From the filings
Steelbound Brewery & Distillery operates as a small, independently owned full-service restaurant franchise. The most recent 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) does not disclose a headquarters location, named executives, or mandated technology systems. With only 3 mapped operator locations, the addressable market for software vendors is extremely limited, and purchasing decisions likely rest with the individual unit operators.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Franchisor behaviours
19 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 12 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
Accounting
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Submit to Franchisor, monthly, quarterly, and/or annual financial reports including balance sheets, cash flow statements, Gross Profits, and other reports as required by Franchisor.
How the franchisor buys
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 1
We may revoke our approval of any previously approved supplier at any time if the quality of the product or the supplier's financial condition or ability to satisfy your requirements do not continue to meet our satisfaction.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may charge a reasonable fee for inspection, review, and approval of suppliers.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesFranchise agreement
If Franchisee desires to purchase any items from an unapproved supplier, Franchisee shall submit to Franchisor a written request for such approval or shall request the supplier itself to do so.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
At the option of Franchisor, assign to Franchisor or Franchisor’s designee all of Franchisee’s rights, title and interest in and to any and all (i) telephone numbers of Franchisee’s franchise and all related Yellow Pages, White Pages and other business listings
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
To ensure compliance with this Agreement and System Standards, Franchisor or its designated agents have the right, at any reasonable time and without prior notice, to (i) inspect the Franchised Business;
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
C. Modification Franchisor shall have the right to add to or otherwise modify the Operating Manual from time to time to reflect changes in any of the System Standards, provided that no such addition or modification shall alter Franchisee’s fundamental status and rights un der this Agreement.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall solely operate the Franchised Business from a real property space (the Site) that is approved by and meets Franchisor’s then-current site requirements and is identified in Exhibit 2 to this Agreement.
Marketing
Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall not establish a separate Website or Social Media account or page without Franchisor’s prior written approval.
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
It is required that Franchisee spends at least $500 per month for Local Advertising to generate public interest and awareness of the Franchised Business and to adequately penetrate the market for Franchisee’s products and services within Franchisee’s trading area.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee agrees to participate in and fully comply with any customer warranty or guaranty, or customer satisfaction program Franchisor may establish from time to time.
Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?
YesFranchise agreement
If a Cooperative for the geographical area in which the Franchised Business is located is established during the term of this Agreement, Franchisee shall immediately become a member of the Cooperative and take all steps necessary to become a member.
Operations
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall purchase and install, at Franchisee’s expense, all fixtures, furnishings, signs, communication and information system, and other equipment as may be specified by the System Standards from time to time; and shall not permit the installation of any fixtures, furnishings, signs, communication and…
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee agrees to remit fees and any other amounts due to Franchisor hereunder via electronic funds transfer or other means as Franchisor may stipulate.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
C. Franchised Business Staff Franchisee shall maintain a competent, conscientious, trained staff (who shall have been adequately trained per Franchisor Standards) in numbers sufficient to service customers promptly and properly, including at least a trained manager (or other trained s upervisory
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisee shall lease and/or purchase its communication and information system only from Franchisor Approved vendor or vendors or suppliers.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesFranchise agreement
permit Franchisor to access Franchisee’s communication and information system at all times via modem or other means specified by Franchisor from time to time.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor reserves the right to charge a fee for a refresher, remedial, and additional training it provides.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesFranchise agreement
Franchisor may require Franchisee (or if Franchisee is other than an individual, the Designated Manager) to attend a regional or national meeting of Steelbound Brewery & Distillery franchisees at a location within the United States designated by Franchisor.
Steelbound Brewery & Distillery represents a micro-cap opportunity for software vendors. FranCloud has mapped just 3 operator locations across three states—Florida, New York, and Georgia. All three are single-unit operators, with zero multi-unit franchisees on file. The brand is classified as a full-service restaurant and appears to be independently owned, with no parent company disclosed in the 2023 FDD. Year-over-year unit growth is not disclosed, but the current footprint suggests a static or very slowly growing system. For a software vendor, the total addressable market here is effectively 3 units, making this a low-volume, high-touch sales environment. There is no average unit volume (AUV) data available to size the per-location wallet.
The 2023 FDD does not list any headquarters executives in Item 1. No CEO, CIO, VP of Technology, or operations leadership is on file. This absence of a disclosed corporate team, combined with the operator footprint showing only single-unit franchisees, strongly indicates that software purchasing is decentralized. Each of the three known operators likely makes independent decisions about their point-of-sale, payroll, inventory, and other operational software. There is no multi-unit operator to leverage for a scaled deal. A vendor's sales motion here must target individual owner-operators directly, as there is no franchisor-level buying center to engage.
The 2023 FDD provides no information on mandated or recommended technology systems. No POS vendor, online ordering platform, or back-of-house system is named. This is not unusual for a franchise system of this size, where the franchisor may not have the infrastructure to negotiate and enforce system-wide technology standards. In the absence of mandates, each of the three locations is likely using a mix of consumer-grade or locally chosen solutions. For a software vendor, this means there is no incumbent to displace at the brand level, but also no centralized path to a system-wide rollout. Every sale is a one-off.
Procurement signals are thin. The FDD does not include an extract for Item 8, which would typically outline designated or approved suppliers. This lack of data reinforces the picture of an open, operator-driven procurement model. Similarly, Item 17 renewal terms, initial franchise term length, and royalty rates are all not disclosed in the available data. Without a franchisor mandate or a renewal cycle, there are no system-wide contract windows to target. Software vendors should approach this as a series of independent sales to small businesses, with timing dictated by each operator's immediate pain points rather than a corporate calendar.
The 2023 Franchise Disclosure Document is the foundational legal filing for this brand. While our extracts show significant gaps in the data—no named executives, no tech mandates, and no financial performance representations—the full PDF contains the complete legal text. Vendors should review Item 1 for any business experience disclosures that might hint at a management structure, and Item 11 for any franchisor obligations around technology that may not have been captured as a named system. The embedded viewer below provides the full document. For software sales teams, the key takeaway is clear: this is a decentralized, three-unit system where every purchasing decision happens at the store level. If your solution drives clear ROI for a single full-service restaurant, these operators are accessible, but the total opportunity is small. For a ranked list of higher-volume franchise targets, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
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FDD alert
We’ll email you the moment Steelbound Brewery & Distillery files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
3 operators run 3 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Top states by locations
| FL | 1 |
|---|---|
| NY | 1 |
| GA | 1 |
Related Full service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.