Duck Donuts

The vendor opportunity at Duck Donuts

Duck Donuts operates 144 quick-service restaurants, 143 of which are franchised. The single company-owned unit means nearly all technology purchasing decisions affect a franchisee base, but the franchisor holds tight control over mandated systems. Average unit volume sits at $537,112, and the system grew 7.5% year-over-year. For a software vendor, that means a base of 143 addressable locations today, with new units opening steadily. The 6% royalty rate and 10-year initial term create a stable, long-horizon operator base that can absorb multi-year software contracts.

Who controls software purchasing

The 2025 FDD lists three HQ executives: Devon Mailey, who holds both the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer titles; Gary Hitterdal, Chief Operating Officer; and Lindsay Dunn, Senior Director of Marketing. No dedicated CIO, CTO, or VP of Technology appears in the filing. This suggests technology decisions run through the CEO/CFO and COO, with marketing-tech likely influenced by the Senior Director of Marketing. Vendors should prepare to engage Mailey or Hitterdal for operational and POS-adjacent tools, and Dunn for customer-facing or marketing platforms.

Mandated and current tech stack

Duck Donuts mandates two systems across its franchise network: Grubbrr self-order kiosks and ParTech Brink POS. Both are named in the 2025 FDD as required technology. No other operational, back-of-house, inventory, labor, or loyalty platforms are disclosed as mandated or recommended. This creates a clear integration surface for vendors whose products complement Brink POS or Grubbrr kiosks. If your software sits upstream or downstream of the POS—think accounting, scheduling, delivery aggregation, or loyalty—you will need to work within a ParTech-centric architecture. The absence of a named online ordering or delivery mandate also leaves room for vendors in those categories, though any adoption would likely require HQ approval.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The 2025 FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the formal procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly known. In practice, the existence of mandated technology vendors signals a top-down procurement culture. Renewal terms offer a second entry point: franchisees with a clean compliance record can renew for an additional 10 years by giving six months' written notice, paying a $7,500 renewal fee, and upgrading equipment to then-current specifications. That equipment-upgrade clause is a natural trigger for software evaluation. With 143 franchised units and a 7.5% growth rate, vendors can also target new-store openings as a recurring sales motion.

How to read the Duck Donuts FDD

The full 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. It contains the legal and operational detail behind every claim on this page, including Item 11 technology mandates, Item 1 executive listings, and Item 17 renewal conditions. For software vendors, the FDD is the single best source of truth on who buys, what they already use, and when they are likely to buy again. If you need a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.