From the filings

HQ-led decisions

Taffer's Tavern

Quick service restaurant

Software purchasing at Taffer's Tavern is controlled at the corporate level by Founder, Chairman & CEO Jon Taffer and President Sean Walker. The franchise currently mandates Shift4 Payments, LLC and SimpleCharge for payment processing. With only 1 franchised unit reported in the 2025 FDD, the addressable market for new vendor adoption is extremely limited.

For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.

Live signals

Total units
1
1 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-75%
vs prior filing
AUV
$2.98M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
6%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2%
national + local
Initial fee
$50K
per unit
Investment range
$812K–$1.35M
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.

8%of gross sales (FY2025)

Ongoing fees: 8% of gross sales (FY2025)Royalty 6%, Ad fund 2%. Total 8% of gross sales. Drawn against a 15% reference scale.

15% reference

Royalty 6%Ad fund 2%

Mandated & recommended tech

The systems vendors compete with

4 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.

EcolabEcolab
Mandatory
Industry softwareItem 8

r most recent fiscal year end May 31, 2025, we derived revenues of $13,671.67, or 3.35% of our total revenues of $409,694 for these franchisee purchases from Shift4 Payments, LLC. EcoLab is a designat

POSiTouchPOSiTouch
Mandatory
POSItem 8

You must purchase the computer system hardware and software and your credit card processing from Shift4 Payments, LLC. You must also use PosiTouch for computer system support. Taffer’s Tavern FDD 2026

Shift4Shift4
Mandatory
PaymentsItem 8

ee. As of our most recent fiscal year end May 31, 2025, we derived revenues of $28,084.20, or 6.9% of our total revenues of $409,694 for these franchisee purchases from suppliers. Shift4 Payments, LLC

SyscoSysco
Mandatory
InventoryItem 8

the Creative Marketing Fee. As of our most recent fiscal year end May 31, 2025, we derived no revenue of our total revenues of $409,694 for these franchisee purchases from Singer. Sysco is a designate

FacebookMeta
MarketingItem 11

comments about the Franchised Business or the System, other than on a website established or authorized by us (“social media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare

InstagramMeta
MarketingItem 11

us (“social media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professional networks like LinkedIn; live-blogging tools like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and

LinkedInLinkedIn
MarketingItem 11

an on a website established or authorized by us (“social media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professional networks like LinkedIn; live-blogg

OpenTableOpenTable
BookingItem 7

is an estimate of your initial 3 months of operations for the computer system hardware and software from suppliers, which include Shift4Payments & POS, Restaurant365, Fusion Prep, OpenTable, Paytronix

PaytronixPaytronix
LoyaltyItem 7

ate of your initial 3 months of operations for the computer system hardware and software from suppliers, which include Shift4Payments & POS, Restaurant365, Fusion Prep, OpenTable, Paytronix and Waitbu

PinterestPinterest
MarketingItem 11

hised Business or the System, other than on a website established or authorized by us (“social media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professio

Restaurant365Restaurant365
AccountingItem 7

s. 8. Computer System. This is an estimate of your initial 3 months of operations for the computer system hardware and software from suppliers, which include Shift4Payments & POS, Restaurant365, Fusio

SnapchatSnapchat
MarketingItem 11

cludes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professional networks like LinkedIn; live-blogging tools like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat; virtual wo

TikTokTikTok
MarketingItem 11

l media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professional networks like LinkedIn; live-blogging tools like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat;

TwitterX
MarketingItem 11

orized by us (“social media” includes personal blogs, common social networks like Facebook, FourSquare and Pinterest; professional networks like LinkedIn; live-blogging tools like Twitter, Instagram,

Franchisor behaviours

What the franchisor requires

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?

Yes

Item 11

You must have the following system and applications and you must you the approved supplier listed in our Confidential Operations Manual: • general accounting system which we estimate will cost $3,500 initially and $289 to $489 monthly.

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

Yes

Item 11

The computer system will give us immediate and independent access to the information generated and stored by the system.

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

You shall, at your expense, submit to us, in the form prescribed by us, a profit and loss statement of the Franchised Business for each month (which may be unaudited) within fifteen (15) days after the end of each month during the term hereof.

How the franchisor buys

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

Yes

Item 11

The list of approved suppliers is subject to change during the term of your Franchise Agreement (Franchise Agreement, Article 7.4).

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

Yes

Item 8

We receive rebates from suppliers based on franchisee purchases.

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?

80

Item 8

approximately greater than 80% of your total purchases in the continuing operation of the Restaurant

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

Yes

Item 8

You or the supplier must reimburse our costs related to our evaluation of the proposed product or supplier, but not more than $2,500.

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

Yes

Item 8

If you wish to purchase, lease or use any unapproved products or other items, or obtain them from an unapproved supplier, you must submit a written request for approval or you must request the supplier to do so.

Communications

Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?

Yes

Franchise agreement

(i) to transfer all Franchisee’s interest in such Telephone Listings to Franchisor; and (ii) to execute such documents and take such actions as may be necessary to effectuate such transfer.

Franchise management

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

You shall participate in all customer surveys and satisfaction audits, which may require that you provide discounted or complimentary products, provided that such discounted or complimentary sales shall not be included in the Gross Sales of the Restaurant.

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

We or a supplier of ours will perform inspections of the Restaurant to and provide evaluations of the products sold and services rendered therein from time to time as reasonably determined by us, as more fully described in Section 7.5.6.

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

Yes

Item 14

We may revise the contents of the Manual and you must comply with each new or changed standard.

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

No site may be used for the location of the Franchised Business unless we have first approved the site request in writing, and as outlined above.

Marketing

Is the franchisee prohibited from operating its own website or social media accounts, or required to use pages the franchisor provides?

Yes

Item 11

You may not maintain your own website; otherwise maintain a presence or advertise on the internet or any other mode of electronic commerce in connection with your Restaurant; establish a link to any website we establish at or from any other website or page; or at any time establish any other website, electronic…

Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?

Yes

Item 11

You must spend a minimum of $10,000 on a grand opening advertising campaign to promote the opening of the Franchised Business.

Is the franchisee required to spend a minimum amount on local advertising or marketing, as a percentage of sales or a fixed amount?

Yes

Franchise agreement

you shall spend, throughout the term of this Agreement, a minimum of one percent (1%) of Gross Sales each month on advertising for the Restaurant in your Designated Territory (“Local Advertising”).

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

Yes

Item 11

You must have the following system and applications and you must you the approved supplier listed in our Confidential Operations Manual: • general accounting system which we estimate will cost $3,500 initially and $289 to $489 monthly. • recipe management system which we estimate will cost $100 monthly plus $35 per…

Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?

Yes

Item 11

If a Cooperative has been established for a geographic area where your Restaurant is located when the Franchise Agreement is signed, or if any Cooperative is established during the term of the Franchise Agreement, you must become a member of the Cooperative.

Operations

Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?

Yes

Item 8

You must purchase the computer system hardware and software and your credit card processing from Shift4 Payments, LLC.

Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?

Yes

Item 8

You will use only our proprietary recipes and other proprietary products and will purchase proprietary products only from us or from the supplier we designate.

Payments

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

Yes

Item 8

You must purchase the computer system hardware and software and your credit card processing from Shift4 Payments, LLC.

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

4.5 Payments to Us 4.5.1 By executing this Agreement, you agree that we shall have the right to withdraw funds from your designated bank account by electronic funds transfer (“EFT”) in the amount of the Royalty Fee, Worldwide Creative Marketing Fee and any other payments due to us and/or our affiliates.

Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?

Yes

Franchise agreement

To sell or otherwise issue gift cards or certificates (together “Gift Cards”) that have been prepared utilizing the standard form of Gift Card provided or designated by us, and only in the manner specified by us in the Manuals or otherwise in writing.

People

Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?

Yes

Item 15

During the entire term of the Franchise Agreement and any successor agreements, you must consistently employ a minimum of one General Manager and two Managers to be responsible for the supervision and management of the Restaurant.

Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?

Yes

Franchise agreement

your Franchised Business is authorized and required to offer; modifying or substituting entirely the building, premises, equipment, signage, trade dress, décor, color schemes and uniform specifications and all other unit construction, design, appearance and operation attributes which you are required to observe…

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 or lease and use an approved computer system (point-of- sale system, hardware and software) and related peripheral equipment such as iPads, smartphones and KDS screens that meets our specifications and that is capable of communicating electronically with our computer system.

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

Yes

Item 11

The computer system will give us immediate and independent access to the information generated and stored by the system.

Training

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

Yes

Item 11

We may charge a fee of up to $1,500 per person for refresher training program or the franchisee meeting.

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

Yes

Item 11

After the opening of the Restaurant, you must attend and successfully complete annual or periodic refresher training programs and attend annual meetings of our franchisees.

The filing answers no to 2 questions
  • Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?Item 8
  • Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?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 LeaderSingle 1 19

The franchisee/operator personally, or a small franchisor still owner-run. Wears every hat.

OwnerCEOPresidentPrincipal
  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. 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.
  3. 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 Taffer's Tavern

Taffer's Tavern presents a minimal addressable market for software vendors. The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document reports just 1 franchised unit, with company-owned unit counts undisclosed. This single unit generated an Average Unit Volume (AUV) of $2,976,994. However, year-over-year unit growth declined by 75%, signaling contraction rather than expansion. For a vendor, the total potential deal size is capped at this one location, unless the franchisor initiates a new growth phase not yet reflected in the FDD.

Who controls software purchasing

Purchasing authority is concentrated at the headquarters level. Jon Taffer, the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, alongside Sean Walker, President of Taffer Inc., are the primary decision-makers. Other executives listed in Item 1 include Jeana Legarda (Vice President), Joshua Halpern (Chief Business Officer), and Gregg Majewski (Manager at Craveworthy LLC). Given the single-unit footprint, any software evaluation or procurement decision will almost certainly require direct engagement with this corporate leadership team.

Mandated and current tech stack

The franchise system mandates two specific technology vendors. Shift4 Payments, LLC is required for payment processing, and SimpleCharge is mandated, likely for credit card surcharging compliance. No other point-of-sale, back-office, or operational technology systems are disclosed as mandated or recommended in the FDD. This leaves potential whitespace for vendors in areas like inventory management, labor scheduling, or customer engagement, but the lack of a multi-unit base makes a system-wide deployment unlikely without a strategic shift from the franchisor.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Procurement rules are not detailed in the FDD. Item 8, which typically outlines designated supplier criteria and purchasing cooperatives, contains no extract. This absence of data means a vendor cannot determine if the franchisee has autonomy to select non-mandated technology or if all purchases must flow through corporate approval. Regarding contract timing, the initial franchise agreement runs for 10 years. Renewal is possible for an additional 10-year term, contingent on good standing, payment currency, and potentially a store renovation. Critically, the successor agreement may contain materially different terms, and the franchisor retains sole discretion to withdraw from the geographic area.

How to read the Taffer's Tavern FDD

The 2025 FDD is the primary source for this analysis. It reveals a nascent franchise system with a single operator in Illinois and one mapped unit in Nevada. The document lists no parent company, indicating independent ownership. For vendors, the FDD confirms a highly centralized buying center but offers limited visibility into non-mandated technology stacks or procurement processes. Review the full document below to verify unit counts, executive roles, and contractual obligations before committing sales resources. For a ranked target list of franchise systems with stronger unit economics and growth trajectories, FranCloud can provide data-driven recommendations.

Questions vendors ask

Taffer's Tavern, answered from the filing

Jon Taffer (Founder, Chairman & CEO) and Sean Walker (President of Taffer Inc.) are the key executives. Decisions are centralized given the single-unit franchise system.
The 2025 FDD mandates Shift4 Payments, LLC for payment processing and SimpleCharge. No other operational or POS systems are disclosed as mandated.
There is 1 franchised unit. The number of company-owned units is not disclosed. Total units stand at 1, with a -75% year-over-year unit growth rate.
The procurement model is not disclosed in the most recent FDD. Item 8 provides no extract regarding designated or approved supplier requirements.
The initial franchise term is 10 years. Renewal is possible for another 10 years if in good standing, but the franchisor may require store renovations and a new agreement with materially different terms.
The FDD is filed with state franchise regulators in 2025. You can review the embedded PDF viewer below for the full legal disclosure document.
Source

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The brands you can actually sell into, from the filings.

Operator footprint

Who runs the locations

2 operators run 2 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.

Operators by units owned

Single-unit2

Top states by locations

IL1
NV1

Related Quick service restaurant brands

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