or networks of the termination or expiration of Franchisee's right to use any Identifiers, and to authorize a transfer of the same to Franchisor, or at Franchisor's direction, to its designee.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 78–356)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Buona's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, upon termination or expiration of the franchise agreement, a franchisee must immediately stop operating as a Buona Business and cannot represent to the public that their restaurant is or was a Buona Business. The franchisee must also cease using any menus, recipes, confidential formulas, equipment, methods, procedures, techniques associated with the Buona system, the Marks, and Buona's other trade names, trademarks, and service marks associated with the system.
Specifically, the franchisee must discontinue using all signs, menus, advertising and promotional materials, stationery, forms, packaging, containers, and any other articles displaying the Marks. This means that anything that identifies the business as a Buona franchise must be removed or destroyed.
Furthermore, if the franchisee continues to operate a restaurant or other business after termination, they cannot use any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or imitation of the Marks that could cause confusion or deceive customers. The franchisee must remove all unique markings, colors, décor, Marks, and other features (Trade Dress) that identify the business as a former Buona Business. They must also take all necessary steps to disassociate themselves from the Buona system, including removing signs and Trade Dress from the premises and destroying printed materials. Franchisees must also transfer all telephone numbers, websites, and social media accounts to Buona within five days of termination or expiration.