MenuLink
itation Enterprise Solution Training: 0 Approximately 50- Designated Papa POS Back Office & Other Store 75 hours to Murphy’s training Technologies proficiency, store (travel and - MenuLink completed w
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Papa Murphy's
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Papa Murphy's is centrally controlled by the franchisor, Papa Murphy's Company Stores, Inc., which mandates specific technology systems across its network. The brand operates 1,014 total units, 965 of which are franchised, creating a concentrated addressable market for vendors who can integrate with or displace mandated solutions like MenuLink, Olo, and ProfitKeeper. The most recent Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) from 2026 provides the key signals for a sales pitch.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
1,014
965 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-3.596%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2026
Royalty
5%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$25K
per unit
Investment range
$450K–$693K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
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.
7%of gross sales (FY2026)
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.
Olo
e at a Time Curriculum - Leadership - Team Building - Papa Murphy’s University Guest Experience - Guest Service 101 - Service Management Group (SMG) Technology - Store Solutions - Olo Dashboard - Puls
ProfitKeeper
Process - Employee Classifications - Documentation and Employee Separations - Discrimination and Harassment - Special Third Party Vendor Programs Profitability - Financial Health/ProfitKeeper - Analyt
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
27 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 4 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?
YesFranchise agreement
We require you to retain a bookkeeping and payroll service that meets our criteria for the first year of operation of the Franchised Business.
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesItem 11
Access your business, computer systems, and point-of-sale data to verify and secure your compliance with your obligations.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesItem 6
You must submit to us your weekly sales reports, income statements for each accounting period, including a year-to-date summary, and annual financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows) and tax returns or other reports in the form, manner and time that we determine.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
To the extent we or an affiliate provides one or more of the products or services described in this ITEM 8, one or more of our officers will own an interest in such entity as a supplier.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
A Franchise Advisory Board (“FAB”) is utilized by us to gather input and advice from the franchise community on key initiatives and business issues.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
We reserve the right to impose reasonable limitations on the number of approved suppliers or distributors of any product as well as services to be used in the Franchised Business.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
438058Item 8
In fiscal year 2025, we recognized $438,058 in income from equipment or services purchased from us or entities affiliated with us.
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 revenue from products and services sold to you by our approved suppliers.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesFranchise agreement
If you want to purchase any product of an unapproved brand or from an unapproved supplier, you will notify us prior to use, and will pay us a processing fee and a reasonable testing fee as determined by us.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesItem 17
release of telephone numbers and listings
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You must comply with any privacy policies or data protection and breach response policies that we may periodically establish.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
We or our authorized agents or representatives, with or without prior notice to you, may enter the Franchised Location during normal business hours and inspect the operations of the Franchised Business and select materials, ingredients, products, supplies, paper goods, uniforms, fixtures, furnishings, signs…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
We may change or modify the Methods of Operation and any other part of the Manual.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You must obtain our prior written approval for the site of the Franchise Premises and your related lease.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesFranchise agreement
You may not have any ECS presence outside our website or social media sites.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 11
You must spend through us or at our direction up to $15,000 on marketing before opening and during the first 180 days you operate the Franchised Store.
Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?
YesFranchise agreement
Unless you are in an advertising cooperative complying with the requirements of Section 5.3(b), you must spend each month on local marketing a minimum of the greater of $2,000 or 5 percent of your Net Sales (“Local Marketing Expense”).
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesItem 6
We require you to participate in a systemwide loyalty program and to reimburse us for these fees, plus applicable taxes.
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesFranchise agreement
You must participate in and contribute your share to the cooperative advertising and promotional programs in your advertising coverage area.
Operations
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
You must purchase all such goods and services from sources and suppliers that have been approved or designated by us.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
We may approve, designate, require, replace, or discontinue one or more approved technology providers (including point of sale vendors, payment processors, gateway providers, and security providers) at any time, and you must transition to the then-required provider(s) and/or solution(s) as specified in the Operations…
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
We require an ACH authorization that allows us to automatically deduct the fee from your Franchised Store bank account.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 11
All stores must be managed by a trained owner or a Certified Manager (“Certified Manager”).
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
You will wear and you will provide and cause your employees to wear our required uniforms and comply with the standard uniform policy set forth in the Manual.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
The POS System must meet our then-current specifications and standards and be obtained from, through, or pursuant to agreements with us, our affiliates, and/or one or more approved third party vendors/providers/processors.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
Access your business, computer systems, and point-of-sale data to verify and secure your compliance with your obligations.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
You will be responsible for the cost of any additional training, including any necessary travel, accommodations, meals, and other expenses which will be at your sole cost and expense, as well as all wages and benefits of the manager earned
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?Franchise agreement
- Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?Item 8
- Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?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.
Formal HQ procurement; C-suite sponsor + cross-functional committee + IT/security/legal; often PE-backed.
VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
- 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%.
- 82.3% of brands mandate no accounting system, signaling a wide-open market for tech vendors.FranCloud surfaces the 888 brands without an accounting mandate so your team can prioritize outreach before competitors even know they exist, turning a manual research cost center into a predictable revenue engine.
- 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.
The vendor opportunity at Papa Murphy's
Papa Murphy's operates 1,014 take-and-bake pizza locations across the US, with 965 franchised units and 49 company-owned stores. The brand is part of Papa Murphy's Company Stores, Inc., and its most recent FDD, filed in 2026, shows a -3.6% year-over-year unit decline. For software vendors, the addressable market is those 965 franchised locations, which are spread across a fragmented operator base: 388 mapped operators, all single-unit owners, with no multi-unit operators recorded. Top states by unit count are Wisconsin (62), Tennessee (16), California (10), Wyoming (10), and Colorado (8). This single-unit dominance means any sale must clear a central HQ mandate, but the lack of large franchisee groups simplifies the decision chain.
Who controls software purchasing
Software purchasing at Papa Murphy's is strictly controlled by the franchisor. The FDD mandates specific technology systems, leaving no room for franchisee-level discretion on core operational tools. While the FDD does not name individual HQ executives, the centralized mandate structure means the buying center resides at the corporate level. Vendors should target the technology or operations leadership at Papa Murphy's Company Stores, Inc., recognizing that the franchisor's approval is the sole gatekeeper for any software deployed across the 965 franchised units.
Mandated and current tech stack
The 2026 FDD explicitly mandates three systems: MenuLink for back-office and point-of-sale functions, Olo by Olo Inc. for online ordering, and ProfitKeeper for financial management. These are not optional recommendations; they are required for franchisees. For a software vendor, this creates a clear competitive landscape: you are either integrating with these mandated platforms or making a case to replace one at the HQ level. The presence of Olo suggests a digital ordering infrastructure is already in place, while MenuLink and ProfitKeeper indicate standardized operational and financial reporting.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement signal, so the specific supplier designation process—whether designated, approved, or open—is not publicly disclosed. However, the renewal terms in Item 17 offer a timing lever: initial franchise agreements run 10 years, with successive 5-year renewal terms. To renew, franchisees must sign the then-current franchise agreement, which may include higher royalty or marketing fees, and provide six months' written notice. This creates periodic windows where franchisees are re-evaluating their obligations and where a new HQ mandate could be introduced. With a declining unit count, the franchisor may be motivated to adopt new technology to stabilize or improve operations, making this a potentially receptive moment for a well-timed pitch.
How to read the Papa Murphy's FDD
The 2026 Papa Murphy's FDD is embedded below for your review. Key sections for software vendors include Item 11, which lists the mandated MenuLink, Olo, and ProfitKeeper systems, and Item 17, which outlines the 5-year renewal cycle and conditions. Item 1 identifies the franchisor as Papa Murphy's Company Stores, Inc., but does not list individual executives. The operator footprint shows 388 single-unit franchisees, a critical detail for understanding the sales motion. Use this data to build a case for how your software can integrate with or improve upon the existing mandated stack, and reach out to FranCloud for a ranked target list of franchise systems that match your ideal customer profile.
Questions vendors ask
Papa Murphy's, answered from the filing
The franchisor, Papa Murphy's Company Stores, Inc., mandates all core technology. The FDD does not list specific HQ executives, so the buying center is not publicly identified, but decisions are made centrally, not by individual franchisees.
The 2026 FDD mandates MenuLink (back-office/POS), Olo by Olo Inc. (online ordering), and ProfitKeeper (financial management). These are required systems for franchisees, making them critical integration or displacement targets.
Papa Murphy's has 1,014 total US locations, with 965 franchised and 49 company-owned. The brand saw a -3.6% year-over-year unit decline, signaling potential churn or consolidation opportunities for vendors.
The FDD does not provide a specific Item 8 procurement signal, so the designated vs. approved supplier model is not disclosed. However, the mandated tech list implies a top-down, franchisor-controlled procurement process for core software.
Initial franchise terms are 10 years, with 5-year renewals requiring a new agreement and potential fee changes. With a -3.6% unit decline, renewal-driven tech evaluations may be frequent. The FDD mandates six months' written notice for renewal, creating predictable windows.
The 2026 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the full document in the embedded PDF viewer below to analyze Item 11 (tech mandates), Item 17 (renewal terms), and other sections relevant to your software pitch.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Papa Murphy's files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
388 operators run 388 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit388
Top states by locations
| WI | 62 |
|---|---|
| TN | 16 |
| CA | 10 |
| WY | 10 |
| CO | 8 |
Ownership
The portfolio behind Papa Murphy's
strategic_multibrand of MTY Food Group.
Sibling brands
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated July 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.