Are the operating results of other Cicis restaurants considered Confidential Information?
Cicis Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
B. Confidentiality; Innovations. You and your Owners and personnel may from time to time be provided with or otherwise be exposed to certain information about the System and the development and operation of Cicis Restaurants, including your Restaurant (some, but not all of which may be "trade secrets" under applicable law), that we consider and protect as our confidential information (regardless of whether they are marked as such), including the following (collectively, the "Confidential Information"):
- (1) growth and development plans, strategies, and forecasts related to the System;
- (2) site selection criteria;
- (3) initial or additional training and operations materials, including recipes and the Manuals;
- (4) the System Standards and other methods, formats, specifications, standards, systems, procedures, techniques, market research, customer data, knowledge, and experience used in developing, promoting and operating Cicis Restaurants;
- (5) knowledge of specifications for, and vendors of, assets and other products and supplies;
- (6) any software or other technology which is proprietary to us, our affiliates, or the System, including digital passwords and identifications and any source code of, and data, reports, and other materials generated by, the software or other technology;
- (7) customers of Cicis Restaurants (including your Restaurant); and
- (8) knowledge of the operating results and financial performance of Cicis Restaurants (including your Restaurant).
Confidential Information does not include information, knowledge, or know-how, which is lawfully known to the public without violation of applicable law or an obligation to us or our affiliates.
You agree that you, your Owners, your employees and independent contractors will adopt and implement reasonable procedures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure of the Confidential Information. Further, you and your Owners, and your employees, and independent contractors will not, during the Term or at any time thereafter, disclose any of our Confidential Information to any other Person or use any of our Confidential Information for any purposes other than the business you own and operate pursuant to this Agreement.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 64–65)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Cicis's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the operating results and financial performance of Cicis Restaurants, including your own, are considered Confidential Information. This means that Cicis considers this data proprietary and takes measures to protect it.
As a franchisee, you and your owners and personnel may be exposed to information about the Cicis system and the operation of Cicis Restaurants, which Cicis considers confidential. This includes knowledge of the operating results and financial performance of Cicis Restaurants. You are obligated to treat this information as confidential, implementing reasonable procedures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure.
The confidentiality extends beyond the term of the franchise agreement. Franchisees, their owners, employees, and independent contractors are prohibited from disclosing this Confidential Information to any other person or using it for purposes outside the operation of their Cicis business. However, information that is already lawfully known to the public is excluded from this confidentiality requirement.