Protein Bar and Kitchen Franchising

The vendor opportunity at Protein Bar and Kitchen

Protein Bar and Kitchen Franchising is a quick-service restaurant concept headquartered in Illinois with 16 total units—13 company-owned and 3 franchised—across five states. The brand reported an average unit volume of $1,388,405 in its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. For software vendors, the immediate addressable market is small: just 16 locations, with the franchised portion representing only 3 units. No year-over-year unit growth percentage was disclosed, and the operator footprint consists entirely of single-unit franchisees, with no multi-unit operators on file. This means any software sale will likely be a headquarters-level decision applied across the entire system, rather than a multi-unit franchisee adoption play.

Who controls software purchasing

The 2026 FDD lists four key executives: Nicholas Marsh, Chief Executive Officer of the Parent Company; Jeff Drake, Chief Executive Officer; Jared Cohen, Chief Operating Officer; and James McFeeters, Vice President of Franchising & Development. No chief information officer, chief technology officer, or VP of IT is named. In a system this small and heavily company-owned, software purchasing authority almost certainly sits with CEO Jeff Drake and COO Jared Cohen. For tools that touch franchisee operations, James McFeeters may also be a stakeholder. Vendors should prepare to engage directly with the C-suite rather than a dedicated technology procurement function.

Mandated and current tech stack

The only technology system mandated in the 2026 FDD is the point-of-sale platform: Toast by Toast, Inc. This is a hard requirement for all locations, both company-owned and franchised. No other operational, financial, HR, inventory, or marketing technology is disclosed as mandated or recommended. This does not mean other systems are absent—only that the franchisor has not chosen to codify them in the disclosure document. Vendors offering complementary or replacement solutions should note the Toast mandate as both a constraint and an integration requirement.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the brand's procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly known. Initial franchise terms run 10 years, with two successive 5-year renewal options available if the franchisee meets compliance, monetary, and premises requirements. Renewals require executing the then-current Franchise Agreement, which may contain materially different terms, including fee structures. With only 3 franchised units, renewal-driven software evaluation cycles will be rare. The primary sales motion for vendors is a direct pitch to HQ for system-wide adoption across the 13 company-owned locations, with the 3 franchised units following any mandate.

How to read the Protein Bar and Kitchen FDD

The full 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. Key sections for software vendors include Item 11, which details the Toast POS mandate and any other franchisor obligations around technology; Item 8, which would specify procurement restrictions if disclosed; and Item 17, which governs renewal conditions and the timing windows for renegotiating franchise agreements. Because the brand has no parent company on file and appears independently owned, the FDD is the single best source of truth on decision-making structure and contractual tech requirements. For a ranked list of franchise systems that match your software's ideal customer profile, FranCloud can help you prioritize your outbound efforts.