According to the Southern Steer agreement, who is the employer of the Associate?

• (a) Associate acknowledges that Associate will receive from the Franchisee Confidential Information and Trade Secrets pertaining to the operation of the Southern Steer Business.
• (c) During the term of Associate's employment or affiliation with Franchisee and for a period of five years after the expiration or termination of such employment or affiliation (unless such information is a Trade Secret in which case the requirements will remain in place for as long as such information constitutes a trade secret), Associate will not at any time, reveal, communicate, sell, use, employ, copy, reverse engineer, imitate, lecture upon, rewrite, reproduce, disseminate, publish, disclose, or divulge, directly or indirectly, for its own benefit or otherwise, the Confidential Information or Trade Secrets, for Associate's own benefit or otherwise. (a) In-Term Covenant Not to Compete. During the term of Associate's employment or affiliation with Franchisee Associate will not, on his/her/its own account or as an employee, principal, agent, franchisee, independent contractor, consultant, affiliate, licensee, partner, officer, director, shareholder, member, manager, or owner of any other person or Entity, directly or indirectly, own, operate, lease, franchise, conduct, engage in, be connected with, have any interest in, or assist any person or Entity engage in any Competitive Activity or Competitive Business, except with the prior written consent of the Franchisor, which consent may be withheld in Franchisor's sole discretion.

Source: Item 5 — and 7 of the FDD, Section 3.1 of the Franchise Agreement and Section 4.1 of the Multi-Unit Development Agreement are hereby amended to state that payment of the initial franchise fee and development fee will be deferred until We have satisfied Our pre-opening obligations, and You have commenced business operations. (FDD pages 168–290)