The vendor opportunity at 16 Handles Store
16 Handles Store is a quick-service restaurant franchise headquartered in New York with 31 total units, all franchised. The system reported an average unit volume (AUV) of $804,648 in its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). Year-over-year unit growth stands at 6.897%, signaling modest but steady expansion. The operator footprint is entirely single-unit: 17 mapped operators run approximately 17 located units, with no multi-unit operators in the 2–9, 10–24, or 25+ bands. Top states by unit count are New York (8), New Jersey (6), Connecticut (2), and Florida (1). For software vendors, the addressable market is 31 locations concentrated in the Northeast, with a royalty rate of 6.0% and an initial franchise term of 10 years.
Who controls software purchasing
Purchasing authority at 16 Handles Store sits at the franchisor level. The 2026 FDD lists Neil Hershman as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Member, and Lisa Mallon as VP of Operations and Training. These two executives form the core buying center for technology decisions. Additional HQ contacts include Daniel Duncan (Chief Creative Officer), Frederick Frey (VP of Franchise Development), and Edwina Arroyo (Controller). No parent company is on file; the brand appears independently owned. Because all units are franchised and no company-owned stores exist, any software sale must go through HQ approval, making Hershman and Mallon the primary targets for vendor outreach.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2026 FDD mandates two technology systems across all 31 franchised locations: an Extranet platform and Toast by Toast, Inc. for point-of-sale. No other mandated or recommended systems are disclosed in the FDD. This means the POS environment is locked to Toast, creating an integration dependency for any adjacent software—loyalty, online ordering, inventory, or labor management—that must interoperate with Toast’s APIs. Vendors offering complementary or overlay solutions should be prepared to demonstrate Toast compatibility. The Extranet mandate suggests a centralized communication or operations portal, though the specific vendor is not named in the FDD.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Item 8 of the 2026 FDD provides no extract regarding procurement restrictions, designated suppliers, or approved-supplier programs. This absence means the franchisor has not publicly codified a procurement model in the FDD, leaving the process potentially open but subject to HQ discretion. Item 17 outlines renewal conditions: franchisees must provide notice, satisfy monetary obligations, comply with the Franchise Agreement, sign a release, sign a new Franchise Agreement, and pay a renewal fee. Critically, the franchisor may ask renewing franchisees to sign a contract with materially different terms than the original, though territory boundaries remain unchanged and renewal fees will not exceed those imposed on similarly situated renewing franchisees. Renewal terms are 5 years. For software vendors, the initial 10-year term and 5-year renewal cycle suggest that major tech stack changes are likely tied to new-unit openings or renewal inflection points, rather than mid-contract overhauls.
How to read the 16 Handles Store FDD
The 2026 FDD is the primary source for all data cited here. It is filed with state franchise regulators and contains the legal and operational disclosures required under the FTC Franchise Rule. The embedded PDF viewer below provides the full document. Key sections for software vendors include Item 1 (executives and ownership), Item 8 (procurement restrictions), Item 11 (mandated systems and suppliers), and Item 17 (renewal and termination). Because 16 Handles Store does not disclose a parent company and operates entirely through franchised units, the FDD is the definitive record of who controls purchasing and what technology is required. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.