If I create an idea useful to Noodles & Company restaurants, am I required to disclose it to Noodles & Company?
Noodles_Company Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All ideas, concepts, methods or techniques useful to Noodles & Company restaurants, whether or not constituting protectable intellectual property, and whether created by you or on your behalf, must be promptly disclosed to us and, if adopted as part of the System, will be considered our property and works made-for-hire for us. You must sign whatever documents we request to evidence our ownership or to assist us in securing intellectual property rights in the ideas, concepts, methods or techniques.
Source: Item 14 — PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND PROPRIETARY INFORMATION (FDD pages 58–60)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Noodles & Company's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, if you create any ideas, concepts, methods, or techniques that could be useful to Noodles & Company restaurants, you are required to disclose them to Noodles & Company. This applies whether or not the idea is something that could be protected by intellectual property laws.
If Noodles & Company decides to use your idea as part of their system, it will be considered their property and classified as a work-made-for-hire. This means Noodles & Company will own the idea, and you will not retain any rights to it.
Noodles & Company may also require you to sign documents to confirm their ownership of the idea or to help them protect the intellectual property rights related to it. This obligation ensures that Noodles & Company can freely use and protect any innovations that arise from its franchisees' experiences and insights.