Checkers Drive-In Restaurants

The vendor opportunity at Checkers

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants operates 719 quick-service locations across the United States, with 499 franchised units and 220 company-owned stores. The brand’s average unit volume sits at $1,136,589, and franchisees pay a 4.0% royalty under a 20-year initial term. For software vendors, the addressable market is the full system—but the path in runs through a headquarters that already mandates a specific, integrated tech stack.

The operator base is heavily multi-unit. Of roughly 500 mapped operators, 320 run multiple locations, and 28 control 25 or more units. The geographic footprint concentrates in Kentucky (481 units), Michigan (461), Georgia (391), Indiana (327), and Florida (137). This density means a vendor who wins approval can see rapid deployment across clusters of stores controlled by a relatively small number of franchisees.

Who controls software purchasing

Technology decisions at Checkers are made at the corporate level. The 2026 FDD lists Chris Tebben as Chief Executive Officer and President, Michael Blair as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Dave Pelletier as Chief Operating Officer. No separate Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer is disclosed. In practice, the CEO, COO, and CSO/CFO are the likely buying center for enterprise software, with operations and finance jointly evaluating any tool that touches store-level systems, payments, or supply chain.

Chief Marketing Officer Scott Johnson and Chief Supply Chain Officer Gina Rendar round out the C-suite. Vendors selling marketing technology, loyalty platforms, or supply-chain software should note those names. The absence of a named CIO in the FDD does not mean the function is absent—it simply means the role is not disclosed in Item 1. Expect a structured, top-down evaluation process where the franchisor tests and mandates systems before franchisees adopt them.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2026 FDD is explicit about technology requirements. Franchisees must use Aloha POS by NCR Voyix, running version 19 or higher, along with Aloha’s Connected Payment service. The Xenial integrated restaurant management system is also mandated, as is Olo for digital ordering. This is a locked-down, multi-vendor stack that covers point-of-sale, payments, back-of-house management, and off-premise ordering.

For a software vendor, this means any new tool must either integrate with Aloha, Xenial, and Olo or replace one of them outright—the latter being a far heavier lift. The mandate structure signals that Checkers HQ values system-wide consistency and is willing to enforce it through the franchise agreement. Vendors who can demonstrate seamless interoperability with the existing stack will have a shorter path to adoption than those proposing a rip-and-replace.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The 2026 FDD does not include an Item 8 extract detailing procurement rules. Without that disclosure, it is not possible to confirm whether Checkers uses a designated-supplier model, an approved-supplier list, or an open procurement framework. The technology mandates strongly imply a designated-supplier approach for POS, payments, and digital ordering, but the formal procurement language is not available in the current filing.

Franchise agreements run for 20 years initially. At renewal, franchisees may be granted either one 10-year term or one 20-year term under the then-current franchise agreement, which can include terms materially different from the original contract. This renewal structure creates natural inflection points where the franchisor can introduce new technology requirements. Vendors should monitor the renewal cycle and any updates to the franchise agreement that signal new mandates or approved-vendor expansions.

How to read the Checkers FDD

The Franchise Disclosure Document is the single best source of truth on a franchise brand’s technology requirements, procurement rules, and decision-making structure. Item 11 lists the mandated systems—here, Aloha POS, Aloha Connected Payment, Xenial, and Olo. Item 1 names the executives who control purchasing. Item 17 spells out renewal terms that can force technology change across the system.

Use the embedded PDF viewer below to review the full 2026 filing. Pay particular attention to any amendments or state-specific addenda that may modify the standard technology requirements. For vendors building a target account list, FranCloud can rank franchise systems by technology mandate strength, unit count, and decision-maker accessibility—turning FDD data into a prioritized sales pipeline.