What is the Del Taco franchisee prohibited from doing with the Manuals?
Del_Taco Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 9.2 Confidentiality of the Manuals. Franchisee shall at all times treat the Manuals, any other manuals created for or approved for use in the operation of the Restaurant, and the information contained therein, as confidential, and shall use best efforts to maintain such information as secret and confidential, protect it from viewing by others, and treat the Manuals with the same degree of care as it would treat its most highly confidential documents. Franchisee shall not at any time copy, duplicate, record, or otherwise reproduce the foregoing materials, in whole or in part, nor otherwise make the same available to any unauthorized person.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 58–59)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Del Taco's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are restricted in how they handle the brand's operational manuals. Specifically, franchisees must treat the manuals and the information within them as confidential. This means they need to take precautions to keep the information secret and protect it from being seen by unauthorized individuals. Franchisees must handle these documents with the same level of care as they would their own most confidential business records.
Del Taco franchisees are explicitly prohibited from copying, duplicating, recording, or otherwise reproducing the manuals, whether in whole or in part. They also cannot make the manuals available to any person who is not authorized to access them. This is to ensure that Del Taco's proprietary information remains protected and is not disseminated to competitors or others who could use it to the detriment of the Del Taco system.
The manuals remain the sole property of Del Taco and must be kept in a secure location on the restaurant premises. Franchisees are responsible for keeping the manuals current and up to date with any revisions issued by Del Taco. In the event of any disagreement about the contents of the manuals, the master copy maintained by Del Taco at its headquarters will be the controlling version. Del Taco retains the right to revise the manuals from time to time, and franchisees must promptly incorporate these changes and comply with the updated standards.