From the filings
Al's #1 Italian Beef's most recent Franchise Disclosure Document, filed in 2025, discloses 5 total units — 4 franchised and 1 company-owned — with unit count down 20% year over year. Item 1 names Terry G. Pacelli, President, Treasurer and Member, and Christopher Pacelli, Vice President, Secretary and Member, so ownership and management sit with the same two people and a software pitch goes to them directly. The filing names no technology systems at all: nothing is mandated, and no vendor relationship is on record in any category.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Ongoing fee load
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
9%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Franchisor behaviours
27 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 4 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
We have the right to independently access your electronic information through the cloud and to retrieve and use your electronic information and data in any manner we deem necessary or desirable to promote or develop the System and the sale of franchises.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Our affiliate Global Beef is an approved supplier of our proprietary seasonings.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may, from time to time, modify the minimum standards and specifications and/or the list of approved brands and/or suppliers.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
82335Item 8
In its fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, our affiliate, Global #1 Beef Marketing, Inc., derived $82,335 in revenue from purchases of goods and services by our franchisees.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
That Franchisor and/or its affiliates periodically may receive consideration (including credits, rebates and incentives) from suppliers and manufacturers respecting sales of goods, products or services to Franchisee or in
Item 8 gives this proportion in one of two shapes: separate percentages for establishing the business and for operating it, or one figure covering "establishing and operating" together. Where they are separate, answer with the operating percentage; where the passage gives only the combined figure, answer with that. What percentage of the franchisee's purchases must come from designated or approved suppliers?
28Item 8
We estimate that the purchase of supplies, equipment, inventory, fixtures, goods, services and products from us or our designated or Approved Suppliers, or those meeting our standards and specifications, will be between 47% to 57% of your total initial cost and between 28% to 38% of the total ongoing costs to operate…
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
Either you or the supplier must pay a charge not to exceed our cost of inspection and the actual cost of testing.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you desire to purchase any such items from an unapproved supplier, you or the supplier must submit to us a written request for approval.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
(vi) if requested by Franchisor, transfer to Franchisor or Franchisor's designee the telephone number of the Al’s #1 Italian Beef Restaurant and all telephone directory listings associated with the Marks;
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You must comply with all payment card industry (PCI) data security standards.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor shall have the right at any time, and without prior notice to Franchisee, to examine or audit or cause to be examined or audited the business records, bookkeeping and accounting records, bank statements, sales and income tax records and returns, POS System tapes or reports, and other books and records of…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may make reasonable modifications to the Al’s #1 Italian Beef Operations Manual from time to time to reflect changes in the specifications, standards and operating procedures of Al’s #1 Italian Beef Restaurants.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesFranchise agreement
The location of Franchisee's Restaurant must be approved by Franchisor.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor will have the sole right to create, establish, own, and control the website for Franchisee’s Al’s #1 Italian Beef Restaurant.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesFranchise agreement
Upon execution of this Agreement, Franchisee must deposit with Franchisor the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) for a Roastery or Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000) for a Satellite.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesItem 11
you must spend a minimum of 2% of the Gross Sales during each period of the fiscal year on local advertising, marketing and promotion.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee agrees: i. to offer for sale gift cards and/or the loyalty program, which must be in the form and version designated by Franchisor ("Official Gift Card/Loyalty Program"), as it may be amended from time to time;
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
If a local advertising co-operative exists or is formed in your area or region consisting of Al’s #1 Italian Beef franchisee and/or affiliate-owned restaurants, you agreed to join and participate in the co-operative.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all ingredients, products, materials, supplies and other items required in the operation of the Franchised Business that are or incorporate our trade secrets or confidential information from either suppliers designated by us for some items or from suppliers approved by us, which suppliers may…
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all ingredients, products, materials, supplies and other items required in the operation of the Franchised Business that are or incorporate our trade secrets or confidential information from either suppliers designated by us for some items or from suppliers approved by us, which suppliers may…
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee agrees to use in the operation of the Al’s #1 Italian Beef Restaurant only those brands and models of equipment, fixtures, furniture, POS (Point-of-Sale) Systems (“POS System”), fax machines, credit card processor, exterior and interior signs, decor items and tableware that Franchisor has approved for use…
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
Unless otherwise designated by us, we currently require you to pay fees and other amounts due to us or our affiliates through electronic funds transfer via Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) or similar means.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesFranchise agreement
to offer for sale gift cards and/or the loyalty program, which must be in the form and version designated by Franchisor ("Official Gift Card/Loyalty Program"), as it may be amended from time to time;
People
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall require all employees to maintain a neat and clean appearance and to conform to the employee uniform requirements as specified by Franchisor from time to time.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
We require you to purchase a POS system that we designate along with various web-based platforms, software and/or applications.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may access Franchisee’s POS System by electronic means, including remote access, modem, the cloud, or any other Internet- based technology available to Franchisor, without Franchisee’s knowledge or consent.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may charge a tuition fee for any such training, seminars, meetings or webinars and Franchisee will be responsible for all expenses incurred by Franchisee’s owners and/or managers in attending these programs.
Who buys here
The decision-maker a vendor sells to at this scale, and the gaps they’re paid to close, derived from our data by segment and unit count, not a guess.
The franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.
Al's #1 Italian Beef is an Illinois-headquartered quick-service restaurant brand. Its most recent Franchise Disclosure Document, filed in 2025, discloses 5 total units: 4 franchised and 1 company-owned. Unit count is down 20% year over year, so the system is contracting rather than expanding, and average unit volume is not disclosed in the most recent filing.
Royalty is 6.0% and the initial term is 10 years. Operator mapping locates a single unit held by one mapped operator, in Wisconsin, with no multi-unit operators anywhere in the footprint. This is about as small as a franchised system gets. For a software vendor the honest read is that the deal size is small and the sales cycle short — a five-unit system with two owner-officers is a single conversation, not an enterprise pursuit, and it should be priced and staffed accordingly.
Item 1 names two people: Terry G. Pacelli, President, Treasurer and Member, and Christopher Pacelli, Vice President, Secretary and Member. There is no chief information officer, chief technology officer or IT director on file. Both are listed as Members as well as officers, which means ownership and day-to-day management sit with the same pair.
What the filing does not establish is whether they set technology standards for franchisees at all. With 4 of 5 units franchised, no mandated systems anywhere in the document, and no multi-unit operators, there is no evidence in the FDD of central purchasing — so treat the buying center as unknown and qualify it on the first call rather than assuming HQ can sign for the estate.
The 2025 filing names no technology systems at all. No point of sale, no payment processor, no accounting platform, no scheduling or labor tool, no delivery marketplace, no loyalty or CRM system appears anywhere in the captured document.
That is a finding, not a gap. It means nothing is mandated, no incumbent vendor relationship is on record, and there is no compliance clause a competitor can stand behind. Every operational category is open. It also means the filing gives you no signal about what an individual restaurant has actually installed — the absence of a named system is evidence about the contract, not about the counter. Discovery has to do that work, and with five units it can.
Item 8, which covers sources of products and services, yields no extract in the most recent filing, so the procurement model — designated supplier, approved supplier, or open purchasing — is not disclosed. Nothing in the document imposes a software supplier on a franchisee.
Item 17 is short and clear. A franchisee in good standing who meets the defined requirements, including payment of a renewal fee, may add two additional terms of five years each. Combined with the 10-year initial term, that produces a contract that reopens after year ten and then every five years — the practical windows in which a franchisee reconsiders fixed costs and standing vendor arrangements.
The 2025 document was filed with state franchise regulators and is embedded in the viewer below. Item 1 gives the corporate structure and the two officer-members, Item 8 covers supplier obligations, Item 17 carries the renewal-fee and successor-term language, and Item 20 carries the 5-unit split and the year-over-year decline. No average unit volume is disclosed in this filing.
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Questions vendors ask
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FDD alert
We’ll email you the moment Al's #1 Italian Beef files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
1 operators run 1 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Top states by locations
| WI | 1 |
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Primary franchise filings · updated August 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.