What is the process for a Degree Wellness franchisee to propose a material revision to their website?
Degree_Wellness Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
(4) If you propose any material revision to the Website or any of the information contained on the Website, you will submit each such revision to us for our prior written approval.
b.
We reserve the right to require you to use a Website controlled by us and to require you to use search engine optimization services.
Further, we may establish a Website or a series of Websites for our System and Studios (collectively, the "System Website").
If we include information about the Franchised Business on the System Website, you agree to give us the information and materials that we may periodically request concerning the Franchised Business, and to otherwise participate in the System Website in the manner that we may periodically require.
By posting or submitting to us information or materials for the System Website, you are representing to us that the information and materials are accurate, not misleading, and do not infringe on any third party's rights.
We shall own all intellectual property and other rights in the System Website and all information it contains.
We may implement and periodically modify standards relating to the System Website and, at our option, may discontinue the System Website at any time.
If we establish a System Website, all advertising, marketing, and promotional materials that you develop for your Franchised Business must contain the URL of the System Website in the manner that we periodically may designate.
- c.
We have contracted with third-parties to provide Website design, maintenance, hosting, and search engine optimization for our franchises and for the System Website, and certain technologyrelated annual conference expenses.
You are required to use all of these services and are required to pay us a monthly fee, in an amount to be determined by us from time to time, for these services (the "Technology Fee").
We will pay the third-party providers directly.
The amount you pay us may be less or more than the amount we pay to the third-party providers and may be used to offset internal costs related to the stated purposes of the Technology Fee.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 66–257)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Degree Wellness's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if a franchisee wants to make a significant change to the website or any information on it, they must first get written approval from Degree Wellness. This means that franchisees cannot independently alter the website without the franchisor's consent. Degree Wellness also reserves the right to mandate that franchisees use a website controlled by them and to utilize specific search engine optimization services.
Degree Wellness may also establish a central website for all franchises, called the "System Website." If Degree Wellness includes information about a franchisee's business on this System Website, the franchisee must provide any requested information and materials and participate as required. Franchisees are responsible for ensuring that any information they provide for the System Website is accurate, not misleading, and does not infringe on any third-party rights. Degree Wellness retains ownership of all intellectual property rights related to the System Website and can modify or discontinue it at any time.
Degree Wellness contracts with third parties for website design, maintenance, hosting, and search engine optimization services. Franchisees are required to use these services and pay a monthly "Technology Fee," the amount of which is determined by Degree Wellness. This fee is used to pay the third-party providers, but the amount franchisees pay may be different from what Degree Wellness pays to the providers and may be used to offset internal costs. This arrangement gives Degree Wellness control over the brand's online presence and ensures consistency across all franchise locations, while also creating a mandatory expense for franchisees.