CHOP5 Salad Kitchen

The vendor opportunity at CHOP5 Salad Kitchen

CHOP5 Salad Kitchen is a quick-service restaurant concept headquartered in Kentucky. The brand operates a tiny, fully company-owned footprint of just 3 locations. No franchised units are reported in the 2024 FDD, and no year-over-year unit growth data is disclosed. For a software vendor, the immediate addressable market is limited to these 3 units and the HQ office. The average unit volume (AUV) is not disclosed, making it impossible to benchmark per-unit software spend potential against larger chains. The royalty rate is 6.0%, and the initial franchise agreement term is 10 years.

This is not a volume play. The opportunity here is to establish a relationship with a young brand at the ground floor, potentially locking in a vendor position before any future franchise expansion begins. However, with no franchised locations and no disclosed growth trajectory, the timeline for scaling is entirely uncertain.

Who controls software purchasing

Software purchasing decisions are centralized at the headquarters level. The executive team is small and tightly knit. Allen Hertzman serves as Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Mills is the President. Kim Pettingell holds the Marketing Director title, making her a likely stakeholder for any customer-facing or loyalty-adjacent technology. Co-founders Philip Horn and Donald Bauer are also listed as members, suggesting they remain active in strategic decisions.

There is no dedicated CIO, CTO, or VP of Technology named in the FDD. Vendors should expect to engage directly with the CEO or President for any significant software evaluation. The absence of a franchisee base means there is no multi-operator influence to navigate; a single "yes" from HQ covers the entire system.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2024 FDD mandates a specific technology stack from a single vendor: Toast, Inc. The mandated systems are Toast POS, a Gift Card Program, and a Loyalty Program, all provided by Toast. This is a common pattern for small, early-stage concepts that prefer an integrated, all-in-one platform to minimize complexity.

For vendors selling adjacent or replacement technology, this creates both a barrier and an opening. The POS and core guest engagement stack is locked in. However, no back-of-house, HR, payroll, inventory, or accounting systems are named as mandated or recommended in the available FDD extracts. These represent potential white space for a targeted pitch, assuming the brand has not already adopted Toast's expanding suite of products for those functions.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The procurement model at CHOP5 is opaque. The Item 8 signal, which typically reveals whether a franchisor designates specific suppliers or maintains an approved supplier list, is not available in the corpus. This means a vendor cannot determine from the FDD alone whether CHOP5 requires franchisees (if any existed) to buy from a locked list or allows open purchasing.

On the renewal side, the Item 17 disclosure provides some timing context for future franchise agreements. The initial term is 10 years, with a 5-year renewal option. Renewal conditions include not being in default, providing timely notice, signing the then-current form of franchise agreement, executing a general release, paying a renewal fee, remodeling the restaurant and upgrading furniture, fixtures, and equipment to current standards, and extending the lease for the renewal duration. Critically, the renewal contract may contain materially different terms than the original. For software vendors, this means any franchisee that eventually signs on could face a renegotiation point at the 10-year mark, and again at each 5-year renewal, where technology mandates could shift.

However, with zero franchisees currently in the system, these renewal windows are theoretical. The only actionable timing signal is the present moment: the brand is small, the HQ team is accessible, and any software need that arises will be decided by a handful of people without a franchisee committee to slow things down.

How to read the CHOP5 Salad Kitchen FDD

The full 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. For software vendors, the most critical sections are Item 11 (the franchisor's obligations), which lists the mandated POS and guest engagement systems from Toast, and Item 8 (restrictions on sources of products and services), which would clarify the procurement model if the full text were available. Item 17 details the renewal and termination conditions that could affect future contract windows. Item 1 names the executives and owners who control purchasing. Because the brand has no franchisees, Items 19 (financial performance representations) and 20 (outlets and franchisee information) will be sparse, but they confirm the 3-unit, company-owned reality.

For a ranked target list of franchise brands that match your ideal customer profile, including decision-maker contact data and tech stack signals, FranCloud can help.