Can a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchisee transfer their franchise to someone already in the bakery business?

According to the 2025 Nothing Bundt Cakes FDD, a prospective franchisee is restricted from owning or being involved with another bakery, unless the franchisor provides written approval. Specifically, a prospective franchisee cannot own, maintain, engage in, lend money to, extend credit to, have a controlling interest in, or be employed as an officer, director, executive, or principal of any bakery, unless approved in writing by Nothing Bundt Cakes.

This restriction is in place to protect Nothing Bundt Cakes' confidential information and prevent competition. The FDD states that prospective franchisees will receive confidential information regarding the development and operation of Nothing Bundt Cakes bakeries. This information includes proprietary recipes, standards and specifications for food preparation and presentation, kitchen equipment, bakery build-out, proprietary merchandise and software, operations manual, copyrighted materials, baking methods, and other operational know-how.

This means that if a franchisee wishes to transfer their Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise to someone already in the bakery business, Nothing Bundt Cakes must provide written approval. This approval is likely contingent on ensuring that the transfer does not pose a competitive threat or risk the misuse of Nothing Bundt Cakes' confidential information. A prospective franchisee already in the bakery business would need to be upfront about their existing business and seek written approval from Nothing Bundt Cakes before proceeding with the franchise purchase.