BUBBA’S FAMOUS ICE CREAM vs Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy’s presents an immediate TAM you can actually prospect today: 965 franchised locations with identical tech needs (POS, scheduling, marketing automation) and similar investment profiles. That’s nearly a thousand storefronts with a standard royalty and ad fund, all operating under an approved-supplier model—so once you clear franchisor vetting, the entire base is addressable. The slight decline in unit growth (–3.6% YoY) is noise against the sheer volume; even with net closures, the installed base dwarfs Bubba’s single corporate store. Budget-wise, the investment ranges overlap heavily, so per-location spending power is essentially a wash, but Papa Murphy’s multiplies it by three orders of magnitude.

Timing tilts hard toward Papa Murphy’s too. The 2026 FDD and current filing freshness signal an active, legally current system where franchisees are compelled to renew or renegotiate contracts—prime moments for technology displacement. Meanwhile, Bubba’s 2025 FDD covers one lone unit with zero franchised operators, meaning zero sales calls to make until the brand scales, which could take years. The per-row advantages confirm the obvious: total units (1,014 vs 1), franchised units (965 vs 0), and FDD recency all belong to Papa Murphy’s. That’s not a close call; it’s a walkover on every dimension that creates pipeline today.

The only meaningful tradeoff is that Papa Murphy’s is shrinking, while Bubba’s might someday multiply from one to many—but that’s a speculative growth play with no revenue floor. A vendor chasing quota this quarter cannot afford to wait for a concept that hasn’t sold a single franchise. Papa Murphy’s large, homogeneous base gives you a finite, high-volume target that can pay the bills while you incubate tomorrow’s breakout brand, but right now, the choice is between a mountain of immediate opportunity and a molehill of hope.

Verdict: Papa Murphy’s is the only brand with an actual addressable market, making it the objectively stronger software-sales opportunity right now.