FiservFiserv
Mandatory400 terminals. Optionally, the Verifone e285 mobile device can be used for line-busting if leveraged in the Unit. In addition, you must obtain credit card processing services from Fiserv. The fees/cos
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
Taco Bell Express
Quick service restaurantTaco Bell Express requires every restaurant to run the Annspire POS on Elo terminals, with Verifone payment terminals and Fiserv card processing, under an approved-supplier model set by the licensor, whose ultimate parent is YUM! Brands. Across 235 restaurants — 221 licensed and 14 company-operated — the technology mandate and the required delivery-platform programs named in the filing both trace back to headquarters rather than the individual unit.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
235
221 franchised
Unit growth YoY
—
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2026
Royalty
10%
of gross sales
Ad fund
—
national + local
Initial fee
$23K
per unit
Investment range
$288K–$858K
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Approved supplier
from the filing
Non-compete
1 years
from the filing
Item 19
No claims
from the filing
Ongoing fee load
What the operator pays every month
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing. It is a floor, not a total — the filing discloses one of the two headline fees.
10%+of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
2 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.
VerifoneVerifone
Mandatorynuary 1, 2026, exterior DMBs are required in all drive-thru Units except Units not on the Taco Bell technology stack. Kiosks Our kiosk system requires you to use EloTouch tablets, VeriFone payment ter
DoorDashDoorDash
he same terms as the contract under which we are bound. Third-Party Aggregator Programs TBC and its affiliates have entered into agreements with third-party aggregators, including DoorDash, Uber Eats/
GrubhubGrubhub
which we are bound. Third-Party Aggregator Programs TBC and its affiliates have entered into agreements with third-party aggregators, including DoorDash, Uber Eats/Postmates, and Grubhub, to provide U
PostmatesUber
contract under which we are bound. Third-Party Aggregator Programs TBC and its affiliates have entered into agreements with third-party aggregators, including DoorDash, Uber Eats/Postmates, and Grubhu
Uber EatsUber
rms as the contract under which we are bound. Third-Party Aggregator Programs TBC and its affiliates have entered into agreements with third-party aggregators, including DoorDash, Uber Eats/Postmates,
Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
18 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 13 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
8.2 The Annual Restaurant Reports referred to above shall include a balance sheet dated as of the end of the pertinent year and a profit and loss statement for such year, together with such additional financial information as the Company may reasonably request, all prepared in accordance with generally accepted…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We or our affiliates are an approved supplier of certain required Computer and Information Technology hardware.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 8
Franchisees who are stockholder members are entitled to elect 5 members of the Taco Bell Co-op Board of Directors (chosen by region); TBC is entitled to elect 2 members of the Board; and the Taco Bell Franchise Management Advisory Council (“FRANMAC”) is entitled to elect one Board member.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We reserve the right to change the approved Vendors and Distributors at any time and to designate ourselves, our affiliates, or a third party as an approved Vendor or Distributor or the exclusive approved Vendor or Distributor for any particular Product.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
Currently, Mastercard pays us and our affiliates an annual rebate based on the amount of payment processing fees paid on certain qualifying transactions at Taco Bell Units accepting Mastercard cards.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
We are prepared to consider applications for the approval of new Vendors and Distributors, as described below, and will notify the Vendor or Distributor of our approval or disapproval, in our sole discretion.
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
You are required to have on file with your bank, a current certificate of PCI compliance covering all of your Units.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
The Company shall have the right at any time and from time to time without notice to have its representatives enter the Restaurant premises for the purpose of inspecting the condition thereof and the operation of the Restaurant for compliance with the standards, specifications, requirements and instructions contained…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
The Company shall have the right at any time and from time to time, in the good faith exercise of its reasonable business judgment, consistent with the overall best interests of TACO BELL RESTAURANTS generally, to revise, amend, delete from and add to the System and the material contained in the Manual.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
If you and we do not agree on a site, you must not build.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase or lease certain products according to our specifications and from suppliers approved by us.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase or lease certain products according to our specifications and from suppliers approved by us.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
In addition, you must obtain credit card processing services from Fiserv.
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 6
All fees are uniformly imposed by us and are payable to us electronically via K-RISE, unless otherwise stated.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesItem 8
All Units must sell gift cards and accept gift cards as payment.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
The computer and electronic technology equipment used in the Unit, including computer and point of sale (“POS”) equipment, kitchen and credit card/gift card processing equipment, Digital Menu Board (“DMB”), Back of House (“BOH”) equipment, broadband internet access equipment and training access equipment, must meet…
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We can access the information stored in your system, and there is no contractual limitation on our right to do so.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
The Licensee and at least one Restaurant manager shall, from time to time as reasonably required by the Company, personally attend and complete a Company-provided refresher course in TACO BELL RESTAURANT operations.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?Item 8
- Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Item 12
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?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.
HQ leadership: CEO/President + VP Ops/Franchise + a first dedicated IT/systems owner.
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 Taco Bell Express
Taco Bell Express operates 235 restaurants: 221 licensed and 14 company-operated. Its ultimate parent is YUM! Brands, whose affiliates franchise Pizza Hut, KFC and Habit Burger Grill. The initial license term runs 10 years.
Who controls software purchasing
Officers named in the filing include CEO Sean Tresvant, President, North America Meghan Farren, Global Chief Financial, Strategy & Transformation Officer Neil Manhas, Global Chief Legal Officer Julie Davis, and Global Chief Food Innovation Officer Elizabeth Matthews. The mapped operator base includes 26 operators, 8 of them multi-unit, across roughly 126 located units, with Washington (2) the leading mapped state. The required POS and IT hardware stack, however, is set by the licensor's specifications and All Access Policy, not negotiated restaurant by restaurant.
Tech named in the FDD, and what is actually required
Item 11 requires the Annspire Point of Sale System (also known as Byte POS) on Elo cash register terminals, Verifone P400 payment terminals, and credit card processing services from Fiserv. The FDD also requires the TKDS system — touchscreen tablets and a kitchen controller, monitor and bump bar for the drive-thru — and, as of January 1, 2025, one Epson Line Printer TM-L9011-685 per production line for label printing. Each unit needs a computer or mobile tablet to access OneSource e-learning, and operators must maintain their POS and computer systems in good repair. Units must sign a managed broadband service contract with Comcast, the digital menu board system requires Stratacache enclosures, displays and media players, and HME Electronics is the approved vendor for drive-thru speed-of-service timers and headsets. Wasserstrom and RSCS Equipment Sales and Services are currently approved distributors for equipment, smallwares and certain computer and IT hardware. Participation in third-party aggregator programs with DoorDash, Uber Eats/Postmates and Grubhub is required.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
Taco Bell Express runs an approved-supplier list: franchisees must purchase or lease certain products to specification from approved suppliers, and Taco Bell Express or its affiliates are an approved supplier of required Computer and Information Technology hardware. Franchisees may propose an alternate vendor or distributor for approval. The initial term is 10 years, which anchors the recurring cycle for revisiting the mandated POS relationship.
How to read the Taco Bell Express FDD
The embedded PDF viewer below holds Taco Bell Express's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 11 sets out the POS and computer system requirements in full; Item 8 covers the approved-supplier rules. Talk to FranCloud for a ranked target list of Yum! Brands concepts with a shared technology mandate.
Questions vendors ask
Taco Bell Express, answered from the filing
Item 2 names CEO Sean Tresvant, Global Chief Financial, Strategy & Transformation Officer Neil Manhas and Chief Digital and Technology Officer Dane Mathews. The licensor sets its computer and technology equipment policies, so the required point-of-sale and IT hardware is not chosen by individual restaurant owners.
The FDD requires the Annspire (Byte) POS on Elo terminals, Verifone P400 payment terminals with Fiserv card processing, the TKDS kitchen display system with an Epson line printer per production line, a Comcast managed broadband contract, and a computer or tablet for OneSource e-learning. Participation in DoorDash, Uber Eats/Postmates and Grubhub programs is also required.
235 restaurants make up the system: 221 licensed and 14 company-operated. The ultimate parent is YUM! Brands, whose affiliates franchise Pizza Hut, KFC and Habit Burger Grill.
An approved-supplier list. Franchisees must purchase or lease certain products to specification from suppliers Taco Bell Express approves, including required Computer and Information Technology hardware supplied by the franchisor or its affiliates, and may propose an alternate supplier for approval.
The initial license term runs 10 years, which sets the baseline cycle for revisiting the required POS and IT hardware relationship with Fiserv and Verifone.
The embedded viewer below holds Taco Bell Express's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 11 covers the POS and computer system requirements; Item 8 covers the approved-supplier rules.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment Taco Bell Express files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
26 operators run 126 mapped locations. 8 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit18
2–9 units6
10–24 units1
25+ units1
Top states by locations
| WA | 2 |
|---|
Ownership
The portfolio behind Taco Bell Express
strategic_multibrand of Yum! Brands.
Sibling brands
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated September 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.