CrunchTime
Mandatoryproved MSSP vendors. Our current vendor is PDI or Viking Cloud. There are no substitutes for this service. 17 2026 Culver’s FDD 82314727v5 (3) You must obtain a license to use the CrunchTime! back off
From the filings
+4.444% units YoY
Culver's Restaurant
Quick service restaurantCulver's is a quick-service restaurant chain headquartered in Wisconsin. The most recent Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) on file is for 2026, but key operational metrics—including total unit count, franchised vs. company-owned split, AUV, royalty rate, and initial term—are not disclosed in that filing. Software vendors evaluating Culver's as a prospect should note that no mandated technology systems, named HQ executives, or operator footprint data are captured in our corpus, making direct research essential.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
1,041
1,034 franchised
Unit growth YoY
+4.444%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2026
Royalty
4%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2.5%
national + local
Initial fee
$65K
per unit
Investment range
$3.41M–$10.29M
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
1 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.
6.5%of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
5 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.
Fiserv
Mandatoryvalidate your compliance by completing a self-assessment questionnaire (“SAQ”) yearly and subject your network to quarterly vulnerability scans. If applicable, you must enroll in Fiserv Clover Securit
Olo
Mandatoryhe Schoox software subscription, on an annual basis. There are no substitutes for this system. (5) You must subscribe to the online ordering system. Our current approved vendor is OLO. There are no su
PAR Brink
Mandatoryof February 1, 2026, the Computer System includes the following: (1) You must purchase and maintain the POS System. Our current approved POS System, subject to change by us, is a PAR Brink point of sa
Zenput
MandatoryCloud. There are no substitutes for this service. 17 2026 Culver’s FDD 82314727v5 (3) You must obtain a license to use the CrunchTime! back office software subscription, including Zenput, on an annual
Data Axle
by Environmental Systems Research Institute and SiteZeus. Environmental Systems Research Institute extracts its employee data from a comprehensive list of businesses licensed from Data Axle. This 2025
Facebook
he sole right to advertise the Business System on the Internet and social media which may currently exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, Myspace, T
First Data
icipating Restaurant”) by prepaying specific amounts and then using the Card to purchase products at any Participating Restaurant with the prepaid amounts. We have contracted with First Data Merchant
Instagram
tly exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), text messaging, e-mail marketing, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok,
LinkedIn
he Business System on the Internet and social media which may currently exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTub
Pinterest
may currently exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), text messaging, e-mail marketing, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram,
Sage 50
a Brown 333 W Montgomery Crossroad Savannah Georgia 31406 (912) 200-4600 0724 Charlie Lee 230 Peachtree Industrial Blvd Sugar Hill Georgia 30518 (770) 831-0333 0662 Ali Adabi 3135 Peachtree Pkwy Suwan
Snapchat
edia which may currently exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), text messaging, e-mail marketing, Snapchat, Pinterest,
Twitter
Business System on the Internet and social media which may currently exist or that may exist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), text messa
YouTube
ist at any time in the future, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), text messaging, e-mail marketing, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube (collectivel
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
21 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 2 explicit no's; 11 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 6
We currently have independent access to certain operational and financial information and data produced by your Restaurant technology.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesItem 6
You must, at your expense, provide us with monthly and annual financial statements and such other financial reports as we specify, using the forms and chart of accounts we require.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 6
You agree that we may designate a single source of supply for products and services, including Special Products, and that we may be that source.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 6
At the time of this disclosure document, a franchisee advisory council of elected members assists us in maintaining effective communications with our franchisees, and advises us on business and operations decisions and policies.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 6
We advise you that we may receive a fee or other consideration from suppliers or manufacturers of various products and services respecting sales of products and services to you.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 6
We may require you to reimburse us for our reasonable costs incurred in evaluating, inspecting and supervising such supplier.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 6
If you desire to acquire any products or services from any source other than a supplier we approve, you must obtain our written consent before using such supplier, and we may withhold our consent to your request for any reason, as described in the Manual or otherwise in writing.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesItem 6
assign the telephone number to us
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 6
You must comply with the “Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard” (“PCI DSS”).
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 6
We or our authorized representative have the right, for inspection purposes, to enter your Restaurant at all reasonable times during the business day for the purpose of making periodic evaluations and to ascertain if the provisions of this Agreement are being observed by you, to inspect and evaluate your building…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 6
We have the right to modify or supplement the Operations Manual upon notice, delivery to you, or providing access to you.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 6
You may not open the Restaurant for business until: (1) we confirm that the Restaurant
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesItem 6
Except as we may authorize in writing, however, you may not: (1) link or frame our website and/or Social Media; (2) create, operate, maintain and modify a website and/or Social Media using the Marks; (3) conduct any business or offer to sell or promote through coupons or otherwise, any products or services associated…
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesItem 6
You must spend a minimum of 1% of your Gross Sales on local advertising.
Operations
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 6
purchase only from suppliers that we have approved, all other goods, food products, ingredients, seasonings, marinades, materials and supplies used in preparing food products at the Restaurant and equipment, menus, paper and plastic products, supplies and other materials (collectively “Other Products and Materials”).
Payments
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 6
Specifically, you must, at your expense, participate in, and honor all provisions of, our “Gift Card Program” as further described in the Manual.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 6
Each Restaurant must have a minimum of one management team member working each shift who is certified in the appropriate sanitation program, as described above.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 6
whenever working in the Restaurant you and your employees must wear only such uniforms as we may designate or approve.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 6
You must use in the Restaurant the point-of-sale system, including all existing or future communication or data storage systems, components and associated service, which we have developed and/or selected for the Business System (the “POS System”).
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 6
We may access information and data produced by your POS System.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 6
We may charge a fee for such training courses and programs.
The filing answers no to 2 questions
- Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Item 6
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?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.
Formal HQ procurement; C-suite sponsor + cross-functional committee + IT/security/legal; often PE-backed.
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 Culver's
Culver's operates as a quick-service restaurant brand with its headquarters in Wisconsin. For software vendors, the chain represents a potential account, but the 2026 FDD leaves many traditional sizing metrics undisclosed. Total units, the split between franchised and company-owned locations, and year-over-year unit growth are not provided. Without these figures, vendors cannot calculate a precise addressable unit count from the FDD alone. The brand appears to be independently owned, with no parent company on file in our corpus.
Average unit volume (AUV) is also absent from the filing, so vendors cannot benchmark potential account value using that metric. Royalty percentage and initial franchise term are similarly not disclosed. This lack of public data means that a vendor's initial scoping must rely on direct discovery rather than FDD-derived numbers.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2026 FDD does not list any executives in Item 1, so the software buying center at Culver's HQ remains unknown. There is no named CIO, CTO, VP of IT, or procurement lead in the filing. Vendors should assume that purchasing authority could sit at the headquarters level, with multi-unit operators, or be mixed, but no franchisor mandate signals clarify this. Direct outreach to the corporate office in Wisconsin is the only reliable path to map the decision-making structure.
Mandated and current tech stack
Culver's 2026 FDD contains no mandated or recommended technology systems. No POS vendor, back-office platform, or operational software is named. This absence means the chain likely does not impose a rigid tech stack on its franchisees through the disclosure document, but it does not confirm whether an internal standard exists outside the FDD. Vendors should treat the tech landscape as unverified and prepare to demonstrate integration flexibility when engaging Culver's.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Item 8 of the 2026 FDD provides no procurement signal, so it is unclear whether Culver's uses a designated supplier model, an approved supplier list, or an open procurement process. Similarly, Item 17 contains no renewal or term-related extract that would help vendors anticipate contract windows. Without these signals, timing a pitch is speculative. Vendors are advised to monitor any public RFPs or industry events where Culver's IT leadership might surface.
How to read the Culver's FDD
The 2026 Culver's FDD is embedded below for your review. It is filed with state franchise regulators and contains the franchisor's disclosures as of the filing year. Key sections for software vendors include Item 1 (the franchisor and any parents, predecessors, and affiliates), Item 8 (restrictions on sources of products and services), Item 11 (franchisor's assistance, advertising, computer systems, and training), and Item 17 (renewal, termination, transfer, and dispute resolution). Because many fields are not populated in our extract, a full manual review of the PDF is recommended to uncover any details not captured in our structured data. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, connect with FranCloud.
Questions vendors ask
Culver's Restaurant, answered from the filing
The 2026 FDD does not list any HQ executives or a defined software buying center. Vendors should conduct direct outreach to identify the relevant decision-makers.
No mandated or recommended POS or operational technology systems are disclosed in the 2026 FDD. The current tech stack is not publicly documented in our corpus.
The total number of US locations, including the franchised vs. company-owned breakdown, is not disclosed in the 2026 FDD.
The 2026 FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement signal. It is unknown whether Culver's uses a designated supplier, approved supplier, or open procurement model.
No renewal or term signals are available from Item 17 in the 2026 FDD. Contract window timing cannot be estimated without direct intelligence.
The 2026 Culver's FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review it using 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 Culver's Restaurant files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
1,130 operators run 1,130 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit1,130
Top states by locations
| WI | 164 |
|---|---|
| IL | 144 |
| FL | 142 |
| MI | 115 |
| IN | 96 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.