Moe's Southwest Grill

The vendor opportunity at Moe's Southwest Grill

Moe's Southwest Grill operates a 568-unit quick-service restaurant system, with 563 of those locations being franchised. This creates a near-total addressable market for software vendors, as only 5 units are company-owned. The average unit volume sits at $1,753,026, signaling healthy per-store economics that can support technology investment. However, the brand is contracting, with a -4.7% year-over-year unit decline. For a vendor, this means the immediate opportunity is in serving the existing base rather than riding a growth wave. The franchisee base is highly fragmented: 57 mapped operators run roughly 57 located units, with zero multi-unit operators controlling two or more locations. This is a system of single-unit owner-operators, concentrated in North Carolina (8), Florida (6), Kentucky (6), Tennessee (6), and Pennsylvania (4).

Who controls software purchasing

Purchasing authority rests at the headquarters level. The FDD lists five key executives: Omer Gajial (Chief Executive Officer), Brett Ubl (Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Assistant Secretary), Michael Smith (Chief Brand Officer), Tim Goodman (Senior Vice President, Franchise Administration), and Chris Newman (Senior Vice President, Real Estate). No Chief Information Officer or Chief Technology Officer is named, which is common in franchise systems of this size. Your initial outreach should target the CFO and CEO, as they likely hold the purse strings for any system-wide technology mandate. The SVP of Franchise Administration is the operational gatekeeper who would manage rollout and compliance among the 57 single-unit franchisees.

Mandated and current tech stack

The 2026 FDD contains no captured data on mandated or recommended technology systems. This absence is itself a signal: Moe's Southwest Grill either does not mandate a specific tech stack, or it does not disclose those mandates in the standard FDD items. For a software vendor, this represents a wide-open landscape. You are not displacing an entrenched incumbent POS or operations platform, at least not one that is publicly mandated. The lack of a named system means you should approach this as a greenfield sale, focusing on the pain points of a fragmented, single-unit operator base that likely cobbles together its own solutions.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not provide an extract for Item 8, which is where designated or approved suppliers would be listed. This leaves the procurement model undefined. You will need to discover during the sales process whether the franchisor exerts control through an approved vendor list or allows franchisees to purchase freely. The initial franchise term is also not disclosed, and the renewal conditions only note a general release requirement that does not apply to liabilities under Maryland law. Without a known term length, you cannot map out natural contract renewal windows. The unit decline may create urgency for the franchisor to invest in tools that improve operations and reverse the trend, making the current moment a potentially receptive one for a well-timed pitch.

How to read the Moe's Southwest Grill FDD

The full Franchise Disclosure Document is the definitive source for understanding the legal and operational constraints of selling into this system. It was filed with state franchise regulators in 2026. Within it, you can verify the executive team, the lack of tech mandates, and any updates to the procurement model that may not be reflected in our summary. Use the embedded viewer below to search for keywords related to your software category. For a ranked target list of franchise brands that match your ideal customer profile, FranCloud can help you prioritize your outreach.