From the filings
Software purchasing at Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders is controlled at the corporate level by executives including President Dan Warnaar and Director of Marketing Jason Pesola. The franchise currently mandates an approved cloud-based POS system and an extranet, creating a defined tech environment for vendors. With 46 franchised units and a recent unit growth rate of 2.2%, the addressable market is modest but concentrated under a single decision-making hub.
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.
7%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Franchisor behaviours
20 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 6 explicit no's; 8 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You agree to establish a bookkeeping and record keeping system conforming to the requirements prescribed by us, relating, without limitation, to the use and retention of daily sales slips, coupons, purchase orders, purchase invoices, payroll records, check stubs, bank statements, sales tax records and returns, cash…
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
We will have the right to independently access any information that is electronically collected and there are no contractual limitations on our right to access the information and data.
How the franchisor buys
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 20
There are no franchisee organizations sponsored or endorsed by us, and no independent franchisee organizations have asked to be included in this disclosure document
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 11
We reserve the right to change our specifications in the future to take advantage of technological advances or to adapt the system to meet operational needs and changes.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
During the calendar year 2024, we were paid $337,503 in rebates from suppliers and vendors.
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?
70Item 8
We estimate that approximately 70%-80% of your expenditures on an ongoing basis will be for goods and services that must be purchased from us, an approved supplier or according to our standards and specifications.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
We have the right to charge fees for testing and evaluating proposed and approved suppliers or distributors and examining and inspecting commissary operations and may impose reasonable limitations on the number of approved suppliers or distributors of any product.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
Any ingredient, supply or material not previously approved by us as conforming to our specifications and quality standards must be submitted for examination and/or testing prior to use.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
You acknowledge that we have the sole rights to and interest in all telephone numbers and directory listings relating to any Mark, and you authorize us to direct the telephone company and all listing agencies to transfer all telephone numbers and directory listings to us, our franchisee or designee
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
We reserve the right to audit, or cause to be audited, the sales reports, financial statements and tax returns you are required to submit to us.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
We will have the right to add to and otherwise modify the Operating Manual from time to time, if deemed necessary, to improve the standards of service or product quality or the efficient operation of the restaurant, to protect or maintain the goodwill associated with the Marks or to meet competition.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesFranchise agreement
The Franchisee will not lease, purchase or otherwise acquire a site for the Franchised Location until such information as Franchisor may require regarding the proposed site has been provided to Franchisor by Franchisee, and Franchisor has issued a notice of no objection for the proposed site.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee will not establish a separate Website;
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 7
A store opening marketing fund of $5000 is required for all store openings.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
We have the right to require you to participate in the electronic funds transfer program under which we will automatically deduct payments for royalty fees and advertising contributions from your bank account.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
personnel so that all shifts are staffed by at least one assistant manager or sales associate, unless otherwise approved by us.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
All pizza, grinders and other food ingredients, beverage products, cooking materials, containers, packaging materials, other paper and plastic products, utensils, uniforms, menus, forms, cleaning and sanitation materials and other supplies and materials used in the operation of a restaurant must conform to the…
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
We require all franchisees to use the Bellacino’s approved cloud-based POS system with 4 touchscreen terminals, Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription for operating the POS, 4G LTE Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders FDD 03.21.2023 Page 11 data plan for internet failover backup, and programming.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We will have the right to independently access any information that is electronically collected and there are no contractual limitations on our right to access the information and data.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We may also require that you or your owners attend supplemental or additional training classes, which may be offered from time to time during the term of the franchise.
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 franchisor's owner/CEO decides; an ops or franchise-development lead may evaluate.
Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders operates 46 franchised locations, all under a single franchise system headquartered in Michigan. The brand grew unit count by 2.2% year-over-year, signaling slow but steady expansion. For software vendors, the total addressable market is 46 units, with purchasing decisions centralized at the corporate level. Average unit volume is not disclosed in the most recent FDD, so revenue-based ROI estimates will require direct discovery. The royalty rate is 5.0%, and the initial franchise term is 10 years.
The 2025 FDD lists four executives in Item 1: Dan Warnaar (President), Matthew Losik (Executive Vice President), Morgan Rice (Secretary/Treasurer), and Jason Pesola (Director of Marketing). In a system of this size, the President and Director of Marketing are the most likely buyers or influencers for operational and marketing software. There is no separate CIO or CTO listed, so technology decisions likely fall to operations leadership or are driven by the president’s office. No multi-unit operators are mapped in our corpus, reinforcing that franchisees likely have limited independent purchasing authority.
Bellacino's mandates two technology components: an approved cloud-based POS system and an extranet. The FDD does not name the specific POS vendor, but the mandate means any POS-related add-ons, integrations, or replacements must pass HQ approval. The extranet requirement suggests a centralized communication or reporting portal, which could be a custom solution or a third-party platform. Beyond these mandates, no other operational or marketing software is disclosed as required, leaving potential whitespace for vendors in areas like online ordering, loyalty, or workforce management—subject to HQ approval.
Item 8 of the FDD contains no procurement extract, so the formal supply chain model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly known. For renewal, Item 17 specifies that franchisees must provide written notice, remodel if applicable, achieve full compliance, execute a General Release, and sign the then-current form of Franchise Agreement, which may differ materially from the original. The renewal term is 10 years. These renewal events, combined with the 10-year initial term, create natural windows where franchisees may be required to adopt updated technology standards, giving vendors a potential entry point aligned with contract cycles.
The 2025 Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. Key sections for software vendors include Item 1 (executives), Item 11 (mandated systems), and Item 17 (renewal conditions). Because Item 8 is silent, you will need to ask directly about procurement channels during discovery. Use this FDD to confirm the decision-maker hierarchy and tech mandates before building a pitch. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
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FDD alert
We’ll email you the moment Bellacino's Pizza and Grinders 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
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Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.