Church's Chicken

The vendor opportunity at Church's Chicken

Church's Chicken operates 873 quick-service restaurants in the US, 714 of which are franchised. The brand posted an average unit volume of $1,115,708 in its 2025 FDD, with a 1% royalty rate and a 20-year initial franchise term. Year-over-year unit count declined by 4.03%, a contraction that may shift operator focus toward efficiency tools and cost control. For software vendors, the immediate addressable base is the 714 franchised locations, run by 240 distinct operators. Of those, 51 are multi-unit operators controlling roughly 205 units; the remaining 189 operators run a single store. No operator runs 25 or more units, so enterprise-scale deals are unlikely. The top state is Texas with 211 units, followed by California (36), Missouri (16), Arizona (15), and Georgia (12).

Who controls software purchasing

HQ is the primary decision-maker for technology mandates. The 2025 FDD lists Roland Gonzalez as CEO and Director, and Ryan Hanawalt as SVP of US Franchising and Operations Services. No CIO or CTO is named, which suggests technology purchasing authority sits with the CEO and the operations leadership. The executive team also includes Danton Nolan (CFO), Navin Sharma (CMO), and Alisa Cleek (Chief People and Legal Officer). Vendors pitching operational or financial software should route outreach through Gonzalez and Hanawalt, with Nolan as a likely influencer on budget approval. Because the franchisor mandates core systems, franchisees have limited autonomy on POS or operational tools, making HQ the sole gatekeeper for stack changes.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2025 FDD mandates three systems. Point-of-sale is provided by Qu POS, Inc., a cloud-native platform. Store-level operations run through the Operations 360 Tablet, a mandated device that likely handles checklists, training, and compliance. Reporting and sales data flow through the Church’s Sales Information (CSI) web portal. These mandates create a locked environment: any software that integrates with or replaces these systems must pass HQ scrutiny. Vendors offering complementary tools—labor scheduling, inventory management, or loss prevention that sit alongside Qu POS—may find a path if they can demonstrate integration readiness. The absence of a named back-office or ERP system in the FDD leaves a potential gap for financial and HR platforms, though no formal RFP window is indicated.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Item 8 of the 2025 FDD does not include a procurement extract, so the franchisor’s supplier designation model is not publicly defined. This could mean an open or approved-supplier framework rather than a strict designated-supplier regime. Renewal terms, detailed in Item 17, run 10 years and require franchisees to sign a new Franchise Agreement—potentially with higher royalties and advertising contributions—complete a refurbishment, and execute a general release of claims. These renewal triggers, combined with the 20-year initial term, suggest that major capital outlays (including software upgrades) may cluster around refurbishment events rather than contract anniversaries. With unit counts shrinking, the franchisor may prioritize vendors who can demonstrate ROI through operational savings.

How to read the Church's Chicken FDD

The full 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. Key sections for software vendors: Item 1 lists the executives who control purchasing; Item 11 details the mandated technology stack; Item 8 (when populated) describes procurement rules; and Item 17 outlines renewal conditions that can force technology refreshes. The operator footprint and unit economics in Item 19 help size the total addressable market. Use this FDD to map the buying center, identify integration points with Qu POS and Operations 360, and time your outreach to align with refurbishment-driven renewal cycles. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.