Can the Gold Star Brand Building Fund be used for promotional brochures?
Gold_Star Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
- 9.3.3 The Brand Building Fund, all contributions thereto, and any earnings thereon shall be used exclusively to meet any and all costs of maintaining, administering, directing and preparing local, regional and/or national advertising, promotional and public relations activities, including, among other things, the cost of creating, preparing, producing and conducting television, radio, magazine and newspaper advertising campaigns; direct mail and outdoor billboard advertising; marketing surveys and other public relations activities; employing advertising agencies and marketing, advertising and other consultants to assist therein; and providing promotional brochures and other marketing materials.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 53–163)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Gold Star's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the Brand Building Fund can be used for promotional brochures. Specifically, the Brand Building Fund is used to cover the costs of local, regional, and national advertising, promotional, and public relations activities. These activities include creating, preparing, producing, and conducting various advertising campaigns across different media such as television, radio, magazines, and newspapers.
In addition to these broad advertising campaigns, the Brand Building Fund also covers direct mail and outdoor billboard advertising, marketing surveys, and other public relations activities. Gold Star also uses the fund to employ advertising agencies, marketing consultants, and other consultants to assist in these efforts.
Importantly, the Brand Building Fund explicitly includes providing promotional brochures and other marketing materials as one of its intended uses. This means that franchisee contributions to the fund can be directly allocated to the creation and distribution of promotional brochures designed to market their Gold Star locations.