Can the Craters & Freighters Marketing Fund be used for local advertising?
Craters_Freighters Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
The Marketing Fund will be used exclusively for the purpose of promoting the System. We may expend Marketing Fund monies towards the creation, production, and/or placement of advertising in local, regional, or national media including, but not limited to, broadcast, print, electronic, direct mail, radio, television, or other media), developing promotional materials, and undertaking public relations activities on behalf of the entire System or on behalf of a particular portion of the System. The Marketing Fund may also be used to meet any and all costs of maintaining, administering, directing, and preparing marketing, advertising, and promotional efforts and programs including, but not limited to: direct mail advertising; local, regional, and national promotions; call centers; market research; public relations activities; developing and maintaining Franchisor's Website and franchisee geosites (including your Geosite); employing marketing, advertising, and public relations agencies (including the payment of commissions); purchasing promotional items; attending trade shows; providing other marketing materials and services to franchised businesses operating under the System; and other marketing, advertising, and promotional activities. These costs may include the proportionate salary share of employees of ours or any Affiliate of ours who devote time and render services for marketing, advertising, or promotion, or the administration of the Marketing Fund; such costs may include administrative costs, salaries, and overhead expenses. No part of the Marketing Fund will be used by us to defray any of our general operating expenses, other than those reasonably allocable to the marketing, advertising, or promotional activities described here or other activities reasonably related to the administration or direction of the Marketing Fund. We, any Affiliate of ours, and our authorized representatives may be reimbursed from the Marketing Fund for administrative costs, independent audits, reasonable accounting, bookkeeping, reporting and legal expenses, taxes and all other reasonable direct or indirect expenses that we, any Affiliate of ours, and our authorized representatives may incur relating to programs funded by the Marketing Fund.
The Marketing Fund is intended to maximize the general brand recognition of the System, and we are not obligated to expend Marketing Fund monies on your behalf or benefit or to expend Marketing Fund monies equivalent or proportionate to your contributions on your behalf or benefit. We do not guarantee that advertising expenditures from the Marketing Fund will benefit you or any other franchisee directly, on a pro rata basis, or at all. We do not derive revenue or any other material consideration as a result of your contributions to the Marketing Fund. We are not required to spend an amount from the Marketing Fund on local marketing or advertising in your Territory or the territory of any franchisee within our System. We do not spend any of funds collected by the Marketing Fund on directly soliciting new franchisees.
Any unused funds in any calendar year will be applied to the following year's funds, and we reserve the right to contribute or loan additional funds to the Marketing Fund on any terms we deem reasonable. Since the Marketing Fund is not audited, audited financial statements are not available to franchisees. Upon request, we will make available to you an annual accounting for the Marketing Fund that shows how the Marketing Fund proceeds have been spent for the previous year.
During our last fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, expenditures from the Marketing Fund were as follows: 2.6% on production, 81.5% on media placement, 3.5% on administrative expenses, and 12.4% on other expenditures relating to network sales and support, network software and hosting expenses, and network telephone supporting services.
We are not required to spend an amount on advertising in the territory where you are or will be located. We do not have any local or regional advertising cooperatives. We may designate any geographic area in which two or more Craters & Freighters outlets are located as a region for establishing a Cooperative. The members of the Cooperative for any area will consist of all Craters & Freighters outlets, whether franchised or operated by
us or our Affiliates. We will determine in advance how each Cooperative will be organized and governed and when it must commence operations. Accordingly, we do not currently have any governing documents available for review. Each Cooperative will be organized for the sole purposes of administering advertising programs and developing, subject to our approval, promotional materials for use by the members in local advertising. If a Cooperative has been established for a geographic area where your Craters & Freighters Franchised Business is located when the Franchise Agreement is signed, or if any Cooperative is established during the term of the Franchise Agreement, you must become a member of the Cooperative and abide by the rules of the Cooperative. Cooperatives will set their own fees, which cannot exceed one percent (1%) of Adjusted Gross Sales. Franchisor-owned outlets must contribute to the fund on the same basis as franchisees. Each Cooperative established must prepare annual statements which will be available for review by its members.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 22–29)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Craters & Freighters' 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the Marketing Fund can be used for local advertising, but the franchisor is not required to spend the funds on local marketing in a franchisee's territory. The Marketing Fund is intended to maximize brand recognition for the Craters & Freighters system. The franchisor may expend Marketing Fund monies toward advertising in local, regional, or national media.
Craters & Freighters is not obligated to expend Marketing Fund monies on behalf of a franchisee or to expend monies equivalent or proportionate to a franchisee's contributions. There is no guarantee that advertising expenditures from the Marketing Fund will benefit any franchisee directly, on a pro rata basis, or at all.
In addition to the Marketing Fund, Craters & Freighters may designate geographic areas with two or more outlets as a region for establishing a Cooperative. If a Cooperative is established for the area where a Craters & Freighters franchise is located, the franchisee must become a member and abide by the Cooperative's rules. Cooperatives will set their own fees, which cannot exceed 1% of Adjusted Gross Sales. Each Cooperative established must prepare annual statements which will be available for review by its members. Craters & Freighters reserves the right to form, change, dissolve, or merge any Cooperative at any time.
Franchisees are also obligated to spend a minimum amount on advertising and promotion of their franchise. Each year, a franchisee must spend the greater of $6,000, or 1% of their Adjusted Gross Sales for the prior calendar year, on advertising and promotion, but the amount of the Individual Advertising Expense will not exceed $18,000. These funds are reserved only for marketing, promotions, and advertising of the Franchised Business. This expense will be incurred in addition to required contributions to the Marketing Fund.