If a franchisee creates a new recipe useful to a restaurant, must it be disclosed to Noodles & Company?
Noodles_Company Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All recipes, processes, ideas, concepts, methods, and techniques used or useful to a restaurant, grocery store, or other business offering restaurant products, whether or not constituting protectable intellectual property, that you create, or that are created on your behalf, in connection with the development or operation of your Noodles & Company restaurants must be promptly disclosed to us.
If
we adopt any of them as part of the System, they will be deemed to be our sole and exclusive property and deemed to be works made-for-hire for us. You hereby assign and further agree to sign whatever further assignment or other documents we request to evidence our ownership or to assist us in securing intellectual property rights in such ideas, concepts, techniques, or materials.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPT (FDD pages 99–350)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Noodles & Company's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, franchisees are obligated to disclose any recipes, processes, ideas, concepts, methods, and techniques that could be useful to a restaurant. This includes anything created by the franchisee or on their behalf related to the development or operation of their Noodles & Company restaurant. This obligation extends whether or not these creations are eligible for intellectual property protection.
The implications of this requirement are significant for a prospective Noodles & Company franchisee. If a franchisee develops a successful new menu item or operational improvement, they must share it with Noodles & Company. Should Noodles & Company adopt the franchisee's creation into the Noodles & Company system, it becomes the sole and exclusive property of Noodles & Company. The franchisee is then required to formally assign all rights to Noodles & Company and assist in securing intellectual property rights if requested.
This clause ensures that Noodles & Company can leverage innovations developed within its franchise network across the entire system. While franchisees are responsible for contributing their insights, Noodles & Company retains ultimate control and ownership of successful innovations. This is a fairly standard practice in franchising, where franchisors aim to maintain consistency and control over the brand and operating system. However, franchisees may want to consider the implications of contributing valuable ideas without direct financial compensation beyond the potential benefit to their own restaurant's operations.