Chicken Strips and Dips vs Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy’s is the stronger opportunity by a mile, and it comes down to TAM and timing. With 965 franchised units against Brand A’s single location, the addressable base is nearly a thousand times larger. That scale turns even a modest attach rate into a real pipeline. Yes, both brands are shrinking, but Brand A’s -66.7% unit growth is a death spiral—you’re selling into a concept that’s actively collapsing. Papa Murphy’s -3.6% decline is manageable churn in a mature network where operators still need efficiency gains to protect margins.

The meaningful tradeoff is budget versus terrain. Papa Murphy’s franchisees carry a much heavier investment burden ($450K–$693K) and a $25K franchise fee, which signals operators with real skin in the game and a willingness to spend on systems that control labor and waste. Brand A’s sub-$116K build-out looks like a hobby business with no budget for back-office or marketing automation. On procurement, both use an approved-supplier model, so neither gives you the open-integration advantage that simplifies software adoption. Papa Murphy’s wins on sheer surface area: more units, more pain from thin QSR margins, and a royalty structure that leaves room for tech spend if you can prove ROI on labor or order accuracy.

Verdict: Papa Murphy’s is the only viable target here—Brand A isn’t a brand, it’s a single-store liquidation event.