Cinnaholic Franchising vs Papa Murphy's

Cinnaholic’s 2.5% unit growth is the only forward-motion signal on the board, and in a shrinking QSR landscape that matters more than raw unit count. A growing system means new store openings, fresh build-outs, and operators who are actively investing in infrastructure—exactly the moment when POS, scheduling, and marketing automation decisions get made. The lower AUV ($313K vs. Papa Murphy’s implied higher per-unit volume) is a real constraint on per-store software budget, but the expansion velocity opens a recurring land-and-expand motion that a declining chain simply can’t offer.

Papa Murphy’s wins on total addressable units (965 franchised locations) and has a higher investment floor, which suggests operators with deeper pockets and more complex back-office needs. But a -3.6% unit contraction is a demand-killer for net-new software seats. You’re selling into a churning base where closures outpace openings, procurement is defensive, and multi-unit owners are more likely to be consolidating tech stacks than evaluating new vendors. The larger TAM is theoretical if the actual buying windows are shrinking quarter over quarter.

The decisive dimension here is timing. Cinnaholic’s growth curve puts you in front of franchisees during their initial setup and ramp phase, when switching costs are zero and vendor selection is wide open. The tradeoff is smaller deal sizes today against a compounding install base tomorrow. Papa Murphy’s offers a bigger installed base but a contracting one, which turns software sales into a replacement battle fought on price and inertia.

Verdict: Cinnaholic is the stronger opportunity—growth trumps scale when selling into net-new operator workflows.