Blackhawk Network
omers the option to purchase gift cards? Because more and more consumers prefer the convenience of gift cards and expect the brands they frequent to have them. In a 2019 survey by Blackhawk Network, 6
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Cold Stone Creamery
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Cold Stone Creamery is controlled at the corporate level, with key decision-makers including CEO Eric Lefebvre and COO Jeff Smit. The brand mandates Olo by Olo Inc. for its digital ordering stack, and the most recent FDD does not disclose a total unit count, though the system is a mix of franchised and company-owned locations. For vendors, the addressable market is defined by the franchised units and any corporate-owned stores that may adopt new tools, with an average unit volume of $604,392 signaling healthy per-location budgets.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
103
103 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-1.905%
vs prior filing
AUV
$604K
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
3%
national + local
Initial fee
$27K
per unit
Investment range
$391K–$681K
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.
9%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.
Facebook
ons 3.2 and 10.2). 7. You may not maintain a website, software application, an App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®,
First Data
ising USA, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 SECTION B: ENROLLMENT INSTRUCTIONS How Do I Complete the Enrollment Packet? 1. Provide the information needed to set up a Fiserv (previously First Data) Gift Car
Fiserv
et ©2026 MTY Franchising USA, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 SECTION B: ENROLLMENT INSTRUCTIONS How Do I Complete the Enrollment Packet? 1. Provide the information needed to set up a Fiserv (previously F
Givex
2019 3 Blackhawk Network Consumer Gift Card State of the Union, March 2019 4 BHN Rewards Blog Post: Trends Research Spotlight: Gift Cards are More Popular Than Ever; May 5, 2023 5 Givex Gift Card Mark
Instagram
a website, software application, an App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn
Jobber
red to lease the real estate for the remainder of the _(enter type of) term (excluding additional renewals) for fair market value. 1 While relationships established under license, jobber, dealer and s
LinkedIn
oftware application, an App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest
Olo
plication (“App”) and online food ordering service (including any third-party delivery order integration) and may not use any other store- specific App or online ordering service. Olo is a Franchisor-
Pinterest
lication, an App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest®, Snapchat
Sage 50
hotmail. Pannu, Q. ser.Pannu com,qaiserpannu@hot mail.com Param, Shah Roshan Atlanta GA roshan1082@yahoo.c Patel,Param om,param.shah@tetra Shah track.net Momin, T. Tanvirhusain.Mo Peachtree GA tanvir1
Snapchat
App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest®, Snapchat®, Tumblr®, T
Twitter
social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest®, Snapchat®, Tumblr®, Twitter®/X, YouTube®
Yahoo
Company HPK Pradipkumar.Pat Auburn AL dip1micro@gmail.com ENTERPRISE el,Jay.Desai ,goalpostbeeline@gm LLC ail.com Kattaria, Nancy Nancy.Kattaria Little Rock AR (501) nancykattaria@yahoo. 215-9467 com
YouTube
account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest®, Snapchat®, Tumblr®, Twitter®/X, YouTube®, Vine®, VKon
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
28 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 2 explicit no's; 4 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
The POS System must be configured so that we have independent and remote access to the information and data stored in it.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
to submit to us, on or before the thirtieth (30th) day of each month, commencing with the opening of the Franchised Business, in a format and method approved by us (including through a third-party vendor that franchisee may be required to pay for), a profit and loss statement of the Franchised Business for the…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
an affiliate of Kahala Franchising, is currently one of the approved suppliers of certain equipment, interior and exterior signage menu boards, POS System and smallwares.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesFranchise agreement
We encourage the formation and operation of franchisee cooperative advertising associations (each an “Association”).
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
At any time and from time to time, we may in our sole option engage in new product rollouts to add to or change the menu items offered for sale in the Franchised Business and the ingredients or supplier of ingredients utilized in the preparation of the menu items sold in the Franchised Business (“Rollout”).
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
1849497Item 8
During our last fiscal year, Neptune Equipment earned a total of $1,849,497 of the $47,054,607 from franchisee purchases.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
You acknowledge Franchisor and/or its affiliates has the right to receive commissions, volume discounts, purchase discounts, performance payments, bonuses, rebates, marketing and advertising allowances, co-op advertising, administrative fees, enhancements, price discounts, economic benefits and/or other payments…
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?
80Item 8
You can expect that the items you will purchase in accordance with our specifications will represent over 90% of the total purchases you will make to begin operations and over 80% of your annual operating expense for raw materials, products and supplies.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
A charge not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection and the actual cost of the test not to exceed $5,000 must be paid to us either by your or by the proposed supplier.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
All requests for approving new or alternative suppliers must be submitted in writing by you and/or the supplier to the purchasing department at Kahala Brands.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
transfer to our designee or us all telephone numbers used by you in connection with the Franchised Business.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Therefore, as a franchisee who accepts credit cards, you are required to be PCI compliant by following and adhering to PCI DSS, which includes ensuring that your POS System, back office computer (if supplied), and any other device that is plugged into the network is only used for business purposes.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 11
We will continue our efforts to maintain high and uniform standards of quality, cleanliness, appearance and service at all restaurants in the System, including making periodic inspections and quality service checks of your restaurant
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 11
We may modify these as, and when, we desire
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You must select, and we must approve, an acceptable location within nine (9) months after the effective date of the Franchise Agreement.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesFranchise agreement
You may not maintain a website, software application, an App (application), social media account (including, but not limited to, an account, group or page on Facebook®, Flickr®, Foursquare®, Google+®, Instagram®, LinkedIn®, Pinterest®, Snapchat®, Tumblr®, X/Twitter®, YouTube®, Vine®, VKontakte or Weibo®), or…
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 7
You are required, to pay a Grand Opening Marketing fee of $10,000 for a Traditional store or $5,000 for a Non-Traditional store payable to US on the earlier of (i) prior to you executing a lease for the premises where the Franchised Business will be located; or (ii) prior to construction commencing at the premises…
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
cooperation with and participation in sales, marketing, advertising and promotional programs (including loyalty programs, online ordering programs, discount coupons, discount gift cards, special menu promotions, and entering into product and service agreements directly with third-party vendors and service providers…
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
If a Cooperative is formed for your region, you must financially contribute to the Cooperative as required by us.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesFranchise agreement
You must purchase or otherwise acquire certain proprietary or required equipment and supplies utilized in the Franchised Business only from our designated approved distributors or suppliers.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
You must purchase or otherwise acquire certain proprietary or required equipment and supplies utilized in the Franchised Business only from our designated approved distributors or suppliers.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
Additionally, you must utilize our approved third party payment card processor, as identified in the Confidential Manual, for processing all such debit, credit, rewards, and Gift/Loyalty card transactions.
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
Payment of the Royalty Fee, Advertising Fee (as defined in Section 5.3), and all other fees due under this Agreement to us shall be made via electronic transfer of funds from the Depository Account.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 20
Participating Franchisee agrees to participate in the gift card program (“Program”) according to the procedures established by or for Company (“Program Procedures”) at all of the particular brand’s franchise locations owned or operated by Participating Franchisee
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
Additionally, you must employ on a full time basis at least one on-premises supervisor (the “Manager”) for the restaurant.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 15
All personnel must wear a uniform or other clothing approved by us.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
We require you to exclusively use an approved electronic point-of-sale system to record all your sales during the operation of your restaurant, the components of which are identified in the Confidential Manual ("POS System").
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
The POS System must be configured so that we have independent and remote access to the information and data stored in it.
The filing answers no to 2 questions
- Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?Item 11
- Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?Item 6
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 leadership: CEO/President + VP Ops/Franchise + a first dedicated IT/systems owner.
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 Cold Stone Creamery
Cold Stone Creamery is a quick-service restaurant brand headquartered in Arizona. For software vendors, the brand presents a concentrated sales opportunity: purchasing decisions are made at the corporate level, and the most recent Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) shows an average unit volume of $604,392. While the total number of US units—franchised and company-owned—is not disclosed in the FDD, the AUV figure suggests that individual locations generate sufficient revenue to support technology investments. The brand’s royalty rate is 6%, and the initial franchise term is 10 years, giving vendors a long horizon to demonstrate ROI once a solution is adopted.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2026 FDD lists the following executives in Item 1: Eric Lefebvre (Chief Executive Officer), Renee St-Onge (Chief Financial Officer), Jeff Smit (Chief Operating Officer), Anthony Crosby (Senior Vice President of Restaurant Operations), and Blake Borwick (Vice President of Restaurant Operations). For a software vendor, the most relevant contacts are likely Jeff Smit and Anthony Crosby, who oversee operations and would be the natural owners of any technology that touches store-level workflows, digital ordering, or back-of-house systems. The CEO and CFO may be involved in enterprise-wide or high-cost decisions. No operator-level decision-makers are mapped in our corpus, reinforcing that this is an HQ-driven purchasing culture.
Mandated and current tech stack
Cold Stone Creamery mandates Olo by Olo Inc., according to the 2026 FDD. Olo is a digital ordering and delivery enablement platform, which means the brand has already standardized its online ordering, and likely its delivery integrations, through a single vendor. No other mandated or recommended technology systems are named in the FDD. This leaves open opportunities in areas such as point-of-sale, labor scheduling, inventory management, loyalty, and customer engagement—provided a vendor can demonstrate compatibility with Olo and a clear value proposition for a dessert-focused QSR.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the brand’s procurement model—whether it uses designated suppliers, an approved-supplier program, or an open purchasing environment—is not publicly known from this filing. However, the franchise agreement’s renewal terms offer a timing signal. The initial term is 10 years, and franchisees may renew for a single additional term of 5 years if they meet specific conditions, including giving at least 210 days’ notice. This renewal window, combined with the requirement to sign a new franchise agreement that may have materially different terms, creates a natural inflection point when franchisees—and the franchisor—may reassess their technology stack. Vendors should monitor renewal cycles and any updates to the brand’s Confidential Manual for changes in tech requirements.
How to read the Cold Stone Creamery FDD
The full 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. It contains the legal and operational disclosures that govern the franchise system, including Item 11 (franchisor’s assistance, advertising, computer systems, and training), which is where technology mandates like Olo are detailed. For software vendors, the FDD is the single most important document for understanding what is already required, who controls purchasing, and how the franchise agreement structures technology adoption. Use the viewer to search for specific terms like “software,” “POS,” or “computer” to quickly locate relevant sections. When you’re ready to prioritize franchise brands by tech mandate, decision-maker access, and unit economics, FranCloud can help you build a ranked target list.
Questions vendors ask
Cold Stone Creamery, answered from the filing
The FDD lists CEO Eric Lefebvre, CFO Renee St-Onge, COO Jeff Smit, and SVP of Restaurant Operations Anthony Crosby. For software, the COO and SVP of Operations are the likely buying-center leads.
The 2026 FDD mandates Olo by Olo Inc. No other POS or operational systems are named as mandated or recommended.
The total number of US units is not disclosed in the 2026 FDD. The system includes both franchised and company-owned locations.
The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly known from this filing.
Franchise agreements run 10 years, with a single 5-year renewal possible if strict conditions are met. Renewal requires 210 days’ notice, creating a predictable window for re-evaluation of tech stacks.
The 2026 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can view the full document in the embedded PDF viewer below.
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 Cold Stone Creamery files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
1,164 operators run 1,164 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit1,164
Top states by locations
| CA | 219 |
|---|---|
| FL | 102 |
| TX | 75 |
| AZ | 52 |
| VA | 51 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind Cold Stone Creamery
strategic_multibrand of MTY Food Group.
Sibling brands
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.