85C Bakery Cafe vs Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy’s is the stronger target right now, and it’s not close. The dimension that wins is TAM. With 965 franchised units against 85C’s 6, you’re looking at a real, addressable base versus a rounding error. Even with negative unit growth, a 1,000-unit chain gives you a repeatable sales motion, reference accounts, and enough deal volume to tune your pitch. 85C’s 100% growth sounds impressive until you realize it’s a jump from 44 to 88 total units—and only 6 of those are franchised. That’s not a pipeline; it’s a handful of prospects you’ll burn through in a quarter.

The tradeoff is terrain. 85C’s higher investment range ($819K–$1.77M) signals operators with deeper pockets and more complex ops, which usually means bigger software budgets and more pain points to solve. Papa Murphy’s lower entry point ($450K–$693K) brings thinner margins per deal, but the sheer volume of franchised doors more than compensates. You’ll close smaller ACV, but you’ll close it repeatedly across a fragmented owner base that’s easier to penetrate than a corporate-heavy brand. The approved-supplier procurement model in both brands keeps the tech stack open, so no gatekeeper advantage either way.

Timing seals it. 85C is still figuring out franchising—6 units is a pilot, not a rollout. You’d be selling into a system that hasn’t yet proven it can scale franchisee operations, let alone standardize tech adoption. Papa Murphy’s, despite the contraction, is a mature franchise network with churn that creates replacement demand and existing operators who need efficiency gains to protect margins. Sell into the pain of a shrinking system that needs to do more with less.

Verdict: Papa Murphy’s wins on TAM and timing—sell where the franchisees already are, not where they might someday be.