Sonic Drive-In vs Papa Murphy's

Sonic Drive-In is the unambiguous stronger bet right now. With 3,120 franchised units generating an average $1.55M AUV—over 2.2x Papa Murphy’s $680K—the budget dimension alone flips the calculus decisively toward a higher per-location software wallet. A franchisee running a $1.5M drive-in can and must spend more on POS, scheduling, and marketing automation than one scraping margins off $680K in take-and-bake. Higher AUV means a shorter sales cycle when pitching ROI on tools that cut labor or lift ticket size, and it also means churn risk is lower because the unit economics support ongoing SaaS spend.

The tradeoff is territory, not opportunity. Sonic’s approved-supplier procurement model is a closed door, just like Papa Murphy’s, so neither brand gives you an open-tech-ecosystem advantage. But the total addressable market tilts heavily to Sonic—3,120 doors versus 1,119 means you have nearly triple the seats to sell into, even before considering unit growth trends. Papa Murphy’s is actively shrinking, down 2.27% YoY, while Sonic’s -0.76% is essentially flat and stable. When you factor in that Sonic’s FDD is current (2026) versus Papa Murphy’s overdue filing, the timing dimension reinforces the conclusion: Sonic’s franchisees are operating in a healthy, well-documented system with active unit economics, not one drifting out of compliance and shedding locations. You go where the budget and base are right now, not where you hope a turnaround materializes.

Verdict: Sonic Drive-In’s 2.2x budget advantage and 3x location base make it the stronger software-sales opportunity today, with the only meaningful tradeoff being the closed procurement terrain both brands share.