Tous Les Jours operates as a retail Bakery-Café: the franchisee receives and stores controlled inputs, prepares approved breads, cakes, pastries, sandwiches and beverages to System Standards, sells through the Accepted Location and approved digital channels, and records transactions through the required Information System. Tous Les Jours International Corp. controls menu, sourcing, brand standards, data access and inspections.
The franchisee runs the labor, local execution and customer service inside the Bakery-Café, while Tous Les Jours International Corp. defines what can be sold and how it is prepared, CJ Foodville USA supplies key proprietary inputs, and required technology connects orders, payments, records and franchisor oversight.
What does a Tous Les Jours franchisee sell, and who buys it?
The Franchised Bakery-Café sells approved Products to the general public: bakery and pastry goods, cakes, sandwiches, coffee and other beverages, with dine-in and carry-out service plus only the catering, mobile-app, approved online-ordering and delivery channels Tous Les Jours International Corp. permits or requires.
The FDD defines Products around proprietary recipes, TM Products and Specified Products. The current official U.S. menu organizes the consumer offer across bread, cakes, pastries, sandwiches and beverages; individual location availability can vary. The FDD does not identify a narrower required customer segment than the general public, so office, celebration or delivery occasions should be treated as channels or use cases rather than separate protected customer classes.
Retail sales normally originate at the Accepted Location. Item 12 permits catering and channels such as the mobile application, approved online ordering and delivery when allowed or required. The U.S. online-ordering terms state that a mobile order is a direct purchase from the participating Bakery-Café and that the identified Bakery-Café prepares and fulfills the order. Third-party ordering can also exist, but the FDD requires the franchisee to give Tous Les Jours International Corp. direct access to revenue-generating third-party platforms.
How does work move through the Bakery-Café?
The operating cycle starts with controlled replenishment, moves through in-store preparation and order fulfillment, and ends with transaction recording, customer-program settlement and franchisor visibility. The sequence below combines the FDD, Franchise Agreement and Supply Agreement.
- Actor
- Franchisee purchasing/management.
- Action
- Submit Purchase Orders for required TM Products, Branded Products and specified inputs.
- System/asset
- CJ Foodville USA supply process; Manual procedures.
- Output
- Accepted order scheduled for delivery.
- Actor
- Franchisee or authorized unit personnel.
- Action
- Check delivery, document shortages or damage, unload, stock and maintain required storage conditions.
- System/asset
- Bill of Lading, freezer/storage equipment, Operating Assets.
- Output
- Usable inventory under franchisee custody.
- Actor
- Trained Bakery-Café staff; FDD training roles include baker and caker.
- Action
- Prepare, handle, display and store Products using proprietary recipes and prescribed procedures.
- System/asset
- Operations Manual, TM Products, Specified Products, kitchen Operating Assets.
- Output
- Approved Products ready for sale.
- Actor
- Front-of-House personnel and unit management.
- Action
- Serve walk-in dine-in/carry-out demand and fulfill authorized mobile, online, catering or delivery orders.
- System/asset
- POS system, online-ordering platforms, digital menu boards.
- Output
- Completed customer order or delivery handoff.
- Actor
- Franchisee location through required systems.
- Action
- Record payment and honor required gift-card, loyalty, reward or other Customer Card Programs.
- System/asset
- POS, payment processor, Customer Card acceptance hardware/software.
- Output
- Recorded transaction and program liability/settlement data.
- Actor
- Franchisee management and Tous Les Jours International Corp.
- Action
- Maintain records; Tous Les Jours International Corp. polls data, reviews reports and may inspect operations, products and books.
- System/asset
- Information System, third-party platform access, inspection standards.
- Output
- Operating visibility and required corrective action.
Source: 2026 FDD Items 1, 8, 11 and 12; Franchise Agreement §§7.5-7.14 and 7.26; Supply Agreement §§II-V.
CJ Foodville USA is the only approved designated supplier identified in the 2026 FDD for TM Products, Branded Products and certain Operating Assets and Specified Products. The Supply Agreement makes the franchisee responsible for ordering, receipt inspection, unloading, stocking and inventory after delivery; alternative suppliers are not a franchisee-level substitution decision.
Who performs the work, and how involved must the owner be?
This is not disclosed as an absentee model. A single-unit franchisee or Designated Owner must directly supervise the Bakery-Café as General Manager unless Tous Les Jours International Corp. gives written consent to use an employee General Manager; multi-unit and area-development structures require an approved General Manager for each unit.
Item 15 also requires the franchisee to devote full time and efforts to managing the general business matters of the Tous Les Jours Bakery-Café. If the franchisee is an entity, its Designated Owner must own and control at least 10% and hold operating decision authority. The General Manager must complete required training and meet franchisor qualifications. A person who completed the new-franchisee training must actively supervise operations at all times.
The FDD names five initial Authorized Trainer positions: the franchisee or Designated Owner, one General Manager, one manager responsible for Front-of-House, one baker and one caker. That is not a disclosed unit headcount. The Franchise Agreement says the franchisee recruits, hires, fires, schedules, assigns, supervises and pays Personnel, while also meeting franchisor minimum staffing requirements that are not quantified in the FDD.
- Hire, fire, schedule, supervise and compensate unit Personnel.
- Order inventory and maintain enough approved Products for expected demand.
- Run food preparation, service, complaints, refunds and local legal compliance.
- Maintain the Accepted Location, Operating Assets, books and records.
- Approve Products, recipes, preparation methods, suppliers and System Standards.
- Specify Information System components and require upgrades or replacements.
- Approve marketing and may set operating hours and lawful pricing requirements.
- Access data, inspect the Bakery-Café and require deficiencies to be corrected.
- CJ Foodville USA supplies core proprietary and branded inputs and certain equipment.
- Approved payment, delivery, catering and online-ordering platforms process channel activity.
- Technology vendors may supply POS, software, digital menu boards or future systems.
- The franchisee remains responsible for operation and platform access even when vendors are designated.
Source: 2026 FDD Items 8, 11 and 15; Franchise Agreement §§7.10, 7.17 and 7.26. The official Franchisee Privacy Policy separately describes store information handled through Franchisee Systems, including ordering, sales, inventory, promotions and point-of-sale data.
How do Traditional and Non-Traditional Bakery-Cafés differ?
Both formats use the Franchise Agreement and generally follow the same FDD rules, but the physical setting and territory treatment differ. Traditional Bakery-Cafés are typically larger retail locations; Non-Traditional Bakery-Cafés may occupy smaller captive or mixed-use settings, and some receive no limited protected Territory.
| Format | Typical setting | Territory treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Bakery-Café | Typically about 2,500-3,500 sq. ft. in a strip center, shopping mall or free-standing unit. | Defined Territory with limited protected rights; normally a 1-mile radius, subject to high-density reductions. |
| Non-Traditional Bakery-Café | Occasionally offered in grocery stores, airports, hospitals, stadiums or mixed-use/residential locations; typically smaller. | A Non-Traditional Bakery-Café without a street-facing storefront accessible to the general public does not receive the limited protection described for the Territory. |
The Territory is not exclusive. In a High Population Density Zone, the default 1-mile radius may be reduced to one-half mile where the one-mile population exceeds 50,000 but is below 100,000, and to one-quarter mile where it exceeds 100,000. Even inside the Territory, Tous Les Jours International Corp. retains alternative-distribution rights and can pursue grocery, convenience, internet and delivery channels without compensating the franchisee.
The franchisee also cannot freely expand distribution. Except for catering, the mobile application, approved online-ordering platforms and delivery services that the franchisor allows or requires, Products generally may be sold at retail to customers physically present at the Accepted Location. Separate internet selling, wholesale distribution and other channels require written approval.
The operating protection is location-based, not a broad ownership of customers or digital demand. A franchisee may advertise outside the Territory with approval, while the franchisor, affiliates and other approved channels can reach customers inside it. Item 12 also gives the franchisor rights in captive-audience facilities and alternative distribution.
Which systems are mandatory, and what does the franchisor see?
The Information System is a required operating layer, not optional back-office software. It can include POS terminals, card readers, digital menu boards, online ordering, Customer Card processing, connectivity, accounting, sales reporting, record retention and learning-management components, with future additions or replacements required at the franchisee's expense.
Tous Les Jours International Corp. may poll, retrieve and download Bakery-Café operating, sales and financial data on a real-time or daily basis. It also requires direct access to third-party services through which revenue is generated or processed, including named examples such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, ezCater and Too Good To Go. The franchisor may require new hardware, software and System Platforms and has no contractual cap on the frequency of Information System upgrades.
Customer programs sit on the same stack. The FDD says the current Mobile App and Rewards Program is voluntary, but Customer Card Programs that the franchisor develops or designates can be mandatory. The official Rewards page shows the consumer-facing app and points experience; the contract determines whether and how a franchisee must implement particular programs.
What does Item 20 show about the operating network?
At December 31, 2025, Item 20 reported 189 U.S. Tous Les Jours outlets: 184 franchised and five company- or affiliate-owned. Item 1 clarifies that Tous Les Jours International Corp. itself operated none; its parent, CJ Foodville USA, operated the five affiliate-owned Bakery-Cafés.
Item 20, Table 1; exact mutually exclusive outlet counts
Interpretation: the U.S. network was overwhelmingly franchised at year-end 2025, while the five affiliate-owned Bakery-Cafés provided a small operating-company footprint.
Source: 2026 FDD, Item 20, Table 1, p. 57; Item 1, p. 3. Reconciliation: 184 + 5 = 189; percentages = 100.0% after rounding.
Which operating questions remain unresolved in the disclosure?
The FDD describes the control architecture in detail but does not publish every store-level operating parameter. The largest gap is staffing: it identifies trained roles and requires minimum staffing levels, yet it does not state the required headcount, shift coverage or role mix for a specific Traditional or Non-Traditional Bakery-Café.
- Minimum staffing: obtain the current minimum staffing standards by format and daypart, including how baker, caker and Front-of-House coverage is defined after training.
- Technology stack: verify the current POS vendor and the planned 2027 POS transition, required integrations, support responsibilities and any System Platform requirements.
- Supply logistics: confirm CJ Foodville USA delivery frequency, order cutoffs, lead times, cold-storage needs and practical contingency rules for the proposed market.
- Channel participation: identify which mobile ordering, delivery, catering, rewards and Customer Card Programs are mandatory for the specific location at signing.
- Format scope: for a Non-Traditional Bakery-Café, confirm the approved menu, production equipment, storage model and whether the location receives any Territory protection.
Official U.S. franchise page — current franchise positioning and site guidelines; contractual requirements above follow the 2026 FDD where the two differ.
Official U.S. menu, cake menu and sandwich menu — current consumer product categories and location-dependent availability.
U.S. Terms of Use and Rewards — mobile ordering, participating Bakery-Café fulfillment and consumer loyalty mechanics.
Franchisee Privacy Policy — official description of operational data handled through Franchisee Systems.
What is the practical operating takeaway?
The central mechanism is retail sale of approved bakery-café Products to the public through a controlled store and authorized digital channels. The franchisee's core responsibility is disciplined local execution—people, inventory, preparation, service and compliance—while the strongest dependencies are franchisor-controlled menu and systems plus CJ Foodville USA sourcing. Territory protection is limited, and the most important undisclosed point to verify is the actual minimum staffing model for the proposed format.