Are Burger King company-owned restaurants required to contribute to the Advertising Fund, and if so, under what conditions can their contributions be reduced?
Burger_King Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Although not required to do so, our company-owned restaurants will contribute to the Fund as we require of you, except that if for any reason we provide payments to third party lenders who lend to our Franchisees, these restaurants may reduce their contributions to the Fund by the amount of these payments. Also, due to our predecessor's participation in programs offered to our Franchisees, it has reduced its voluntary contributions to the Fund to the same extent as would be permitted by Franchisees, and future contributions by our company-owned restaurants are likely to be similarly reduced.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 62–71)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Burger King's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, company-owned restaurants do contribute to the Advertising Fund, mirroring the requirement for franchisees. This fund is used for advertising and promotional activities. However, Burger King's company-owned restaurants may reduce their contributions to the fund under specific conditions.
Specifically, if Burger King provides payments to third-party lenders who lend to franchisees, the company-owned restaurants can reduce their contributions to the Advertising Fund by the amount of these payments. Additionally, due to Burger King's predecessor's participation in programs offered to franchisees, it has reduced its voluntary contributions to the fund to the same extent as would be permitted to franchisees, and future contributions by company-owned restaurants are likely to be similarly reduced.
This policy ensures that company-owned restaurants participate in the advertising efforts while also allowing for adjustments based on financial support provided to franchisees or participation in specific programs. This could be seen as a way to balance the advertising fund contributions across the Burger King system.