Gong cha USA Franchising

The vendor opportunity at Gong cha

Gong cha USA Franchising operates 38 total locations, 36 of which are franchised, with an average unit volume of $396,887. The system is entirely composed of single-unit operators—133 mapped operators across roughly 133 located units—meaning no multi-unit franchisees control purchasing across multiple locations. This structure concentrates software buying decisions at the franchisor level. For a software vendor, the addressable market is those 36 franchised units, heavily clustered in Texas (31), New York (29), Massachusetts (21), and New Jersey (20), with a smaller presence in Georgia (5). The royalty rate is 6%, and the initial franchise term runs 10 years. Year-over-year unit growth is not disclosed in the 2026 FDD.

Who controls software purchasing

The 2026 FDD lists five executives in Item 1. Rebecca Kahn, Senior Director Franchise Operations, US & Canada, is the operational lead and the most direct point of contact for software that touches store-level compliance, training, or day-to-day management. Michael Nedelkovich Jr., Vice President of Franchise Sales & Non-Traditional Development, may influence tools tied to site selection, onboarding, or pipeline management. Global Chief Executive Officer Paul Reynish and President Geoffrey Henry sit at the top of the org chart, while Zachary Aggelis serves as Secretary and Manager. No CIO or CTO is named, consistent with a lean HQ team. Vendors should expect a centralized, relationship-driven sales process rather than a formal RFP function.

Mandated and current tech stack

The only mandated technology disclosed in the 2026 FDD is Zenput, a platform for operational compliance and task management. No POS, payroll, inventory, or loyalty systems are named as required or recommended in the document. This does not mean other systems are absent—only that the FDD does not mandate them. The presence of a single mandated tool suggests the franchisor is selective about tech rollouts and may be open to vendor conversations for other categories, provided the value proposition is clear and deployment does not burden single-unit operators.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Item 8 of the 2026 FDD does not include a procurement extract, so the franchisor’s supplier model—whether designated, approved, or open—is not publicly detailed. Item 17 outlines renewal conditions: franchisees must be in good standing, sign a new franchise agreement (which may contain materially different terms), comply with updated qualification and training requirements, remodel to current standards, provide evidence of property control, sign a general release, and pay a renewal fee. The renewal term is an additional 10 years. Because the new agreement can introduce materially different terms, each renewal cycle represents a potential inflection point where new software mandates could be introduced. With the initial term set at 10 years, vendors should monitor the vintage of franchise agreements to anticipate when cohorts of locations may face renewal-driven tech changes.

How to read the Gong cha FDD

The 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document is the authoritative source for unit counts, executive contacts, fee structures, and mandated suppliers. Item 1 identifies the executives who control purchasing. Item 11 details the franchisor’s obligations, including any mandated technology. Item 8 governs procurement restrictions. Item 17 spells out renewal terms that can reset the tech stack. The embedded PDF viewer below lets you search these sections directly. For software vendors, the FDD is not a sales deck—it is a regulatory filing that reveals exactly where the franchisor has chosen to standardize and where it has left gaps. If you sell software into franchise systems, FranCloud can help you build a ranked target list from FDD data like this.