16 Handles Franchising

The vendor opportunity at 16 Handles

16 Handles is a quick-service frozen yogurt concept headquartered in New Jersey. According to its 2022 Franchise Disclosure Document, the system consists of 30 total units, 29 of which are franchised and 1 company-owned. The average unit volume sits at $509,690. For a software vendor, the immediate addressable market is those 29 franchised locations. The unit count is small, but the geographic concentration is high: 17 units in New York, 6 in New Jersey, 2 in Connecticut, and 1 in Florida. This density could simplify deployment and support logistics if you win the account.

The franchisee base is entirely single-unit operators. The FDD maps 26 operators across roughly 26 located units, with zero multi-unit operators. This means any enterprise software sale will likely need to be driven from the top down, not through a large franchisee group.

Who controls software purchasing

Technology purchasing authority at 16 Handles appears to rest with a small corporate team. The FDD lists Solomon Choi as Chief Executive Officer and Sean Gunner as VP of Brand and Operations. In a system of this size, the CEO and the VP of Operations are the most probable buyers for any software that touches store operations, brand standards, or financial reporting. Alex Choi, the CFO, may become involved if the purchase has a material financial or payment-processing component. There is no CIO, CTO, or dedicated technology executive listed in the FDD.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2022 FDD mandates one specific technology system: the point-of-sale platform Toast by Toast, Inc. This is a concrete, named mandate. If your product integrates with or depends on POS data, you must be compatible with Toast. The FDD does not disclose any other mandated or recommended technology systems. There is no mention of mandated online ordering, loyalty, payroll, inventory, or scheduling platforms. This absence of additional mandates could represent an open field for vendors who can demonstrate value to the HQ team, but it also means you will need to build the business case from scratch.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the franchisor’s procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly known. This lack of disclosure is itself a signal: the franchisor may not exercise tight control over non-POS purchasing, or it may handle procurement on a case-by-case basis.

Initial franchise agreements run for 10 years. Renewal terms are 5 years, and the renewal conditions explicitly state that the franchisee may be asked to sign a contract with materially different terms. This is a critical detail for software vendors. A renewal event could trigger a new technology mandate or a change in approved vendors. With 29 franchised units on 10-year initial terms, understanding the vintage of the franchise agreements in the system is key to timing your outreach.

How to read the 16 Handles FDD

The 2022 FDD is the most recent public filing for 16 Handles. It contains the legal and operational disclosures that govern the franchise system, including Item 11 (franchisor’s obligations) where technology mandates are listed, Item 1 (the franchisor and its parents, predecessors, and affiliates) where executives are named, and Item 17 (renewal, termination, transfer) where contract windows are defined. The embedded PDF viewer below contains the full document. Review it directly to verify the facts cited here and to search for any additional technology or procurement signals that may matter to your sales process.

For a ranked target list of franchise systems that match your ideal customer profile, including technology mandates, decision-maker names, and unit growth data, FranCloud can help.