From the filings
CoreLife Eatery’s 2024 FDD shows a 49-unit quick-service chain with 24 franchised and 25 company-owned locations. Software purchasing decisions appear to sit with the C-suite at the New York headquarters, though no specific technology mandates are disclosed in the filing. For vendors, this means a small but concentrated addressable market where direct executive engagement is the likely path.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Ongoing fee load
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
8.5%of gross sales (FY2024)
15% reference
Franchisor behaviours
27 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 4 explicit no's; 3 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
We (or our designee) have the right to independently access the electronic information and data generated from the Computer System and you must ensure that we have access at all times.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Within 60 days following the end of each calendar year, Franchisee shall submit to Franchisor an unaudited financial statement prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and in such form and manner prescribed by Franchisor, which shall be certified by Franchisee to be accurate and complete.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
After your CoreLife Eatery is open, you will purchase from us menu boards, {00169783.DOC. } 17 [2024 FDD v1F] panini presses and blenders, which we obtain from our designated vendors.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We may periodically re-inspect approved suppliers’ facilities and products and we reserve the right to revoke our approval of any supplier, product, or service that does not continue to meet our specifications.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
12736Item 8
We derived $12,736 in revenue from required purchases or leases made by franchisees during our most recent fiscal year, ended December 24, 2023, which represents 1% of our total revenue of $1,283,217.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor (or its Affiliates) may collect rebates and allowances and credits from Suppliers based on purchases or sales by franchisees, including Franchisee, and Franchisor (and/or its Affiliates), which shall either: (a) be distributed directly by the Supplier to Franchisee, other franchisees and Franchisor (and/or…
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?
55Item 8
We estimate that approximately 85% of purchases required to open your CoreLife Eatery and 55% of purchases required to operate your CoreLife Eatery will be from us or from other approved suppliers and under our specifications.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
We reserve the right to charge a fee to evaluate the proposed product, service, or supplier.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
want to purchase or lease a product or service from a supplier or provider that we have not yet approved (for services and products that require supplier approval), you must notify us and submit to us the information, specifications, and samples we request.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee acknowledges that all telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, social media websites, Internet addresses and email addresses (collectively “Identifiers”) used in the operation of Franchisee’s Eatery constitute Franchisor’s assets, and upon termination or expiration of this Agreement, Franchisee will take such…
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall adhere to all PCI (Payment Card Industry), CISP {00169789.DOCX. } C-16 [2024 FA v1F] (Cardholder Information Security Program) and SDP (Site Data Protection) compliance specifications, as amended.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor, its agents or representatives may, at any reasonable time during normal working hours, audit or review Franchisee’s tax returns, books and records in accordance with generally accepted standards established by certified public accountants.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor shall have the right to modify the Manuals at any time and from time to time; provided, that no such modification shall alter Franchisee’s fundamental status and rights under this Agreement.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
Before leasing or purchasing the site for your CoreLife Eatery, you must submit to us, in the form we specify, a description of the site, with other information and materials we may reasonably require.
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 not develop, create, generate, own, license, lease, participate in or use in any manner any computer medium or electronic medium (including any Internet home page, email address, website, domain name, bulletin board, social media site, PR publication, newsgroup or other Internet-related medium or…
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
In addition to the Brand Fund Contributions, you must spend an average of 0.5% of your Net Sales on local advertising each calendar quarter (“Local Advertising Requirement”) on the sponsorship of local active lifestyle events, which may also include offsetting the salary of a local brand ambassador.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee is obligated to participate in Franchisor’s gift and loyalty card program.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You may use, offer or sell only those Non-Proprietary Products that we expressly authorize.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must use the computer hardware and software, including the point-of-sale system that we periodically designate to operate your CoreLife Eatery Franchise.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must use our designated merchant services provider for debit and credit cards.
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 or our affiliates via electronic funds transfer (“EFT”) or other similar means.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee is obligated to participate in Franchisor’s gift and loyalty card program.
People
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall cause all employees, while working in the Franchised Eatery, to: (i) wear uniforms of such color, design, and other specifications as Franchisor may designate from time to time
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must use the computer hardware and software, including the point-of-sale system that we periodically designate to operate your CoreLife Eatery Franchise.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We (or our designee) have the right to independently access the electronic information and data generated from the Computer System and you must ensure that we have access at all times.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We have the right to charge you tuition or a training fee for any additional training that we provide and you will be responsible for all of your (or your employee’s) travel costs, meals and lodging if you travel to a location that we designate and you will reimburse us for any such costs that we incur travelling to…
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee, or if Franchisee is an Entity, its Operating Principal or a major Owner acceptable to Franchisor, must attend Franchisor’s annual convention, for which Franchisor may charge a reasonable registration fee, and Franchisee must bear all of its attendee’s Travel Expenses and Wages and other expenses.
Who buys here
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.
CoreLife Eatery operates 49 quick-service restaurants — 24 franchised and 25 company-owned — according to its 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document. Year-over-year unit growth declined by 7.692%, signaling a period of contraction rather than expansion. For software vendors, the total addressable market is small: 49 locations with no disclosed average unit volume. The royalty rate is 5.0% on gross sales, and the initial franchise term runs 10 years.
The chain is independently owned with no parent company on file. Headquarters are in New York. No operator footprint is mapped in our corpus, meaning multi-unit franchisee influence on software decisions is not visible from available data. Vendors should approach this as a headquarters-driven sale.
The 2024 FDD Item 1 names five executives: Lawrence R. Wilson (Co-Founder and Chairman), John T. Mansfield (Co-Founder, Chief Culture and Wellness Officer), Scott Davis (Chief Executive Officer), Christopher Heierman (Chief Financial Officer), and Francis Taylor (Chief Real Estate and Development Officer). No Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, or VP of IT is listed. In the absence of a dedicated technology leader, the CEO and CFO are the most likely decision-makers for software purchases. The Chief Real Estate and Development Officer may also influence any location-level or construction-adjacent technology.
Because the executive team is small and concentrated at HQ, vendors should prepare for direct C-suite engagement rather than navigating a layered IT procurement department.
The 2024 FDD does not capture any mandated or recommended technology systems or vendors. There is no Item 11 disclosure naming a POS provider, back-office platform, inventory management system, or any other operational software. This absence suggests either that CoreLife Eatery does not mandate specific technology for franchisees or that such mandates were not included in the FDD filing.
For vendors, this is a double-edged signal: there is no incumbent to displace by name, but there is also no proof of a centralized tech stack to integrate with. Discovery calls should probe whether the brand uses any de facto standard systems across its company-owned locations.
Item 8 of the 2024 FDD contains no procurement extract, so the brand’s supplier model — designated, approved, or open — is not publicly documented. Vendors cannot assume a formal vendor approval process exists.
Item 17 provides renewal terms: franchisees in good standing may enter two successor agreements of 10 years each. The successor agreement may carry materially different terms, including higher royalty and advertising contributions. Franchisees must remodel to current standards, comply with training requirements, sign a general release, and pay a renewal fee equal to 50% of the then-current initial franchise fee. They must also avoid three or more material defaults in any 36-month period.
These renewal triggers create potential windows for technology evaluation. As franchisees approach the end of a 10-year term and face remodeling and retraining obligations, they — and the franchisor — may reassess operational systems. With unit count declining, the brand may also be open to efficiency-driving software.
The full 2024 CoreLife Eatery Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. It is the primary source for the facts cited on this page. Review Item 1 for executive names, Item 8 for any procurement restrictions (none captured here), Item 11 for technology obligations (none captured), and Item 17 for renewal and transfer terms that shape buying cycles. For a ranked target list of franchise brands matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
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
We’ll email you the moment CoreLife Eatery files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
17 operators run 17 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Top states by locations
| NY | 4 |
|---|---|
| NC | 2 |
| MI | 2 |
| WI | 1 |
| IN | 1 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.