H&H Bagels Franchising

The vendor opportunity at H&H Bagels

H&H Bagels is a nascent quick-service restaurant franchise with a total footprint of just 6 units, 5 of which are company-owned and 1 franchised. For software vendors, this is not a volume play. The addressable market is tiny, but the centralized control structure means a single deal can cover the entire system. The concept is independently owned with no parent company on file, and the executive team is lean, operating out of the New York headquarters. There is no disclosed Average Unit Volume (AUV) in the most recent FDD, and year-over-year unit growth is not available, signaling a brand in the very early stages of franchising.

Who controls software purchasing

The buying center at H&H Bagels is concentrated at the top. The 2025 FDD lists five key executives: Jay Rushin (Chief Executive Officer), Ryan Klepper (Director of Restaurant Operations), Michael Wharry (Director of Business Development), Jesse Stein (Director of Marketing), and JD Gross (Director of Bakery Operations). With no multi-unit operators mapped in our corpus, there is no franchisee influence on technology decisions. A vendor’s path to a system-wide deal runs directly through CEO Jay Rushin and Director of Restaurant Operations Ryan Klepper, who would jointly evaluate any operational or financial software.

Mandated and current tech stack

The technology landscape is simple and explicitly mandated. According to the FDD, all units must use Toast by Toast, Inc. as their point-of-sale system and QuickBooks by Intuit Inc. for accounting. This creates a clear displacement opportunity for vendors competing with those incumbents, but also a clear integration requirement for any ancillary tools that must sit alongside them. No other mandated or recommended systems are disclosed, leaving potential whitespace for inventory management, scheduling, or marketing platforms, provided they can demonstrate value to a 6-unit operation.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not provide an extract for Item 8, so the specific procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is unknown. Vendors must clarify this directly. The franchise agreement carries a 10-year initial term with a royalty of 6.0%. Renewal is possible for two consecutive 5-year terms, but the conditions are stringent, requiring a renewal fee of 25% of the then-current initial franchise fee, a general release, and execution of the then-current franchise agreement. With only one franchised unit, renewal-driven software evaluation cycles are virtually non-existent. Timing for a software pitch is entirely opportunistic and should be tied to a strategic initiative from the HQ team.

How to read the H&H Bagels FDD

The full 2025 FDD is available below. It provides the legal and operational blueprint for the franchise system. For software vendors, the critical items are Item 11 (the mandated Toast and QuickBooks obligations), Item 1 (the executive team), and Item 17 (the renewal terms that shape long-term contract cycles). Use this document to ground every sales conversation in verifiable data. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, talk to FranCloud.