101 Chicken HQ vs Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy’s is the stronger opportunity right now, and the reason is TAM. With 965 franchised units against 101 Chicken’s 3, the addressable base is over 300x larger. Even if you close every single 101 Chicken franchisee, you’ve sold four deals. At Papa Murphy’s, a modest 5% penetration gets you 48 accounts. The investment ranges are comparable, so budget isn’t the differentiator—sheer unit count is. When you’re selling a POS, marketing automation, and back-office stack, volume is the engine, and Papa Murphy’s has the only volume that matters.

The tradeoff is timing versus terrain. 101 Chicken’s 100% unit growth is a leading indicator of a brand that will need scalable systems soon, and a 4% royalty on a franchisor-controlled procurement model means corporate has tight operational grip—ripe for a top-down vendor mandate. But “soon” is the problem. Four units today, even with perfect growth, won’t deliver material revenue in this sales cycle. Papa Murphy’s approved-supplier model also gives you a softer procurement terrain: franchisees have more autonomy to choose their own tech stack without a rigid corporate gatekeeper blocking your sale.

You take the large, flat-to-declining base with open procurement over the tiny, fast-growing brand with locked-down purchasing every time. The Papa Murphy’s franchisee is already operating, already feeling pain from legacy systems, and can say yes without a franchisor veto. 101 Chicken is a bet on a future that hasn’t arrived.

Verdict: Papa Murphy’s wins on TAM and terrain today; 101 Chicken is a watchlist brand for 2027.