SkyTabShift4
Mandatorys and use online, point of sale integrated, web based, and/or app based, ordering, customer rewards, and/or gift card systems. Currently our designated vendor for these systems is SkyTab. As you acces
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
SHUCKIN SHACK FRANCHISING
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at Shuckin Shack Franchising is controlled at the headquarters level in North Carolina. The franchise currently mandates SkyTab as its point-of-sale system across its 18 total units (16 franchised, 2 company-owned). For software vendors, this represents a small but concentrated account with a single decision-making node and a clear technology mandate already in place.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
18
16 franchised
Unit growth YoY
0%
vs prior filing
AUV
$1.32M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
3.5%
of gross sales
Ad fund
1.5%
national + local
Initial fee
$45K
per unit
Investment range
$457K–$1.40M
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.
5%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
1 of these are mandated in the franchise agreement. Each is named in Item 11 of the filing, the incumbents a challenger must displace or integrate with.
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
32 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 2 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
At all times, Franchisee shall exclusively use the Business Management Systems designated by Franchisor, in Franchisor’s Reasonable Business Judgment, and as may be modified, supplemented or replaced by Franchisor from time to time.
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
We may designate ourselves and our affiliates as exclusive suppliers of source restricted goods and services.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
In 2019, we established a Franchise Advisory Council (the “FAC”).
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor, in Franchisor’s Reasonable Business Judgment, may from time to time modify the list of approved brands, suppliers and distributors of System Supplies and approved equipment, supplies and services to be utilized by the Franchised Business
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We and/or our affiliates may receive rebates, payments and other material benefits from suppliers based on your purchases and we reserve the right to institute and expand rebate programs in the future.
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?
85Item 8
approximately 85% to 95% 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 17 Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar FDD February 18, 2025 additional information, samples, and testing data that we may…
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
Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor, in Franchisor’s Reasonable Business Judgement, shall exclusively select the Reputation Management Services to be used by Franchisee and to determine and select the websites, social media sites, reporting services, surveys, and service platforms to be included in any evaluation and/or determination of…
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 44 Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar FDD February 18, 2025 without prior notice to Franchisee, to inspect Franchisee’s Restaurant.
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 Operations Manual.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
Although you are responsible for selecting a site for your Restaurant Location you must obtain our approval of your Restaurant Location.
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?
YesItem 7
You must spend a minimum of $1,500 prior to the opening your Restaurant to promote your grand opening.
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
On an on-going and monthly basis, you must spend not less than $500 per month on the local marketing of your Restaurant.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
participate in, offer, redeem, and honor, without the offset to any fees due to Franchisor, all Gift Card and customer loyalty programs designated by Franchisor
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesItem 11
If we elect to form a local or regional cooperative or if a cooperative already exists as to the area of your Restaurant, you will be required to participate in the cooperative in accordance with the provisions of our Operations Manual which we may supplement and modify from time to time.
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 may be integrated with the point of sale system that we designate.
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 bi-weekly and sent by ACH, electronic funds transfer, or as otherwise designated by Franchisor and shall be due on the Wednesday of each bi-weekly Accounting Period (for the preceding two week period and every two weeks thereafter throughout the entire Term of this Agreement) or such…
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesFranchise agreement
issue, sell, redeem, honor, and accept, without the offset to any fees due to Franchisor, all Gift Cards designated by Franchisor and participate in, offer, redeem, and honor, without the offset to any fees due to Franchisor, all Gift Card and customer loyalty programs designated by Franchisor
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
At all times, your Restaurant 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 8
Currently you are required to purchase, license and utilize a SkyTab point of sale system with at least one configured hardware terminal.
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 Franchisor, in Franchisor’s Reasonable Business…
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor provides instructors and training materials for those programs and seminars, but Franchisor reserves the right to assess Franchisee reasonable charges for such training.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall be required to pay to Franchisor an Annual Conference Attendance Fee.
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 Shuckin Shack
Shuckin Shack Franchising is a quick-service restaurant concept headquartered in North Carolina with 18 total units, 16 of which are franchised. The system generated an average unit volume of $1,315,675 in the most recent reporting period. For software vendors, the addressable market is small—just 18 locations across five states—but the concentration of decision-making at headquarters simplifies the sales process considerably. The franchise is independently owned with no parent company on file, meaning there is no larger enterprise hierarchy to navigate.
The unit footprint is heavily weighted toward North Carolina, which hosts 8 of the 18 locations. South Carolina follows with 3 units, while Illinois, Florida, and Georgia each have 2. All 19 mapped operators are single-unit franchisees; there are zero multi-unit operators in the system. This operator structure reinforces HQ as the sole locus of technology purchasing authority.
Who controls software purchasing
The executive team listed in Item 1 of the 2025 FDD includes Jonathan Weathington (Chief Executive Officer), Sarah Meriam (Chief Operating Officer), Darren Keeler (Vice President of Marketing and Creative), Patrick Conley (Development Coordinator), and Matthew Piccinin (Managing Member). For a software vendor, the most relevant contacts are likely CEO Jonathan Weathington and COO Sarah Meriam, who together form the operational and strategic core of the organization. There is no CIO, CTO, or VP of Technology named in the filing, which is consistent with a brand of this size where technology decisions roll up to the chief executive and chief operating officer.
Because every franchisee in the system is a single-unit operator, there is no multi-unit franchisee with independent purchasing power or the scale to negotiate separate technology agreements. Vendors should expect a top-down sales motion directed entirely at the HQ team in North Carolina.
Mandated and current tech stack
The only technology system explicitly mandated in the 2025 FDD is SkyTab, the point-of-sale platform. No other operational software—such as scheduling, inventory management, loyalty, or delivery integration—is listed as mandated or recommended. This does not necessarily mean the brand uses no other tools; it means the franchisor has not chosen to mandate or disclose additional systems in the FDD. For vendors selling complementary or adjacent software (e.g., labor scheduling, food cost management, or customer engagement platforms), the absence of a mandate represents an open field, though adoption would likely require winning over HQ first.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the formal procurement structure—whether the brand operates under a designated supplier model, an approved supplier list, or an open purchasing framework—is not publicly disclosed. Vendors should clarify this directly during initial conversations with the executive team.
Franchise agreements run for a 10-year initial term. Renewal conditions, detailed in Item 17, require the franchisee to be in compliance with the agreement, provide 180 days' prior written notice, sign the then-current form of Franchise Agreement, pay a renewal fee, remodel and upgrade the restaurant to current standards, and secure continued occupancy rights. The renewal agreement may contain terms materially different from the original, including updated technology requirements. These renewal windows, spaced a decade apart per unit, create periodic opportunities for technology shifts, though the small unit count means these events are infrequent at the system level.
How to read the Shuckin Shack FDD
The full 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is embedded below. For software vendors, the most relevant sections are Item 1 (executive team and brand history), Item 11 (mandated technology and supplier obligations), Item 8 (procurement restrictions, though absent in this filing), and Item 17 (renewal and transfer conditions that can trigger technology evaluations). Reviewing these sections will give you a clear picture of who buys, what is required, and when contract conversations are most likely to occur. For a ranked target list of franchise brands matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
SHUCKIN SHACK FRANCHISING, answered from the filing
The buying center is led by Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Weathington and Chief Operating Officer Sarah Meriam. With no multi-unit operators on file, all 16 franchisees are single-unit owners, making HQ the central point of control for technology decisions.
The 2025 FDD mandates SkyTab as the point-of-sale system. No other operational, scheduling, or inventory management systems are named as mandated or recommended in the disclosure document.
There are 18 total units: 16 franchised and 2 company-owned. The footprint is concentrated in North Carolina (8 units), with additional locations in South Carolina (3), Illinois (2), Florida (2), and Georgia (2).
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so the formal purchasing model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not disclosed in the most recent filing.
Franchise agreements carry a 10-year initial term. Renewals require 180 days' written notice and signing the then-current agreement. With no year-over-year unit growth data disclosed, specific renewal-driven windows are difficult to predict without direct outreach.
The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document was filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the full document using the embedded PDF viewer below this section.
Source
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Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
19 operators run 19 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit19
Top states by locations
| NC | 8 |
|---|---|
| SC | 3 |
| IL | 2 |
| FL | 2 |
| GA | 2 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.