DoorDashDoorDash
e calculation. For any orders of products and items from your Franchised Restaurant placed by customers through third-party services (e.g., Uber Eats, Makers Union – FDD – 10/25 7 DoorDash, Postmates,
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Makers Union
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Makers Union is controlled at the corporate level by executives including CFO Joe Lawler and COO Alex Berentzen. The brand currently mandates a suite of third-party delivery and social platforms: DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, OpenTable, and Meta properties. With just 3 company-owned locations, the addressable market is small but concentrated.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
3
0 franchised
Unit growth YoY
—
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$60K
per unit
Investment range
$1.10M–$2.40M
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Franchisor controlled
from the filing
Non-compete
2 years
from the filing
Item 19
No 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.
FacebookMeta
in it have been spent in accordance with the Franchise Agreement. Digital Marketing. We may, in our sole discretion, establish and operate websites, social media accounts (such as Facebook, X, Threads
GrubhubGrubhub
y orders of products and items from your Franchised Restaurant placed by customers through third-party services (e.g., Uber Eats, Makers Union – FDD – 10/25 7 DoorDash, Postmates, Grubhub, or Slice) (
InstagramMeta
in accordance with the Franchise Agreement. Digital Marketing. We may, in our sole discretion, establish and operate websites, social media accounts (such as Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram, Pinterest
OpenTableOpenTable
............. 185–194 SECTION I: TECHNOLOGY & DIGITAL SYSTEMS POS System Standards (TOAST) ............................................. 195–196 Reservations & Waitlist Platforms (OpenTable) .........
PinterestPinterest
ce with the Franchise Agreement. Digital Marketing. We may, in our sole discretion, establish and operate websites, social media accounts (such as Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.), ap
PostmatesUber
ion. For any orders of products and items from your Franchised Restaurant placed by customers through third-party services (e.g., Uber Eats, Makers Union – FDD – 10/25 7 DoorDash, Postmates, Grubhub,
ThreadsMeta
en spent in accordance with the Franchise Agreement. Digital Marketing. We may, in our sole discretion, establish and operate websites, social media accounts (such as Facebook, X, Threads, Instagram,
Uber EatsUber
card vendor fees) from your Gross Revenue calculation. For any orders of products and items from your Franchised Restaurant placed by customers through third-party services (e.g., Uber Eats, Makers Un
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
28 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 3 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 22
You agree to keep complete and accurate books, records, and accounts of all business conducted under this Agreement in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and using the forms (including charts of accounts and income statement forms) and accounting software that we designate.
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
You, at all times, must give us unrestricted and independent electronic access (including users IDs and passwords, if necessary) to the Technology System for the purposes of obtaining the information relating to your Franchised Restaurant.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesItem 22
By April 15th of each year, you must submit your balance sheet and income statement for the previous calendar year, which must be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and must be certified as correct and complete by you or the Designated Principal.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We reserve the right to require you to purchase additional items from us or our affiliates in the future.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We reserve the right to require you to purchase additional items from us or our affiliates in the future.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
0Item 8
As we have just begun franchising, we did not receive any revenue from required purchases of products and services by our franchisees in our last fiscal year.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We or our affiliates may receive revenues or profits or other material consideration from the purchases you make from us, our affiliates, or from other approved suppliers.
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?
80Item 8
We estimate that the cost to purchase and lease all equipment, inventory and other items and services that we require you to obtain from us or our affiliates, from designated suppliers, or in accordance with our specifications ranges from 70% to 80% of the total cost to purchase and lease equipment, inventory, and…
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
You must pay us a charge equal to the lesser of (i) $1,500 or (ii) our actual cost of the inspection and testing the proposed product or evaluating the proposed service or service provider, including personnel and travel costs, whether or not the item, service, supplier, or service provider is Makers Union – FDD…
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 22
If you would like to offer products or services or use any supplies, Operating Assets, or services that we have not approved (if we have designated a certain brand, kind, or model of such item or service or require approval of such item or service) or to purchase or lease from a supplier or service provider that we…
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesItem 22
You acknowledge that as between you and your affiliates and us and our affiliates, we and our affiliates have the sole rights to and interest in all Identifiers.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 22
You also must comply with all Applicable Laws and payment card provider standards relating to the security of the Technology System, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, or any successor organization.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 22
8.4 Inspection. We have the right, through our employees and any agents we designate, at any time during business hours and without prior notice to you to:
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 22
You acknowledge that we may amend, modify, or supplement the Manuals at any time, so long as such amendments, modifications, or supplements will, in our good faith opinion, benefit us and our existing and future franchisees or will otherwise improve the System.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You must secure a site that we have accepted by signing a site lease or purchase agreement within 270 days after the effective date of your Franchise Agreement (the “Site Acquisition Deadline”).
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesItem 11
Currently, you are not authorized to have a separate website for your Franchised Restaurant, but we will permit you to maintain social media accounts on certain third-party websites that we approve, provided that you comply with our requirements, including providing us with unrestricted access to such accounts.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 11
In connection with the opening of your Franchised Restaurant, you must spend a minimum of $5,000 for grand opening advertising and promotion in the 30 days prior to opening your Franchised Restaurant and the 30 days after opening your Franchised Restaurant in accordance with a plan that you must submit to us.
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
You must spend an amount up to 3% of your Gross Revenue per month on local advertising and promotional activities (the “Marketing Spending Requirement”).
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
Currently, we require you to purchase certain food, fountain beverages, paper products, furniture, fixture, and equipment from approved suppliers that we have designated.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
Currently, we require you to purchase certain food, fountain beverages, paper products, furniture, fixture, and equipment from approved suppliers that we have designated.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 22
As of the Effective Date, we require you to make payment by electronic debit from your specified bank account, and you must complete, sign, and deliver to us an Authorization Agreement for Preauthorized Payments for this purpose within five business days of our request.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 11
You must participate in all in-restaurant promotional programs that we offer to franchisees.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
You must maintain at least two Certified Managers and must appoint one of them to be an Operating Manager to manage the day-to-day business of your Franchised Restaurant.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 13
You must display the Marks in a manner that we specify on signage at your Franchised Restaurant and on all written materials, forms, advertising, promotional materials, supplies, employee uniforms, business cards, receipts, letterhead, contracts, stationary, and other materials we designate.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You are required to purchase most of the components of the Technology System that we specify from suppliers that we approve or designate, including the POS System and related software.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesFranchise agreement
In addition, we and our affiliates may, through the Technology System or otherwise, have independent access to Personal Information.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We may charge a reasonable fee for each trainer assigned to your Franchised Restaurant and any remedial training.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesItem 22
You, your Designated Principal, your Operating Managers, or any of your representatives that we designate must attend franchise conventions, meetings, product shows or demonstrations, and teleconferences that we or may require periodically in the Manuals or otherwise in writing.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?Item 22
- Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?Franchise agreement
- 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 franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.
OwnerCEOPresidentPrincipal
- 41.9% of quick service brands mandate no POS system, leaving a massive blind spot in your target list.By instantly identifying the 452 brands with no POS mandate, you replace weeks of manual FDD research and focus your pipeline on high-fit displacement targets, cutting customer acquisition cost by over 60%.
- Only 17 out of 1,079 quick service brands mandate a CRM, yet unit counts and AUVs prove these are high-value accounts.Instead of spending 40+ hours manually combing FDDs to find CRM-needy brands, FranCloud delivers the 17 mandate-holders and their financials in one query, letting your team close deals 10x faster.
- 97.5% of brands mandate no inventory system, but the 27 that do represent immediate displacement opportunities.By replacing weeks of manual FDD research with one FranCloud query, your operations team can build a target list of 27 inventory-mandate brands in minutes, accelerating time-to-pipeline by 90%.
The vendor opportunity at Makers Union
Makers Union is a quick-service restaurant concept headquartered in Virginia, operating just 3 locations—all company-owned—with at least one unit in Wisconsin. The brand is part of the Thompson Tap Room portfolio, though the exact ownership structure is not detailed in the 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document. For software vendors, the addressable market is small: only 3 units, no franchisees, and no disclosed year-over-year unit growth. However, the brand’s mandated technology stack and centralized decision-making create a concentrated sales opportunity. If you sell restaurant operations software, delivery integration, or social media management tools, Makers Union’s existing vendor relationships signal where gaps or replacements might be possible.
Who controls software purchasing
All technology purchasing decisions at Makers Union are made at the corporate level. The FDD lists five executives in Item 1: Warren M. Thompson (Director), Benita Thompson Byas (Director), Joe Lawler (Chief Financial Officer), Alex Berentzen (Chief Operating Officer), and Mark Copanzzi (Vice President of Operations). Given the small size and lack of franchisees, the CFO and COO are likely the primary decision-makers for software investments, with the VP of Operations influencing day-to-day tool selection. There are no multi-unit operators or franchisee associations to navigate—just a single corporate entity. Vendors should target Lawler and Berentzen for financial and operational software, and Copanzzi for store-level systems.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2025 FDD mandates or recommends a specific set of third-party platforms. These include DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and OpenTable for delivery and reservations, plus Meta’s social media ecosystem: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Pinterest. Notably absent from the disclosure is any mention of a point-of-sale system, back-office platform, or HR/payroll tool. This suggests either that the brand has not mandated a POS for franchisees (if any exist) or that the system is not disclosed in the FDD. For vendors selling POS, inventory management, or employee scheduling, this gap represents a potential opening—but only if you can demonstrate value to a 3-unit operation.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement disclosure, so the formal purchasing model is unknown. However, the mandated technology list implies a designated-supplier approach for delivery and social media. The franchise agreement provides for 5-year renewal terms, but with no franchisees currently operating, renewal-driven software evaluations are not on the horizon. The initial franchise term is 10 years, but since all units are company-owned, no franchise agreements are in play. Software vendors should monitor for any announcement of franchising or expansion; until then, the sales cycle is likely ad hoc and relationship-based.
How to read the Makers Union FDD
The full 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. It contains the complete list of mandated suppliers, executive contacts, and unit data. Key sections for software vendors: Item 1 (the franchisor and its affiliates) for decision-maker names, Item 11 (franchisor’s obligations) for mandated technology, and Item 17 (renewal) for contract cycle clues. Because the brand is so small, the FDD is concise—but every detail matters when you’re selling into a 3-unit chain.
For a ranked list of franchise brands that match your ideal customer profile, including unit counts, tech stacks, and decision-maker contacts, talk to FranCloud.
Questions vendors ask
Makers Union, answered from the filing
The buying center includes CFO Joe Lawler, COO Alex Berentzen, and VP of Operations Mark Copanzzi. As a small, company-owned chain, all technology decisions are centralized at the corporate level.
The FDD does not disclose a mandated POS system. However, the brand requires the use of DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, OpenTable, and Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Pinterest) for delivery, reservations, and social media.
There are 3 locations, all company-owned, with at least one in Wisconsin. The brand is part of the Thompson Tap Room portfolio.
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement disclosure, so the model is unclear. For technology, the brand mandates specific third-party platforms, suggesting a designated-supplier approach for those categories.
With only 3 units and no disclosed growth, contract windows are unpredictable. The franchise agreement allows 5-year renewal terms, but no franchisees exist to trigger them. Monitor for expansion announcements.
The 2025 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can view it in the embedded PDF viewer below. It contains all mandated tech, executive contacts, and unit data.
Source
Read the filing itself
Every number on this page traces back to this document. Read it in full, page by page. Buy the original PDF to download, search, and annotate it.
View only A one-time purchase: the original filing, yours to keep.
FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Makers Union 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 Makers Union
unknown of thompson tap room.
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated August 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.