Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee cannot substitute or replace the Business Management System in favor of any substitutes or other systems.
From the filings
Software purchasing at Ramblin' Joe Franchising is controlled at the headquarters level by CEO and CFO David Lambert, Operations Manager Megan Lambert, and Financial Consultant Bill Lambert. The 2026 FDD discloses no mandated or recommended technology vendors, and the addressable market is limited to just 3 total locations—1 franchised and 2 company-owned—making this a very small opportunity for software vendors.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Ongoing fee load
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
6%of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Franchisor behaviours
29 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 2 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?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee cannot substitute or replace the Business Management System in favor of any substitutes or other systems.
Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?
YesFranchise agreement
At all times, Franchisee shall provide and permit Franchisor to maintain direct and independent access to the Business Management System and Franchisee shall electronically transfer and transmit to Franchisor all Business Management System Data;
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
within 30 days of the end of each calendar month Franchisee shall submit to Franchisor monthly financial statements and other reports related to the operations of the Franchised business including, but not limited to, income statement, statement of cash flows, balance sheet, and other operational reports designated…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
Our affiliate, Lamberts, Inc. is currently designated as an approved supplier of initial inventory and select equipment.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We may designate a supplier, including ourselves or our affiliates, as the exclusive supplier for the System.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
219067.39Item 8
Our revenue from all required purchases and leases of products and services by franchisees in the prior fiscal year was $219,067.39.
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?
25Item 8
approximately 25% of the on-going operating expenses of the Franchised Business.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
We may charge you a fee equal to the costs and expenses that we incur in reviewing and evaluating an alternate supplier, product, and/or service requested by you.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you want to purchase or lease a source restricted item from a supplier that has not been previously approved or designated by us in writing, you must send us a written request for approval and submit additional information, samples, and testing data that we may request.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
In the event of the termination of this Agreement, for any reason, that the accounts related to all telephone numbers associated with the Franchised Business and all rights in and to the telephone numbers associated with the Franchised Business, shall, at Franchisor’s election, be transferred to Franchisor.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor has the right at any and all times during business hours, throughout the terms of this Agree and without prior notice to Franchisee, to inspect Franchisee’s Café.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 11
At all times, we reserve the right to supplement, modify and update the Manuals.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
Before you enter into a lease or other agreement for your Café Location you must obtain our approval.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesItem 11
You may not use any websites, web-based media or digital media unless expressly approved by us in writing.
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesFranchise agreement
Not less than 45 days prior to the opening of the Franchised Business, Franchisee shall spend not less than $12,000 to market and promote the grand-opening of the Franchised Business in accordance with Franchisor’s standards and specifications;
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
On-going, and on a monthly basis, Franchisee must spend not less than 1% of Franchisee’s monthly Gross Sales on the local marketing of the Franchised Business within and/or targeted to Franchisee’s Designated Territory.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
customer service and satisfaction standards including, customer rewards programs, refund policies, gift card policies, special promotions and other customer incentive and goodwill programs
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesFranchise agreement
If Franchisee’s Café or Designated Territory is located within the geographic area of an Advertising Cooperative, franchisee must participate in and contribute to the Advertising Cooperative.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase the System Supplies, as designated by us, from us, our affiliates, and/or our designated suppliers.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You may only use those products, supplies, equipment, technology systems, and services that we authorize and designate in writing.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
Credit Card Processing – You must use our designated supplier and vendor for credit card processing which is integrated with the point of sale system that we designate, currently Square.
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
Royalty Fee payments will be paid monthly and sent by ACH, electronic funds transfer, or as otherwise designated by Franchisor and shall be due on the Thursday of each monthly Accounting Period (for the preceding week and each week thereafter throughout the entire Term of this Agreement) or such other specific day of…
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 8
You must use our designated supplier and vendor for the ability to access and use online, point of sale integrated, web based, and/or app based, ordering, customer rewards, and/or gift card systems.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
At all times, your Café must be managed and supervised on-site by either a Managing Owner or Operating Manager.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
For the protection of the System, you must ensure that all employees wear and maintain the proper uniforms with our approved System branded apparel and uniforms including, but not limited to, the apparel and uniforms comprising System Supplies.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You must purchase, license and use the computer, point of sale, business management, and ordering systems that we designate.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
You are required to provide us with independent access to all of the information and data that is transacted, collected, and stored by the Franchised Business on the Business Management Systems, your computer systems, and otherwise.
Sales and CRM
Must the franchisee use a CRM system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
“Business Management System” refers to and means the software, internet, web based and/or cloud based system or systems, point of sale system or systems and customer relationship management system or systems as same may be individually or collectively designated by us, in our Reasonable Business Judgment, as being…
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor reserves the right to assess Franchisee reasonable charges for such training.
Who buys here
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.
Ramblin' Joe Franchising is a quick-service restaurant brand with headquarters in Tennessee. According to its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, the system includes just 3 locations: 2 company-owned and 1 franchised. The brand does not disclose an average unit volume (AUV) in the FDD. The royalty rate is 4.0% of gross sales, and the initial franchise term runs for 10 years. No parent company is listed; the brand appears to be independently owned by the Lambert family.
With only 1 franchised location, the addressable market for software vendors is extremely limited. The company-owned units may present a small initial sale, but the absence of franchise growth signals—zero multi-unit operators and no year-over-year unit growth data—means there is little to no pipeline for scaled deployment. Software vendors should view this as a one-off opportunity at best, with the primary decision-maker being the HQ team.
The FDD lists three executives in Item 1: David Lambert, who serves as both Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer; Megan Lambert, Operations Manager; and Bill Lambert, Financial Consultant. This tight leadership circle handles all operational and financial decisions, and software purchasing is no exception. There is no separate IT or procurement department. Any vendor pitching a solution would need to engage David Lambert as the likely budget holder, with Megan Lambert providing operational influence and Bill Lambert offering financial vetting. The size of the team means decisions can be made quickly, but also that the bar for relevance is high—there are no layers of middle management to absorb a niche tool.
The 2026 FDD does not identify any mandated or recommended technology vendors. No point-of-sale system, accounting software, scheduling platform, or inventory management tool is named in the disclosure. This suggests that each location—whether company-owned or franchised—selects its own technology, or that the brand has not formalized a tech stack. For software vendors, this lack of mandate means there is no incumbent to displace, but also no built-in demand. A pitch would need to start from scratch, educating the HQ team on the operational pain points that a solution could address.
Item 8 of the FDD, which typically describes designated or approved suppliers, contains no extract. This absence further indicates that the franchisor does not exercise control over procurement, leaving franchisees (and the company-owned units) to source equipment and services independently. As a result, no central purchasing calendar exists, and contract windows are not tied to a system-wide refresh cycle.
The only timing signal comes from Item 17, which outlines renewal conditions. To renew a franchise, the franchisee must provide 180 days’ written notice, sign the then-current form of Franchise Agreement, pay a renewal fee, and complete a remodel and upgrade to meet current standards. The renewal term is also 10 years. With just one franchised unit, any software contract tied to a renewal would depend on the franchisee’s original opening date. Without that date, the next potential window cannot be estimated. Vendors targeting the company-owned locations should simply reach out directly to the HQ team.
The 2026 Ramblin' Joe Franchising FDD is a public document filed with state franchise regulators. It lays out the legal and financial relationship between the franchisor and franchisees, including the franchise agreement, fees, territory rights, and Item 19 financial performance representations (if any). Software vendors can use it to identify decision-makers, understand the franchisor’s control over technology, and assess the system’s size and growth trajectory. An embedded viewer below provides the full text. For a deeper analysis of how Ramblin' Joe compares to other franchise targets, software vendors can leverage FranCloud’s ranked lists and filtering tools to identify brands with better alignment to their product.
Talk to FranCloud to see how this brand stacks up against a broader set of target-rich franchise systems.
Questions vendors ask
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
We’ll email you the moment Ramblin' Joe Franchising files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
2 operators run 2 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Top states by locations
| TN | 1 |
|---|---|
| WI | 1 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated August 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.