Facebook
or any derivative of the Marks as part of any URL or domain name, as well as their registration as part of any username on any gaming website or social networking website (such as FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM,
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
COOKIES BY DESIGN
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Cookies by Design flows through a lean HQ led by Owner/Chairman/CEO Andrew Berger and President David Polonitza. The system mandates CBD POS Software across its 37 franchised locations, with only one company-owned unit. For vendors, this is a compact 38-unit target where a single HQ relationship can unlock the entire franchise network.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
38
37 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-11.905%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
3%
national + local
Initial fee
$30K
per unit
Investment range
$160K–$345K
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, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
9%of gross sales (FY2025)
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.
Instagram
ivative of the Marks as part of any URL or domain name, as well as their registration as part of any username on any gaming website or social networking website (such as FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST
Pinterest
the Marks as part of any URL or domain name, as well as their registration as part of any username on any gaming website or social networking website (such as FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, or TWITTE
Twitter
art of any URL or domain name, as well as their registration as part of any username on any gaming website or social networking website (such as FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, or TWITTER), whether or
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
23 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 8 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
You must grant us access, and there are no contractual limitations on our right to poll (i.e., take copies of information from) your point-of-sale system at any time we choose and use it for any purpose.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Currently, we are the designated supplier for the CBD POS Software.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
We have established an Advisory Council which serves to advise on advertising, training, research and development and other matters relating to the operation of a System Business.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
0Item 8
During our fiscal year ending May 31, 2024, we derived $0 in revenue on account of franchisee purchases or leases, accounting for 0% of our total revenues of $220,495.60.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We and our affiliates may derive revenue from franchisee purchases and leases to the extent that franchisees purchase products or services from us or our affiliates, and we also may receive payments or material benefits from suppliers based on your purchases or leases.
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?
15Item 8
approximately 15% to 30% of your total annual operating expenses on an ongoing basis will be for goods and services which are subject to sourcing restrictions
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
You or the supplier must pay a charge not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection and the actual cost of the test.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you desire to purchase any items from an unapproved supplier, you must submit to us a written request for approval or must request the supplier itself do so.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
If requested by Franchisor, Franchisee will (at Franchisee’s expense) assign to Franchisor all rights to the: (i) telephone numbers of the Shop (or any Satellite and Kiosk) and any related Yellow Pages or other business listings;
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall cause the business franchised hereunder to meet or exceed, at all times, all applicable security standards developed by the Payment Card Industry Standards Council or its successor and other regulations and industry standards applicable to the protection of customer privacy and credit card information.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor or its representatives (including independent auditors, attorneys or agents) will have the right at all reasonable times to examine and copy (and to remove and return the materials to be copied from the premises on which they are located), at Franchisor’s expense, the books, records and tax returns of…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
If amended or modified by Franchisor, Franchisee agrees that it will fully implement Franchisor’s amended Operations Manuals, within a period of time prescribed by Franchisor, but in no event to exceed three (3) months after receipt of notice of such amendment or modification;
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
Before or within 120 days after signing of the Franchise Agreement, you must locate and obtain our approval for a site within an area designated in 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
Franchisee shall establish a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other reasonable social media outlets as determined in the Franchisor’s discretion as will be required from time to time to promote the Shop in their local area.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 11
You must spend during each calendar quarter a minimum of 3% of the Gross Sales of the Shop for local advertising and promotion in your designated market area.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesItem 11
You must spend during each calendar quarter a minimum of 3% of the Gross Sales of the Shop for local advertising and promotion in your designated market area.
Operations
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all equipment, supplies and other products and materials used in the operation of the Shop solely from designated or approved suppliers.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee will execute an agreement authorizing payment of amounts due under this Agreement by means of automatic fund transfer from Franchisee’s bank account to Franchisor’s bank account (“AFT Agreement”) in the form attached hereto as Attachment A.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
maintain a competent, conscientious, and trained staff (who have been adequately trained by Franchisee) in numbers sufficient to serve customers promptly and properly, including at least a manager or shift leader on duty at all times at which the Shop is open
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all products that bear any of our trademarks from us or from a producer, manufacturer, distributor or supplier we designate or approve.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You must purchase, install, and maintain, at your expense, an electronic point of sale cash register system to record sales and transaction data (such as item ordered, price and date of sale) as prescribed by us in the Operational Manuals.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
You must grant us access, and there are no contractual limitations on our right to poll (i.e., take copies of information from) your point-of-sale system at any time we choose and use it for any purpose.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee to you for any additional training, seminars, and materials provided, whether required or optional.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?Franchise agreement
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Item 11
- 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 franchisor's owner/CEO decides; an ops or franchise-development lead may evaluate.
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 Cookies by Design
Cookies by Design operates 38 total units—37 franchised and 1 company-owned—according to its 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. The brand sits in the quick-service restaurant segment with headquarters in New Jersey. Year-over-year unit growth declined by 11.9%, signaling a system in contraction. For software vendors, the addressable market is the 37 franchised locations, as the single company-owned unit likely follows the same tech mandates but represents a separate buying dynamic. Average unit volume is not disclosed in the most recent FDD. The royalty rate is 6.0%, and the initial franchise term runs 5 years.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2025 FDD lists two executives in Item 1: Andrew Berger, serving as Owner, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, and David Polonitza, serving as President and Director. No CIO, CTO, or VP of Technology is named. In a system this size, software purchasing authority almost certainly sits with these two individuals. Vendors should prepare to engage Berger and Polonitza directly; there is no mapped operator footprint in our corpus, meaning no multi-unit franchisee layer to navigate. This is a pure HQ-driven sales motion.
Mandated and current tech stack
Item 11 of the FDD mandates CBD POS Software. This is the only named technology system in the disclosure. No additional operational, accounting, inventory, HR, or marketing platforms are identified as required or recommended. For vendors selling complementary or replacement software, the mandate creates both a barrier and a signal: the franchisor is willing to impose system-wide technology standards, but the current stack appears thin. Any pitch should address integration with or migration from CBD POS Software.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
No Item 8 procurement extract is available in our corpus, so the designated-supplier, approved-supplier, or open-purchasing model remains undisclosed. Renewal terms, drawn from Item 17, offer two identical five-year renewal windows, each conditioned on written notice, compliance with the Franchise Agreement, right to occupy the shop, completion of maintenance and remodeling, signing the then-current Franchise Agreement—which may contain materially different terms—and payment of a renewal fee. The materially-different-terms clause means each renewal cycle is a potential re-negotiation point where new technology requirements could be introduced. With initial terms at 5 years and a contracting unit base, the next wave of renewals may concentrate vendor opportunities around franchisees whose agreements are maturing.
How to read the Cookies by Design FDD
The full 2025 FDD is embedded below. It was filed with state franchise regulators and contains the complete Item 1 executive roster, Item 11 tech mandates, Item 17 renewal conditions, and unit-count data cited throughout this page. Reviewing the source document directly is the best way to validate the facts and spot additional vendor-relevant details—such as any territorial protections, transfer conditions, or advertising fund structures—that may influence a franchisee’s ability to adopt new software. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
COOKIES BY DESIGN, answered from the filing
Andrew Berger (Owner, Chairman, CEO) and David Polonitza (President, Director) are the named executives in the 2025 FDD. With no CIO or CTO listed, technology decisions likely route through these two leaders.
The 2025 FDD mandates CBD POS Software. No other operational or back-of-house systems are disclosed as required in the franchise disclosure document.
38 total units: 37 franchised and 1 company-owned, per the 2025 FDD. The brand operates in the quick-service restaurant segment with a -11.9% year-over-year unit change.
The 2025 FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so designated-supplier versus approved-supplier versus open purchasing is not publicly disclosed for this brand.
Initial franchise terms run 5 years, with renewal also set at 5 years. Renewal requires signing the then-current Franchise Agreement, which may contain materially different terms—creating potential re-evaluation points for tech vendors.
The 2025 FDD was filed with state franchise regulators. You can view the embedded PDF viewer below to read the full document and verify the data cited on this page.
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.
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment COOKIES BY DESIGN files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
43 operators run 43 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit43
Top states by locations
| IL | 6 |
|---|---|
| FL | 4 |
| MI | 4 |
| TX | 4 |
| MN | 2 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind COOKIES BY DESIGN
unknown of cookies usa.
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.