Are Noodles & Company owned restaurants required to contribute to the ABDF?
Noodles_Company Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Noodles & Company restaurants owned by us, and our affiliate will contribute to the ABDF on the same basis as the then-current rate for franchisees. You must contribute to the ABDF amounts that we establish as described in Item 6. We are not currently charging you a ABDF fee; however, we reserve the right to do so in the future upon notice to you. As discussed in Section 9.11 of the Franchise Agreement and Item 8 of this disclosure document, we reserve the right to require rebates from vendors attributable to marketing to go into the ABDF as well; however, we are not currently collecting these rebates.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 36–48)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Noodles & Company Franchise Disclosure Document, Noodles & Company restaurants owned by the company and its affiliates contribute to the Advertising & Brand Development Fund (ABDF) on the same basis as franchisees. This means that company-owned restaurants are subject to the same contribution rates as franchise-owned restaurants. The ABDF is used for various marketing and advertising activities to promote the Noodles & Company brand.
Currently, Noodles & Company is not charging franchisees an ABDF fee, but they reserve the right to implement one in the future with notice. If implemented, both franchise-owned and company-owned restaurants would be required to contribute. The ABDF is managed at the discretion of Noodles & Company, and while it aims to benefit all restaurants, there is no guarantee that any specific location will directly benefit from the advertising and marketing efforts.
In addition to the ABDF, franchisees are required to spend a specified amount on local advertising, public relations, and marketing, known as Field Marketing Funds (FMF), which is initially set at 1.0% of Net Royalty Sales. This local spending is separate from any potential contributions to the ABDF. If a marketing cooperative is established in the franchisee's market area, both franchise-owned and company-owned restaurants must participate and contribute to the cooperative, with each restaurant having one vote in the cooperative.