Restaurant franchise accounting Accounting for Nothing Bundt Cakes franchisees. Royalty monthly, and gift cards that are sold before they are earned.
Nothing Bundt Cakes’ 2025 franchise disclosure sets a 6% royalty and a 5% national marketing fund contribution on gross sales, each monthly. Cakes are often bought as gifts and ordered ahead for occasions, so gift cards and pre-orders — money taken before the cake leaves the shop — decide whether the books and the royalty agree. Kite keeps those rules for Nothing Bundt Cakes operators.
Operators of this brand run their back office on Kite
The rules that change the books
Monthly, not weekly
Both charges are monthly[1], so the royalty follows the calendar month rather than a franchisor week — the month-end cut-off of sales is the one that matters.
Gift cards and pre-orders
A gift card sold is a liability until redeemed, and a cake paid for ahead of an event is not revenue until it is collected. Whether royalty is owed at sale or at redemption is your agreement’s definition; the books should record both moments so either answer can be computed.
Where Nothing Bundt Cakes books go wrong
Gift cards booked as sales
A strong December of gift-card sales booked as revenue overstates December and understates the spring months when the cards are redeemed — and, depending on the definition, can pay royalty twice on the same cake.
The delivery payout that never landed
A marketplace statement shows the orders; the deposit two days later is short, or never arrives. Booked from the bank, the missing money looks like a slow week. Booked from the statement, it is a clearing balance with a store and an amount.
The day restated after the royalty was paid
An offline register syncs late, a void is processed the next morning, and a day already reported to the franchisor changes. The difference belongs on the next royalty payment as its own line, not in an edit to the one already debited.
Questions
Questions Nothing Bundt Cakes operators ask.
How does Kite book gift cards?
To a liability when sold and to revenue when redeemed, store by store. The royalty is computed on whatever your agreement defines, with the clause quoted beside it, so a person can see which moment it followed.
Which point-of-sale systems does Kite read?
Toast live; Square, Clover and NCR Aloha by daily export; any system that exports a day of sales by store can come in as a file.
Can we start with a few bakeries?
Yes. Two to five locations through one full month-end close, beside your current bookkeeper, at the same price.
Sources
- [1]Franchise deep dive: Nothing Bundt Cakes costs, fees and data (reporting the 2025 FDD) — 1851 Franchise · a directory reporting the filing
Start with a few stores.
Four fields. A person replies within one business day.