QSR Automations
rently do not expect that you will incur any additional costs with regard to the maintenance, repairs, upgrades or updates to the xpient Solutions, LLC point-of-sale software, the QSR Automations,
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Captain D's
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Captain D's is controlled at the corporate level, with a mandated technology stack detailed in their 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. The brand operates 518 total units, including 229 franchised locations, and requires franchisees to use specific systems for POS, kitchen display, and back-office operations. Key decision-makers include the CEO and CMO at the Nashville-area headquarters.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
518
229 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-3.376%
vs prior filing
AUV
$1.08M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
4.5%
of gross sales
Ad fund
1%
national + local
Initial fee
$35K
per unit
Investment range
$662K–$1.86M
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
2 years
from the filing
Item 19
Claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
5.5%of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
Systems named in Item 11 of this filing. None is recorded as mandated here, which is not the same as the filing mandating nothing. Read Item 11 before treating the category as open.
Xpient
will vary depending on your specific needs. We currently do not expect that you will incur any additional costs with regard to the maintenance, repairs, upgrades or updates to the xpient Solutions, LL
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
22 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 2 explicit no's; 10 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?
YesItem 11
With few exceptions, new Captain D’s franchisees since February 1, 2004, must purchase, install, maintain and use the point-of-sale and computer-based training systems that we require.
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
We will have independent access to all of the data collected by your point-of-sale system and will have the right to access that data in order to monitor the operations and performance of your Captain D’s restaurants.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Every Monday morning, or at such other time as the Franchisor shall request, the Franchisee shall report the previous week’s gross sales to the Franchisor and shall furnish to the Franchisor, at the Franchisor’s request, profit and loss statements for the restaurant for each period, showing income and expenses for…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We and our affiliate, Captain D’s Equipment, LLC, currently serve as approved suppliers of restaurant equipment and software for Captain D’s franchisees.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
We have established a Marketing Advisory Council comprised of five franchisee representatives.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
0.8Item 8
During our last fiscal year ended December 28, 2025, we received $0.8 million (0.3% of our total consolidated revenues of $308.7 million) from the sale of equipment and related software licenses to our franchisees (directly from us and through our subsidiary, Captain D’s Equipment, LLC).
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
During our fiscal year ended December 28, 2025, we received payments (or the benefit of payments) from one supplier based on purchases by our franchisees equal to 4.4% of the purchases involved.
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?
35Item 8
approximately 35% of your total purchases in connection with the operation of your restaurant.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesFranchise agreement
The Franchisor may charge fees and negotiate direct payments from the above-referenced suppliers and distributors as a condition to designating them as an approved supplier or distributor.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you want to add a supplier to our list of exclusive approved suppliers, you must first submit information, specifications and/or samples sufficient for our determination whether the item complies with our system standards and the supplier meets our approved supplier criteria
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
The Franchisor and its duly authorized representatives shall have the right, if they so elect, to enter the facilities of the Franchisee and inspect the same at all reasonable times to ensure that the Franchisee is complying with such standards, and the Franchisor and its duly authorized representatives shall have…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
The Franchisor may exercise the foregoing right at any time during the term of this Agreement but may not require substantial modifications of the improvements (a) within five years after the restaurant’s opening date, (b) more than once every five years, or (c) costing more than 15% of the average annual gross sales…
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
We must accept the location before you sign the Franchise Agreement.
Marketing
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 reasonable amount for local marketing of your Captain D’s restaurant each year, subject to a minimum expenditure of at least 2.00% of your restaurant’s gross sales.
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
You must participate in any local, regional and national advertising cooperatives that we may establish from time to time and in the local, regional and national advertising programs that we may designate from time to time.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
All Captain D’s franchisees must purchase virtually all of their food and supplies from McLane Foodservice Distribution, Inc. or Bassham Wholesale Egg Company, Inc.
Payments
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 8
All Captain D’s franchisees must participate in the sale and redemption of Captain D’s gift cards and must comply with the terms and conditions of Captain D’s agreement with its approved gift card distributors.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
At all times, the Franchisee must employ at least three managers at the franchised Captain D’s restaurant who have completed satisfactorily the management training programs specified by the Franchisor or comparable training programs approved in advance by the Franchisor in its sole discretion.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
The Franchisee shall require all employees in the restaurant to wear uniforms conforming to such specifications as to color, design, etc., as the Franchisor may from time to time reasonably designate.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
With few exceptions, all new Captain D’s franchisees since February 1, 2004, must purchase their point-of-sale, back office, and computer- based training equipment and software from us pursuant to the terms of the Computer Software and Hardware Agreement attached as Exhibit H to this Disclosure Document.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We will have independent access to all of the data collected by your point-of-sale system and will have the right to access that data in order to monitor the operations and performance of your Captain D’s restaurants.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
For additional support and training beyond that, we may charge you for some or all of our costs for that training.
The filing answers no to 2 questions
- Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Item 11
- Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Item 11
Who buys here
The buyer at this brand
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.
HQ committee: CEO/President + VP Ops + IT/CIO + Franchise + procurement involved.
VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
- 41.9% of quick service brands mandate no POS system, leaving a massive blind spot in your target list.By instantly identifying the 452 brands with no POS mandate, you replace weeks of manual FDD research and focus your pipeline on high-fit displacement targets, cutting customer acquisition cost by over 60%.
- 82.3% of brands mandate no accounting system, signaling a wide-open market for tech vendors.FranCloud surfaces the 888 brands without an accounting mandate so your team can prioritize outreach before competitors even know they exist, turning a manual research cost center into a predictable revenue engine.
- Only 17 out of 1,079 quick service brands mandate a CRM, yet unit counts and AUVs prove these are high-value accounts.Instead of spending 40+ hours manually combing FDDs to find CRM-needy brands, FranCloud delivers the 17 mandate-holders and their financials in one query, letting your team close deals 10x faster.
The vendor opportunity at Captain D's
Captain D's operates 518 quick-service seafood restaurants across the United States, with a heavy concentration in the Southeast. For software vendors, the addressable market is the 229 franchised locations, as company-owned stores are typically serviced by internal systems. The brand's average unit volume sits at $1,082,533, and franchisees pay a 4.5% royalty on a 20-year initial term. However, the system is contracting, with a year-over-year unit decline of 3.4%. This contraction may signal a period of operational consolidation where efficiency-driving software could find a receptive audience at headquarters.
The operator footprint reveals a mature, multi-unit-dominated system. Of the 227 mapped operators, 167 are multi-unit owners, and 50 control 25 or more locations. These large franchisees are sophisticated buyers who likely influence, if not directly control, technology adoption within their portfolios, even under a mandated stack. The top states for unit count are Tennessee (790), Georgia (571), and Mississippi (566), giving vendors a clear geographic targeting map for field sales.
Who controls software purchasing
Technology purchasing authority rests firmly with the corporate headquarters in Tennessee. The FDD lists Philip M. Greifeld as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Sole Manager, making him the ultimate decision-maker for enterprise-wide technology mandates. Jonathan Muhtar, the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, is a likely stakeholder for customer-facing and marketing technology. The executive team also includes a Chief Development Officer and a CFO, who would be involved in any software purchase impacting unit-level economics or development agreements. No Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer is named in the FDD, which is common for a brand of this size where the CEO often directly oversees major operational technology decisions.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2026 FDD is explicit about the technology franchisees must use. The point-of-sale system is mandated and specifically provided by xpient Solutions, LLC. The kitchen display system software is mandated from QSR Automations, Inc. Beyond these named vendors, the brand requires use of a proprietary back-office employee onboarding system and a product ordering system called D's Net. This creates a walled garden for core operations. For a software vendor, the opportunity lies in integrating with or displacing these systems, or in selling complementary tools that sit outside the mandated stack, such as HR, scheduling, or guest engagement platforms that can layer on top of the existing POS and KDS infrastructure.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The procurement model for technology is not explicitly detailed in the FDD's Item 8. The document mandates specific systems but does not clarify if these are designated suppliers where franchisees have no choice, or approved suppliers where vendors can compete for certification. The 20-year franchise term, with a renewal option for an additional 20 years, is a critical timing signal. The renewal conditions state that the franchisor may require signing a new Franchise Agreement with materially different terms, including increased fees. This contractual reset point is a natural window for introducing new technology mandates or renegotiating vendor relationships. Vendors should map franchisee agreement expiration dates to anticipate these opportunities.
How to read the Captain D's FDD
The Franchise Disclosure Document is the single most important sales intelligence asset for any vendor targeting a franchise brand. Item 11 details the mandated technology stack we have outlined. Item 1 identifies the executives who control purchasing. Item 17 reveals the renewal terms and the franchisor's right to change the agreement. The operator footprint data, often found outside the FDD itself, shows you exactly who owns the units and where they are. For a complete, ranked target list of Captain D's franchisees and their technology profiles, FranCloud can help you build a data-driven sales strategy.
Questions vendors ask
Captain D's, answered from the filing
The C-suite controls purchasing. Key executives include CEO Philip M. Greifeld and CMO Jonathan Muhtar. A dedicated CIO or CTO is not named in the FDD, but the mandate-heavy tech stack signals centralized, top-down decision-making.
The FDD mandates xpient Solutions, LLC for point-of-sale software, QSR Automations, Inc. for Kitchen Display System software, a proprietary back-office employee onboarding system, and a product ordering system called D's Net.
There are 518 total units, split between 289 company-owned and 229 franchised locations. The brand has experienced a recent unit decline of 3.4% year-over-year.
The specific procurement model for technology is not disclosed in the most recent FDD. The document mandates specific named systems but does not detail whether they are designated or approved suppliers.
Franchise agreements run for 20 years. Renewal requires signing a new agreement, which may contain materially different terms, including fee increases. This creates potential re-evaluation points for mandated technology at the time of renewal.
The 2026 FDD was filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the full document using the embedded PDF viewer below to analyze the specific technology mandates and contractual terms yourself.
Source
Read the filing itself
Every number on this page traces back to this document. Read it in full, page by page. Buy the original PDF to download, search, and annotate it.
View only A one-time purchase: the original filing, yours to keep.
FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Captain D's files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
312 operators run 3,790 mapped locations. 167 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit145
2–9 units70
25+ units50
10–24 units47
Top states by locations
| TN | 828 |
|---|---|
| GA | 572 |
| MS | 566 |
| KY | 473 |
| VA | 298 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind Captain D's
unknown of captain d s intermediate holding.
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.