Does Endless Summer Sweets administer a Marketing Fund?
Endless_Summer_Sweets Franchise · 2024 FDDAnswer from 2024 FDD Document
rtising requirements described above.
Brand Marketing Fund. You are not required at this time to pay us an advertising fee or contribute to an advertising fund that we administer. However, we reserve the right to establish a system-wide advertising and marketing fund. If we establish an advertising and marketing fund (the Fund), we will provide you with thirty (30) days' advance notice of the establishment of the Fund. If we establish this fund, you will contribute one percent (1%) of your Gross Sales each
week to the Fund. All franchisees will contribute to the Fund at the same rate. Any restaurants in which we or our affiliates have an ownership interest, may, but are not obligated to, contribute to the Fund.
The Fund is not a trust or escrow account, and we do not have any fiduciary obligations with respect to the or any advertising fees we receive. We have no obligation to make expenditures on your behalf that are equivalent or proportionate to your contributions to the Fund, to ensure that any particular franchisee benefits directly or pro rata from marketing or advertising we develop or place or to ensure that any advertising directly impacts your business or penetrates your territory.
We may use the Fund to defray expenses incurred in connection with the cost of creating, formulating, developing and implementing marketing, advertising and promotional programs, campaigns and materials, and any other activities we, in our sole judgment, believe are appropriate to enhance, promote and protect the Endless Summer Sweets restaurant brand. These items and activities may include (i) preparing marketing and advertising materials; (ii) preparing and maintaining World Wide web pages and sites, and other activities related to advertising and promotion via the Internet and/or other public computer networks; (iii) preparing and conducting television, radio, magazine, newspaper and World Wide web/Internet advertising campaigns and other public relations activities; (iv) employing public relations firms and advertising agencies to assist in the activities described above, including without limitation the placement of print, broadcast or World Wide web/Internet advertising; (v) conducting new product development and research; (vi) conducting market research, sponsorships, mystery shopper programs, and client surveys and interviews; (vii) collecting and accounting for the marketing and advertising payments from our franchisees; and (viii) preparing accountings for the Fund. We may use the Fund to defray administrative costs and overhead that we or our affiliates incur in activities reasonably related to the administration of the Fund, including without limitation the salaries and benefits paid to our and our affiliates employees engaged in advertising-related functions.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS, AND TRAINING (FDD pages 18–25)
What This Means (2024 FDD)
According to Endless Summer Sweets' 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are not currently required to pay an advertising fee or contribute to a marketing fund administered by the company. However, Endless Summer Sweets retains the right to establish a system-wide advertising and marketing fund in the future.
If Endless Summer Sweets establishes a marketing fund, they will provide franchisees with 30 days' advance notice. Franchisees would then be required to contribute 1% of their gross sales each week to the fund, with all franchisees contributing at the same rate. The document specifies that any restaurants in which Endless Summer Sweets or its affiliates have an ownership interest may, but are not obligated to, contribute to the fund.
The FDD outlines how Endless Summer Sweets may use the marketing fund, including creating advertising materials, maintaining websites, conducting advertising campaigns, employing public relations firms, conducting market research, and covering administrative costs. Endless Summer Sweets is not obligated to ensure that expenditures benefit franchisees proportionally to their contributions or that advertising directly impacts their specific business or territory. Franchisees can request an annual unaudited statement of contributions and expenditures of the Advertising Fund no sooner than 120 days after the end of Endless Summer Sweets’ fiscal year. Endless Summer Sweets has the right to discontinue the Advertising Fund, but not until all money in the fund has been expended for advertising and promotional purposes. If the fund is terminated, franchisees may be required to spend an equivalent amount on local advertising in addition to their regular local advertising requirements.