Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

The vendor opportunity at Freddy's

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers presents a concentrated sales target for software vendors. The system is 93% franchised, with 514 locations operated by franchisees who must comply with HQ technology mandates. The remaining 36 units are company-owned. With a disclosed average unit volume of $1,860,140 and year-over-year unit growth of 6.198%, the brand is actively expanding, creating a steady pipeline of new store openings that require immediate technology provisioning.

The royalty rate is 4.5%, and the initial franchise term is 15 years. This long-term contractual structure means that once a technology decision is embedded in the franchise agreement or operations manual, switching costs are high for the franchisee. Vendors should view a successful pilot or HQ partnership as a durable, long-duration revenue stream.

Who controls software purchasing

Technology purchasing authority sits at the headquarters level. The 2025 FDD lists five key executives in Item 1. M. Chris Dull serves as Chief Executive Officer and President. William W. Valentas is the Chief Financial Officer. Andrew P. Thengvall holds the dual role of Chief Development Officer and Chief Legal Officer. Erin Walter is the Chief Marketing Officer, and W. Brian Wise is the Chief Operating Officer.

No Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer is named in the disclosure document. In the absence of a dedicated technology executive, the buying center for operational software likely involves the COO, Brian Wise, for systems that touch store operations, and the CFO, William Valentas, for financial and administrative platforms. The Chief Development Officer, Andrew Thengvall, may influence tools related to site selection and construction as the brand adds new units.

Mandated and current tech stack

The only technology system explicitly mandated in the FDD is the point-of-sale platform. Freddy's requires franchisees to use PAR Brink, a cloud-based POS system from PAR Technology Corporation. This mandate creates a defined integration surface for any vendor selling upstream or downstream solutions, such as loyalty, online ordering, delivery aggregators, inventory management, or labor scheduling. Any software that must integrate with the POS will need to demonstrate compatibility with PAR Brink.

Beyond the POS mandate, the FDD does not disclose other required technology systems. Vendors selling back-office, HR, payroll, or marketing automation tools should assume an open but HQ-influenced procurement process. The lack of a named procurement model in Item 8 means there is no publicly listed designated supplier program for general software, but any sale will almost certainly require corporate approval given the franchisor's control over operations.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract detailing a formal procurement or supplier approval process. This absence suggests that while the franchisor mandates specific systems like the POS, it may not maintain a public list of approved vendors for all technology categories. Vendors should prepare for a direct enterprise sales cycle with HQ, followed by a rollout to the franchisee base.

Contract renewal cycles are tied to the 15-year franchise term. Item 17 outlines the conditions for renewal: the franchisee must give notice, remodel the location, not be in default, pay all amounts owed, sign a new License Agreement—which may have materially different terms—pay a fee, sign a release, and comply with training requirements. This renewal event is a potential trigger for technology upgrades or rip-and-replace opportunities, as the franchisor can update system standards in the new agreement.

How to read the Freddy's FDD

The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is the foundational legal filing that governs the relationship between Freddy's and its franchisees. For a software vendor, the critical sections are Item 1 (The Franchisor and its Parents, Predecessors, and Affiliates), which identifies the leadership team; Item 8 (Restrictions on Sources of Products and Services), which would outline any mandated technology suppliers; Item 11 (Franchisor's Assistance, Advertising, Computer Systems, and Training), where the POS mandate is documented; and Item 17 (Renewal, Termination, Transfer, and Dispute Resolution), which defines the contract lifecycle.

Freddy's appears to be independently owned, with no parent company listed in our corpus. The full FDD is embedded below for your detailed review. For a ranked target list of franchise brands matched to your software category, including growth rates and tech stack gaps, FranCloud can help.