Doner Haus Franchising vs Papa Murphy's

The numbers don’t leave room for debate on total addressable market. Papa Murphy’s gives you 965 franchised units against Doner Haus’s single operating franchisee. That’s not a 10× or even 100× difference—it’s nearly a thousand-to-one gap in current doors you can sell into today, with an FDD showing both brands filed for the same fiscal year so the data is equally fresh. Even with Papa Murphy’s posting negative unit growth (–3.6% YoY), the installed base is deep enough that churn won’t erase your pipeline faster than you can work it. The TAM dimension alone makes Papa Murphy’s the obvious near-term play—you’re fishing in a stocked lake versus a puddle.

The meaningful tradeoff sits in the procurement model and what it signals for software stickiness. Doner Haus runs a franchisor‑controlled supply chain, which typically means standardization, mandated tech stacks, and a top‑down sale that, once closed, drags every unit along with zero franchisee‑by‑franchisee objection handling. Papa Murphy’s approved‑supplier model gives franchisees more autonomy, so you’ll have to win them one at a time and compete on merit, not mandate. That’s harder per deal, but with 965 targets the math still works in your favor. Budget-wise, both brands sit in similar AUV and investment ranges, so per‑unit willingness to spend on POS, marketing automation, or back‑office tools shouldn’t diverge dramatically.

Verdict: Sell into Papa Murphy’s now for volume, but keep Doner Haus on a founder‑led account list as a high‑control, easy‑to‑capture upsell if they scale.