QuickBooks
Mandatorycomputer that you own. If you were to purchase a computer, we estimate the cost to be approximately $200 to $1,000. You may need to buy and/or license third-party software such as QuickBooks and Micro
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Cookie Co
Quick service restaurantCookie Co is a quick-service restaurant concept headquartered in Utah with 12 total units, 8 of which are franchised. Software purchasing decisions appear centralized at the corporate level, where Founder and CEO Elise Thomas, President Matthew Thomas, and COO Ivan Smith are the named executives in the 2024 FDD. The brand mandates Heartland as its point-of-sale system, giving vendors a clear incumbent to displace or integrate with across a small but growing franchise network.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
16
15 franchised
Unit growth YoY
—
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2024
Royalty
15%
of gross sales
Ad fund
—
national + local
Initial fee
$15K
per unit
Investment range
$170K–$270K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
2 years
from the filing
Item 19
No claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing. It is a floor, not a total — the filing discloses one of the two headline fees.
15%+of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
1 of these are mandated in the franchise agreement. Each is named in Item 11 of the filing, the incumbents a challenger must displace or integrate with.
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
20 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 10 explicit no's; 4 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You will deliver the financial statements that we prescribe, which may include a balance sheet, profit and loss statement, statement of cash flows and explanatory footnotes prepared under generally accepted accounting principles applied on a consistent basis or such other items we designate related to the financial…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
we or our affiliate will: (i) manufacture, supply, and sell Products to Beverly Ann’s Cookies franchisees; and/or (ii) disclose Proprietary Recipes to a limited number of suppliers, including our affiliate.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
We intend to create a brand advisory board (“Ad Council”) to help determine the type of advertising (television, radio, billboard, internet, or other medium) we will use.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
We may change or add approved suppliers of this Technology at any time, in our sole discretion.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
1465720Item 8
During our last fiscal year, ended December 31, 2025, we received $1,465,720 in revenue from these required purchases.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We currently receive a 5% rebate from our cookie dough supplier.
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?
30Item 8
We estimate that approximately 70% of purchases required to open your Beverly Ann’s Cookie Franchise and 30% of purchases required to operate your Beverly Ann’s Cookie Franchise will be from us or from other approved suppliers or under our specifications.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
Immediately stop using all telephone numbers, advertisements, domain names and social media accounts associated with the Franchised Business.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You agree to comply with the then-current Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards as those standards may be revised and modified by the PCI Security Standards Council, LLC, or any successor organization or standards we may reasonably specify.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
To ensure compliance with this Franchise Agreement, we or our representatives will have the right to evaluate your Franchised Business operations, and inspect or examine your books, records, accounts and tax returns.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
We can modify the Brand Manual at any time.
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 separate website, conduct e-commerce, or otherwise maintain a presence on the Internet in connection with your Franchised Business without our express written permission, which we may revoke at any time, in our sole discretion.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must obtain services and products from: (1) designated suppliers, (2) approved suppliers, and/or (3) according to our specifications.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must obtain services and products from: (1) designated suppliers, (2) approved suppliers, and/or (3) according to our specifications.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You agree to maintain, at all times, credit card relationships with the credit and debit card issuers or sponsors, check or credit verification services, financial center services, payment providers, merchant service providers, loyalty and gift cards, and electronic fund transfer systems (together, “Payment Vendors”)…
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
We currently require you to pay fees and other amounts due to us and our affiliates via automated clearing house (“ACH”) or other similar means.
People
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You must require all your employees to work in clean uniforms approved by us, but furnished at your cost or the employees’ cost as you may determine.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You must also use our designated point-of-sales hardware and/or software (“POS System”) and vendor, currently Square.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesFranchise agreement
We will have the right at any time to retrieve data and other information from your Technology as we, in our sole discretion, deem necessary or desirable.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We may require that you, designated managers, and other employees periodically attend system wide refresher or additional training courses.
The filing answers no to 10 questions
- Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?Item 11
- Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?Item 11
- Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?Item 11
- Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Franchise agreement
- Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?Franchise agreement
- Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?Franchise agreement
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Item 11
- Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?Franchise agreement
- Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?Franchise agreement
- Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?Franchise agreement
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.
The franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.
OwnerCEOPresidentPrincipal
- 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%.
- 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.
- 97.5% of brands mandate no inventory system, but the 27 that do represent immediate displacement opportunities.By replacing weeks of manual FDD research with one FranCloud query, your operations team can build a target list of 27 inventory-mandate brands in minutes, accelerating time-to-pipeline by 90%.
The vendor opportunity at Cookie Co
Cookie Co is a quick-service restaurant brand based in Utah, with 12 total locations as of its 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document. Of those, 8 are franchised and 4 are company-owned. The brand does not disclose average unit volume in its FDD, and year-over-year unit growth is not reported. For a software vendor, the immediate addressable market is small: 8 franchised locations, plus potential influence over the 4 corporate stores. The royalty rate is 7.0%, and the initial franchise term is 10 years.
This is an early-stage concept. The small unit count means every location matters, and a vendor who lands a deal now could become entrenched as the system scales. The mandated POS system is Heartland, which signals a baseline technology footprint that any new software must either integrate with or replace.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2024 FDD names three executives in Item 1: Elise Thomas, Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Matthew Thomas, President; and Ivan Smith, Chief Operating Officer. No chief information officer, chief technology officer, or dedicated procurement lead is listed. In a system this small, software purchasing authority almost certainly sits with this core leadership group. Vendors should expect a direct, relationship-driven sales process rather than a formal RFP or IT gatekeeper structure.
Mandated and current tech stack
Cookie Co mandates Heartland as its point-of-sale system. The FDD does not list any other required or recommended technology vendors. This means Heartland is the single known incumbent for in-store operations. For vendors selling adjacent solutions—inventory management, labor scheduling, loyalty, delivery integration, or accounting—the integration landscape is defined by Heartland’s APIs and partner ecosystem. No online ordering, payment processing, or back-office systems are disclosed in the FDD, leaving the full tech stack largely unknown to outside observers.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Cookie Co’s 2024 FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the brand’s procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly disclosed. Franchisees may have some autonomy in purchasing non-mandated technology, but the small size of the system and the centralized executive team suggest that major software decisions are made or heavily influenced at headquarters.
Franchise agreements run for 10 years. Item 17 outlines renewal conditions: franchisees must be in compliance with their agreement, give 180 days’ prior written notice, sign the then-current form of Franchise Agreement, execute a general release, pay a renewal fee, remodel the shop to current standards, and secure continued occupancy rights. Owners must also personally guarantee the renewal agreement. With only 8 franchised units and no disclosed growth rate, renewal-driven software evaluation windows will be rare. Vendors should focus on new-unit openings or proactive outreach to HQ rather than waiting for renewal cycles.
How to read the Cookie Co FDD
The full 2024 Cookie Co Franchise Disclosure Document is available below. It contains the legal and operational disclosures that define the franchise relationship, including Item 1 (executives), Item 11 (mandated technology), Item 8 (procurement, if disclosed), and Item 17 (renewal and transfer terms). For software vendors, the FDD is the most reliable public source of information on who buys technology, what is already installed, and how the franchise system is structured. Use it to qualify the account before you build a pitch.
For a ranked list of franchise systems that match your software category and ideal customer profile, FranCloud can help you prioritize your outbound efforts.
Questions vendors ask
Cookie Co, answered from the filing
The 2024 FDD lists Elise Thomas (Founder/CEO), Matthew Thomas (President), and Ivan Smith (COO) as the executive team. No separate IT or procurement officer is named, so the C-suite likely controls software decisions.
Cookie Co mandates Heartland as its point-of-sale system. No other mandated or recommended technology vendors are disclosed in the 2024 FDD.
Cookie Co has 12 total units in the US: 8 franchised and 4 company-owned, according to the 2024 FDD. It is a small, early-stage quick-service restaurant chain.
The 2024 FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so whether Cookie Co uses designated suppliers, an approved-supplier program, or an open procurement model is not publicly disclosed.
Franchise agreements run 10 years. Renewal requires 180 days' written notice and signing the then-current agreement. With only 8 franchised units and no disclosed recent growth, contract events will be infrequent and small in number.
The 2024 Cookie Co FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can read the full document using the embedded PDF viewer below.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Cookie Co files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
46 operators run 46 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit46
Top states by locations
| CA | 15 |
|---|---|
| TX | 12 |
| ID | 4 |
| NE | 2 |
| WA | 2 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.