Upon termination of the Buona franchise agreement, is the franchisee required to remove all trade dress, proprietary marks, and other indicia of the Buona system from the premises?
Buona Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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.
Further, Franchisee shall deliver to Franchisor any passwords or account manager access information for any Identifiers.
Franchisee acknowledges that Franchisor has the sole right to, and interest in, all Identifiers used by Franchisee to promote the Franchised Business and/or associated with the Marks.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPTS (FDD pages 78–356)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Buona's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if a franchisee continues to operate a restaurant or other business after termination of the franchise agreement, they must remove all unique markings, colors, décor, Marks and other features that identify the Franchised Business as a former Buona Business. This includes removing all signs and trade dress from the premises and destroying printed materials.
In addition to removing the trade dress, the franchisee must also take all necessary steps to disassociate itself from the Buona system and franchisor. This obligation ensures that the public is not confused or deceived into thinking that the terminated franchise is still affiliated with Buona.
Buona also requires that the franchisee assign 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") to Buona within five days of termination or expiration of the agreement. The franchisee must also deliver to Buona any passwords or account manager access information for any Identifiers.