The vendor opportunity at Champions Martial Arts
Champions Martial Arts operates 71 total locations, split between 31 franchised units and 40 company-owned outlets. For software vendors, the immediate addressable market is the 31 franchised locations, though the 40 corporate sites may represent a separate, HQ-controlled sales channel. The brand sits in the youth services segment, where class scheduling, student management, and billing automation are common operational needs. However, the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document does not disclose an average unit volume (AUV), making it difficult to model a franchisee’s technology budget from public data alone. The royalty rate is 5.0% of gross revenue, and the initial franchise term runs 10 years.
Who controls software purchasing
The FDD does not name any headquarters executives or a technology steering committee. No mandated or recommended software appears in the disclosure, which strongly suggests that purchasing authority is decentralized. In practice, this means vendors should target individual franchisees or multi-unit operators rather than expecting a top-down mandate from the New York-based franchisor. The absence of a captured tech stack also implies that the system may be running on a patchwork of legacy or consumer-grade tools, creating an opening for vendors who can demonstrate clear operational ROI at the unit level.
Mandated and current tech stack
According to the 2025 FDD, Champions Martial Arts does not mandate or recommend any specific technology platforms. This is a critical signal for sales strategy: there is no incumbent vendor protected by a franchise-wide agreement, but there is also no top-down pressure on owners to adopt new tools. A vendor’s pitch must therefore win over each operator individually, likely starting with a compelling pilot at one or two locations. Without a mandated POS, student management system, or payment processor, the tech landscape is effectively wide open.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Item 8 of the FDD, which typically outlines designated or approved supplier relationships, contains no extract in the current disclosure. This points to an open procurement model where franchisees are free to choose their own software and service providers. The renewal structure offers a potential timing hook: franchisees in good standing may sign a successor agreement for an additional ten-year term, unless the franchisor exercises its sole discretion to withdraw from the geographic area. While no year-over-year unit growth rate is available, the long initial term means that any franchisee approaching the end of their first decade may be more open to operational changes, including new software, as they prepare for renewal.
How to read the Champions Martial Arts FDD
The full 2025 FDD is embedded below for your own due diligence. When reviewing, pay close attention to Item 11 (Franchisor’s Obligations) for any buried technology references that may not have been captured as a formal mandate, and Item 8 for any supplier restrictions that could affect your ability to sell into the system. Cross-reference the franchisee list in Item 20 with your own CRM to identify existing relationships. Because the document is silent on technology mandates, your initial outreach should focus on diagnosing the current toolset at each location and quantifying the efficiency gains your software can deliver. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your product, reach out to FranCloud.