What is the franchisee's obligation regarding innovations related to the Crave Cookies business?
Crave_Cookies Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 11.6 Innovations. Franchisee shall disclose to Crave Cookies Franchising all ideas, plans, improvements, concepts, methods and techniques relating to the Business (collectively, "Innovations") conceived or developed by Franchisee, its employees, agents or contractors. Crave Cookies Franchising will automatically own all Innovations, and it will have the right to use and incorporate any Innovations into the System, without any compensation to Franchisee. Franchisee shall execute any documents reasonably requested by Crave Cookies Franchising to document Crave Cookies Franchising's ownership of Innovations.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD page 47)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Crave Cookies's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are required to disclose any and all ideas, plans, improvements, concepts, methods, and techniques related to the Crave Cookies business that they, their employees, agents, or contractors conceive or develop. These are collectively termed "Innovations."
Crave Cookies franchising automatically owns all such Innovations. They have the right to use and incorporate any of these Innovations into their system without providing any compensation to the franchisee. This means that if a franchisee develops a new cookie recipe, a more efficient baking process, or any other improvement to the business, Crave Cookies can adopt it across the entire franchise system without paying the franchisee for their idea.
The franchisee is further obligated to execute any documents reasonably requested by Crave Cookies to formally document the franchisor's ownership of these Innovations. This ensures that Crave Cookies has the legal rights to protect and utilize the innovations as they see fit. This clause highlights the importance of understanding intellectual property rights within the franchise agreement.