Chip City vs Papa Murphy's

Papa Murphy’s wins on TAM by a landslide. With 965 franchised units, the addressable base is over 20x larger than Chip City’s 44 corporate locations. For a software vendor, that translates into a pipeline of independent operators who control their own tech stack, versus a single, centralized buyer. Even a modest attach rate across Papa Murphy’s franchisees delivers more deals than a clean sweep of Chip City. The sheer volume of potential accounts makes it the stronger near-term revenue play.

The tradeoff is budget and trajectory. Chip City’s $729K AUV signals healthier per-unit spend, and as a young, all-corporate brand it may be priming for a franchise launch—a classic greenfield opportunity. But that upside is speculative, and 44 units won’t sustain a dedicated sales effort. Papa Murphy’s -3.6% unit decline is a real drag, yet the installed base is deep enough to absorb churn and still generate substantial pipeline. Per-unit software budgets may be leaner, but aggregate TAM more than compensates.

Terrain and timing are neutral: both use an approved-supplier model and file current FDDs. The decision comes down to scale versus potential. Right now, scale pays the bills.

Verdict: Papa Murphy’s is the stronger immediate software-sales opportunity because its massive franchised TAM outweighs negative unit growth and lower per-unit budget signals.