Under what circumstances does the Pearce Bespoke credit card processing fee apply?
Pearce_Bespoke Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
d or approved discounts, promotions, or credits.
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- "Credit Card Sales" means all revenue transacted from or during the operation of your Business including, but not limited to, service fees, product sales, business interruption insurance, and all amounts that you receive at or away from the Site, whether from cash, check, EFT, ACH, wire transfer, credit and debit card, barter, exchange, trade credit, loyalty program points, gift card redemptions, or other credit transactions.
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- Pearce Bespoke or local Pearce Bespoke franchisees may establish an advertising cooperative in your area. The local advertising cooperative will establish the amount of cooperative advertising fees. If a company-owned Franchise is a member of your cooperative, it will have voting power equal to that of
franchised stores. Company-owned stores will not have controlling power in any local cooperative.
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- To the extent your annual contributions to cooperative advertising programs are less than 5% of the Gross Sales for your Franchise, you must conduct additional advertising and marketing activities in your local geographic area. Your local advertising activities, however, will not eliminate your obligations to contribute to cooperative advertising programs. If you do not spend at least 5% of Gross Sales for the calendar year for cooperative or local advertising, we may require that you pay Pearce Bespoke the difference between what you should have spent and what you actually spent on advertising initiatives in your market for the previous calendar year, at Pearce Bespoke's sole discretion. Pearce Bespoke recommends that you spend $12,000 $15,000 on advertising and marketing during the first year.
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- This fee is payable when the Franchise Agreement or a substantial portion of the assets of the Franchise or any controlling interest in the Franchise Agreement or the assets of the Franchise are transferred.
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- You must pay us, or a third party that we designate, a technology fee for various technology services that we will provide or arrange for third parties to provide to you, which services are subject to change over time (the "Technology Fee"). Currently, the Technology Fee is a pass-through cost for the technology services we provide for you from the date that you open your Business for business and will be collected in the same manner as the Royalty Fee and Brand Fund Fee.
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 11–15)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Pearce Bespoke Franchise Disclosure Document, the circumstances under which a credit card processing fee applies are not explicitly detailed. However, the document does define "Credit Card Sales" as all revenue transacted from the business, including service fees, product sales, business interruption insurance, and all amounts received at or away from the site, whether from cash, check, EFT, ACH, wire transfer, credit and debit card, barter, exchange, trade credit, loyalty program points, gift card redemptions, or other credit transactions.
While the FDD does not specify a separate fee for credit card processing, it mentions various fees related to technology and point-of-sale (POS) systems. The Technology Fee is currently $25 per week but is subject to increases not to exceed 10% annually. Additionally, there is a Point-Of-Sale (POS) System Subscription Fee of $385, which is a pass-through expense. Pearce Bespoke reserves the right to increase the cost of the POS System Subscription Fee up to their actual costs.
Given the lack of explicit information on credit card processing fees, a prospective franchisee should seek clarification from Pearce Bespoke regarding any potential charges associated with credit card transactions. It would be prudent to inquire about whether the Technology Fee or POS System Subscription Fee covers credit card processing costs or if there are separate charges. Understanding these costs is crucial for accurately projecting expenses and assessing the financial viability of the franchise.