DoorDashDoorDash
accept orders to be filled at your Restaurant and you may not provide delivery services or catering services (directly or through any third party, including Uber Eats, GrubHub and DoorDash) without fi
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Hot Dog On A Stick
Personal servicesSoftware purchasing at Hot Dog On A Stick is controlled at the parent level by FAT Brands executives, including Chief Information Officer Drew Martin. The brand's most recent 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document does not mandate any specific technology systems, leaving the current tech stack undefined for vendors. The total addressable market is small, with only 46 units, 16 of which are franchised.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
46
16 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-11.111%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$25K
per unit
Investment range
$541K–$679K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Franchisor controlled
from the filing
Non-compete
2 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.
8%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
Systems named in Item 11 of this filing. None is recorded as mandated here, which is not the same as the filing mandating nothing. Read Item 11 before treating the category as open.
GrubhubGrubhub
solicit or accept orders to be filled at your Restaurant and you may not provide delivery services or catering services (directly or through any third party, including Uber Eats, GrubHub and DoorDash)
Uber EatsUber
dvertise or solicit or accept orders to be filled at your Restaurant and you may not provide delivery services or catering services (directly or through any third party, including Uber Eats, GrubHub a
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
24 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 1 explicit no; 9 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 11
We and our affiliates do have independent access to the information generated and stored in your Information System.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Currently, you must purchase, directly or indirectly (a) initial and ongoing inventory your will need to prepare approved menu items you are authorized to offer and sell at your Restaurant, and (b) branded items and other designated products that are produced by or licensed by our affiliate, from our affiliate GAC…
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
The HDOS Franchise Association currently has advisory committees that focus on different aspects of our System, and whose members are elected franchisees.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We may at any time change, delete, or add to any of our specifications or quality standards.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
Certain suppliers and/or equipment manufacturers may provide us with consideration for your purchases.
Item 8 gives this proportion in one of two shapes: separate percentages for establishing the business and for operating it, or one figure covering "establishing and operating" together. Where they are separate, answer with the operating percentage; where the passage gives only the combined figure, answer with that. What percentage of the franchisee's purchases must come from designated or approved suppliers?
95Item 8
Collectively, the purchases and leases described above are approximately 95% of your overall purchases and leases in establishing the Franchise and 95% of your overall purchases and leases in operating the Franchise.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
If you use ingredients or offer to sell products that we have not approved, or buy from suppliers we have not approved, we can charge you a fee, in addition to such actions being a default of your agreement.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you wish to procure any items from a supplier other than ones we have previously approved or designated, you must deliver written notice seeking approval of the supplier.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesItem 17
assign to us all of your business telephone numbers.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 11
Conduct, as we deem advisable, inspections of the Restaurant and evaluations of the products sold and services rendered in and from the Restaurant.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 14
We may change the contents of the Manuals, but such changes will not alter your fundamental rights under the Franchise Agreement.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
Before you make a binding commitment to purchase, lease, or sublease a site, we must approve in writing the proposed lease or purchase agreement or any letter of intent between you and the third-party seller or lessor.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesItem 12
You do not have the right to operate a website or use our trademarks in any other manner on the Internet or in other electronic means of communication.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 7
You must spend the required grand opening marketing and promotion amounts 2 weeks before opening your Restaurant and the 6 weeks after opening the Restaurant.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesItem 11
In addition to contributing to the Fund, you must also spend 2% of net sales during each calendar quarter on local advertising and promotion of your Restaurant.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesItem 8
You must use our designated supplier for the loyalty programs that you are required to offer in connection with the operation of your Restaurant.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase and sell certain (a) specified beverage items (i.e. sodas), (b) icing and other products ancillary to the preparation of cookies and certain menu items, (c) branded paper products and product packaging, from our then-current approved supplier, which may modify upon written notice to you, and we may…
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all or most parts of the digital and static menu system from an approved vendor that we engaged to design a menu/computer system for our franchisees.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
I (we) hereby authorize PAYEE to initiate debit entries to my (our) account in the entity named below ("institution") and I (we) authorize the institution to accept and to debit the amount of such entries to my (our) account for affiliated produced product I purchase, and royalties and marketing fund contributions…
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 8
We have an electronic gift card program and you must participate in this program.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
Your manager must assume responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the Restaurant, oversight of the preparation of food products, and supervision of personnel and accounting and must spend at least 40 hours per week overseeing the operation of the Restaurant.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You must purchase or lease and maintain, at your own expense, only those brands, types, makes and/or models of Information Systems computer hardware and software, communications hardware and software, point of sale hardware and software, kitchen display systems, kiosk(s), data and/or databases and any other items…
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We and our affiliates do have independent access to the information generated and stored in your Information System.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
Provide, as we deem appropriate, additional training for you or your manager, operating partner, assistant managers, shift leaders or other employees and quarterly training and status meetings.
The filing answers no to 1 question
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Item 11
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.
The franchisor's owner/CEO decides; an ops or franchise-development lead may evaluate.
VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
- With 298 active personal services brands, I can't see which ones are growing or have the tech gaps my product fills, so I waste weeks chasing the wrong targets.A rep burning 10 hours/week on manual research at $50/hr loses $26,000/year. FranCloud's fit_scoring and corpus_search surface high-fit brands in seconds, reclaiming that time for selling.
- 63.5% of personal services brands mandate no POS system, but I can't identify the 108 that do without digging through hundreds of FDDs.Manually reviewing one FDD takes 3+ hours. At 108 targets, that's 324 hours. FranCloud's tech_landscape reveals POS mandates instantly, turning a $16,200 research slog into a single query.
- 91.6% of brands don't mandate a CRM, but the 25 that do are hidden in static reports, delaying my outreach to high-intent prospects.Landing one CRM-displacing deal in this segment can yield $30k+ ARR. FranCloud's find_lookalikes pinpoints those 25 brands and their peers, accelerating pipeline by months.
The vendor opportunity at Hot Dog On A Stick
Hot Dog On A Stick is a personal services brand operating 46 total units, with 30 company-owned and 16 franchised locations. The brand is not a high-growth target; unit count contracted by 11.1% year-over-year. For software vendors, the addressable market is limited to those 16 franchised locations, as the 30 company-owned units are controlled directly by the parent entity. The brand does not disclose an Average Unit Volume (AUV) in the most recent FDD. Royalties run at 6.0% of gross sales, and the initial franchise term is 15 years.
Who controls software purchasing
All strategic decisions, including technology procurement, flow through the parent organization's leadership team. The 2025 FDD lists Taylor Wiederhorn as President and CEO of Hot Dog On A Stick, but the key executive for a software vendor is Drew Martin, who serves as Chief Information Officer of FAT Brands. The buying center also includes Kenneth J. Kuick (CFO and Co-CEO of FAT Brands) and Thayer Wiederhorn (COO of FAT Brands). There are no multi-unit operators mapped in our corpus, meaning no independent franchisee buying groups exist to target outside of the franchisor's direct influence.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2025 FDD contains no mandated or recommended technology systems. This is a blank-slate scenario. Unlike larger franchise systems that lock in a specific POS or inventory management vendor, Hot Dog On A Stick does not publicly name any tech partners in its disclosure document. This absence means the existing stack is either undefined, legacy, or handled on an ad-hoc basis. A vendor's first conversation with CIO Drew Martin should focus on uncovering what systems are currently in place at the 30 corporate locations, as those will likely set the standard for the 16 franchised units.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Procurement rules are not detailed in the available FDD extracts. Item 8, which typically governs designated suppliers, did not return a signal in our corpus. This lack of a formal procurement mandate suggests flexibility but also a lack of a structured vendor onboarding process. Renewal terms offer two 10-year extensions, contingent on good standing, signing the then-current agreement, and paying a renewal fee equal to 40% of the initial franchise fee. With a 15-year initial term, natural contract expiries are rare. The recent negative unit growth suggests the system is in a state of contraction, which may delay new technology investments unless driven by a cost-cutting or consolidation mandate at the FAT Brands level.
How to read the Hot Dog On A Stick FDD
The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is the definitive source for understanding the legal and operational constraints on this brand. For a software vendor, the critical sections are Item 11 (Franchisor's Obligations) to confirm the absence of a tech mandate, and Item 8 (Restrictions on Sources of Products and Services) to understand procurement rules. The full document is embedded below. Use it to verify the decision-maker hierarchy and to identify any operational requirements that your software could address. For a ranked target list of franchise brands with stronger tech-mandate signals and growth trajectories, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
Hot Dog On A Stick, answered from the filing
Decisions are centralized under FAT Brands' leadership. The key technology buyer is Drew Martin, Chief Information Officer of FAT Brands, alongside other C-suite executives like CFO Kenneth J. Kuick.
The 2025 FDD does not list any mandated or recommended POS, operational, or other technology systems. The current tech stack is not publicly disclosed, presenting a discovery opportunity for vendors.
There are 46 total units, comprising 30 company-owned locations and 16 franchised locations. The brand experienced an 11.1% decline in units year-over-year.
The procurement model is not detailed in the available FDD extracts. Item 8, which typically outlines designated or approved supplier requirements, did not yield a signal in our corpus.
With an initial 15-year term and two 10-year renewal options, contract windows are infrequent. The recent negative unit growth may signal consolidation rather than expansion-driven tech refresh cycles.
The 2025 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the full document in the embedded PDF viewer below to analyze Item 11 and Item 8 for deeper technology and procurement insights.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Hot Dog On A Stick files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
1 operators run 1 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit1
Top states by locations
| WI | 1 |
|---|
Ownership
The portfolio behind Hot Dog On A Stick
strategic_multibrand of FAT Brands.
Sibling brands
Related Personal services brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.