From the filings

HQ-led decisions

Taco John's International

Quick service restaurant

Taco John's International requires every restaurant to install a Point of Sale System the franchisor specifies from time to time, plus point-to-point encryption from an approved supplier for payment processing. Across 327 restaurants — 316 franchised and 11 company-owned — that technology decision, and most product purchasing, is set by headquarters under an approved-supplier list.

For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.

Live signals

Total units
327
316 franchised
Unit growth YoY
vs prior filing
AUV
$1.26M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
5%
of gross sales
Ad fund
4%
national + local
Initial fee
$40K
per unit
Investment range
$1.70M–$3.80M
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.

9%of gross sales (FY2026)

Ongoing fees: 9% of gross sales (FY2026)Royalty 5%, Ad fund 4%. Total 9% of gross sales. Drawn against a 15% reference scale.

15% reference

Royalty 5%Ad fund 4%

Franchisor behaviours

What the franchisor requires

25 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 4 explicit no's; 5 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.

Accounting

Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?

Yes

Franchise agreement

We have the right at any time during business hours to inspect, copy and audit, or cause to be inspected, copied and audited, the business records, bookkeeping and accounting records, sales and income tax records and returns, computer records and other records of the Restaurant and the books and records of you and…

Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?

Yes

Franchise agreement

the Net Sales of the Restaurant and a Profit and Loss Statement for the preceding month, and any other data, information, and supporting records concerning the operation and financial condition of the Restaurant that we reasonably require.

How the franchisor buys

Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?

Yes

Item 11

In addition to the NAC, we currently have one other committee (the “Advertising Production Committee” or “APC”) which is currently comprised of certain franchisees.

Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?

Yes

Franchise agreement

We can, after sixty (60) days’ advance written notice to you, replace this system entirely or designate a different provider of this or another system, and require you to subscribe, at your sole cost and expense, to the new service or provider we designate to obtain access to this or similar information, including…

Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?

Yes

Item 8

Other suppliers pay us Rebates based on the number of cases franchisees purchase.

Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?

Yes

Item 8

We reserve the right to charge the proposed supplier a fee (not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection and the actual cost of the testing) to make the evaluation.

Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?

Yes

Item 8

If you would like to purchase any items or services from an unapproved supplier, you must submit to us a written request for approval of the proposed supplier.

Data and IT

Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?

Yes

Item 11

Therefore, you must be PCI compliant by following and adhering to the then-current PCI DSS, currently found at www.pcisecuritystandards.org, or any similar or subsequent standard for the protection of cardholder data throughout the term of your Franchise Agreement.

Franchise management

Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?

Yes

Franchise agreement

You agree to present to your customers any evaluation forms we periodically prescribe and agree to participate and/or request your customers to participate in any surveys performed by or on our behalf.

Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?

Yes

Franchise agreement

We have the right at any time during business hours to inspect, copy and audit, or cause to be inspected, copied and audited, the business records, bookkeeping and accounting records, sales and income tax records and returns, computer records and other records of the Restaurant and the books and records of you and…

Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?

Yes

Franchise agreement

We shall have the right to add to and otherwise modify the Manuals from time to time, as we deem appropriate in our discretion, to improve the standards of service or product quality or the efficient operation of Taco John’s Restaurants, to protect or maintain the goodwill associated with the Marks, to meet…

Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?

Yes

Item 11

You may not execute a purchase agreement for a Proposed Site until you have provided us a copy of the purchase agreement and we have accepted the site and purchase agreement in writing.

Marketing

Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?

Yes

Item 11

We require you to spend a minimum of $25,000, but some franchisees may spend more depending upon local market circumstances.

Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?

Yes

Item 8

We require participation in our guest loyalty/rewards program, and you must participate in it in the manner we prescribe using the system we specify.

Operations

Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?

Yes

Item 8

You are required to purchase products and supplies distributed by our approved distributor and its affiliates.

Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?

Yes

Item 8

You must purchase all food products, beverages, menus, uniforms, paper and plastic products, packaging or other materials, utensils, cleaning supplies, and other supplies, equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other goods used in the operation of your Restaurant only from distributors and suppliers we have approved.

Payments

Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?

Yes

Item 8

We also require you to use our approved suppliers for point-to-point encryption (“P2PE”) solutions (hardware and software) that are used in cooperation with your Point of Sale System to provide secure and compliant payment processing services.

Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?

Yes

Item 6

We currently require that all fees due to us be paid directly and automatically from your bank account.

Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?

Yes

Item 8

You must participate in our gift card program by offering customers the ability to buy and make purchases with gift cards, using the system we specify (the “Gift Card System”).

People

Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?

Yes

Item 11

Two of your designees must be persons who will assume day-to-day management of the Restaurant (each a “Manager”).

Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?

Yes

Item 8

You must purchase all food products, beverages, menus, uniforms, paper and plastic products, packaging or other materials, utensils, cleaning supplies, and other supplies, equipment, furniture, fixtures, and other goods used in the operation of your Restaurant only from distributors and suppliers we have approved.

Point of sale

Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?

Yes

Item 11

You must purchase, from our approved vendor, and install the specific electronic cash register, freestanding kiosks, kitchen video monitors, receipt printers, drive-thru speed of service timing system, and headset system (collectively, the “Point of Sale System”) we specify from time to time

Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?

Yes

Item 11

You understand and agree that we have full rights and access to the information and data stored in your Point of Sale System.

Training

Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?

Yes

Item 11

You must pay us our then- current Additional Training and Conferences fee to attend such required or optional Ongoing Training Programs.

Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?

Yes

Item 11

We require you (or, if you are an entity, at least one of your owners), your Primary Contact, or your Above Store Leader to attend any convention or system-wide meeting of franchisees (collectively referred to as “Franchisee Convention”).

The filing answers no to 4 questions
  • Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?Item 8
  • Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?Item 11
  • Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?Franchise agreement
  • 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.

Sales LeaderRegional 100 499

HQ leadership: CEO/President + VP Ops/Franchise + a first dedicated IT/systems owner.

VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
  1. 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%.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 John's International

Taco John's International operates 327 restaurants: 316 franchised and 11 company-owned. Royalty runs at 5.0% of sales over a 20-year initial term. The 2026 FDD reports an Item 19 average of $1,260,890 in 2025 sales for the 248 traditional freestanding restaurants with drive-thru windows.

Who controls software purchasing

Officers named in the filing include President and Chief Executive Officer Heather Leed Neary, Vice President/Technology Thomas A. Perella, Jr. and Vice President/Supply Chain Nick Davis. The mapped operator base runs 124 operators, 19 of them multi-unit, across roughly 206 located units, led by Minnesota (50), Iowa (44), Nebraska (34), Montana (18) and Kansas (13). The franchise agreement's Point of Sale System and Computer System specifications are set and changed by Taco John's at its discretion, which keeps the core technology decision at headquarters even with a meaningful multi-unit operator base.

Tech named in the FDD, and what is actually required

Each restaurant must purchase, from an approved vendor, and install the specific Point of Sale System Taco John's specifies — an electronic cash register, freestanding kiosks, kitchen video monitors, receipt printers, a drive-thru speed-of-service timing system and a headset system. Restaurants must also purchase a dedicated iPad or Windows tablet or computer meeting the hardware and software specifications for the Learning Management System, and must use an approved supplier's point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution for secure payment processing in cooperation with the POS system. Restaurants must also license the required back of house information system, use the financial reporting system Taco John's designates, participate in the Gift Card System provided by its designated third-party supplier and the loyalty/rewards program, and buy exterior digital menu boards from the approved third-party supplier. Taco John's may change, upgrade or discontinue the required Point of Sale System and other Computer System elements at its discretion, and franchisees must comply within a reasonable time.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Taco John's runs an approved-supplier list: franchisees must purchase virtually all products and services from suppliers Taco John's approves, and the franchisor may designate a single supplier for certain products. Franchisees can request approval of an alternate supplier but cannot use one until it is approved. The initial term is 20 years; successor terms run 10 years each and require notice, correcting identified deficiencies, a remodel on the franchisor's timeline, completed training, and a renewal fee.

How to read the Taco John's International FDD

The embedded PDF viewer below holds Taco John's International's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 11 sets out the Point of Sale and Computer System requirements in full; Item 8 covers the approved-supplier rules. Talk to FranCloud for a ranked target list of quick-service brands with a franchisor-specified POS mandate.

Questions vendors ask

Taco John's International, answered from the filing

Taco John's specifies the Point of Sale System and approved suppliers system-wide. Officers named in the filing include President and Chief Executive Officer Heather Leed Neary, Vice President/Technology Thomas A. Perella, Jr. and Vice President/Supply Chain Nick Davis.
The FDD requires the franchisor-specified Point of Sale System (register, kiosks, kitchen video monitors, receipt printers, drive-thru timing and headset system), a dedicated iPad or Windows tablet or computer for its Learning Management System, and point-to-point encryption from an approved supplier.
327 restaurants make up the system: 316 franchised and 11 company-owned, as of December 31, 2025.
An approved-supplier list. Franchisees must buy virtually all products and services from suppliers the franchisor approves, and the franchisor may designate a single supplier for certain items, though franchisees can request approval of an alternate.
The initial term runs 20 years, with successor terms of 10 years each — a recurring point at which the required Point of Sale System and Computer System specification is likely to be revisited.
The embedded viewer below holds Taco John's International's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. Item 11 covers the Point of Sale and Computer System requirements; Item 8 covers the approved-supplier rules.
Source

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Taco John's International2026 FDDView only

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Ownership

The portfolio behind Taco John's International

unknown of woodson holmes enterprises.

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Primary franchise filings · updated September 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.