OpenTableOpenTable
Mandatorymanufacturer we designate. You must purchase credit card processing through our required third-party vendor, Toast POS. You must use our approved restaurant reservation provider, OpenTable. Once your
From the filings
HQ-led decisions
The Melting Pot
Quick service restaurantSoftware purchasing at The Melting Pot is controlled at the headquarters level, with the franchisor mandating specific systems like OpenTable. The chain operates 89 total units (85 franchised, 4 company-owned) across a footprint concentrated in Texas, Virginia, and Tennessee. For vendors, this means a single, centralized sales motion into a small but high-AUV brand with a clear tech mandate already in place.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
89
85 franchised
Unit growth YoY
-2.299%
vs prior filing
AUV
$2.17M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
5%
of gross sales
Ad fund
2.2%
national + local
Initial fee
$45K
per unit
Investment range
$1.62M–$2.74M
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.
7.2%of gross sales (FY2026)
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
30 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 1 question 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?
YesItem 11
We have independent access to the information generated and stored on the computer system, including financial data, and there is no contractual limitation on our right to access this information.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
FRANCHISEE shall furnish to COMPANY the following: (1) within 14 calendar days after the end of each reporting period: (a) a statement relating to his Gross Revenues for that reporting period, and (b) a profit and loss statement for the Restaurant for that reporting period; (2) within 30 calendar days after the end…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We currently are the only approved supplier of our proprietary fondue forks, fondue pots and fondue pot safety devices used in the transport of hot fondue pots.
Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?
YesItem 11
While there is not a council composed of franchisees dedicated solely to advertising, we have voluntarily established a franchisee advisory council known as the “Strategic Partnership Committee” (“SPC”) which addresses matters of interest to the MELTING POT Restaurant System, including marketing.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY may from time to time modify the list of approved brands and/or suppliers, and FRANCHISEE shall not, after receipt in writing of such modification, reorder any brand or from any supplier which is no longer approved.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
9915Item 8
In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, our revenues from the sale of items to franchisees were $9,915, which represents 0.04% of our total revenues of $26,124,689
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We negotiate with manufacturers to receive rebates on certain items you must purchase.
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?
10Item 8
Required purchases from approved suppliers, including us, represents approximately 32% of your total purchases in connection with the establishment of your Restaurant and approximately 10% of your overall purchases in operating the Restaurant.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY may charge a fee for evaluating alternative brands and/or suppliers, not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection or actual cost of testing.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you want to use any item that does not comply with our specifications or is to be purchased from a supplier that has not yet been approved, you must first submit sufficient information, specifications and samples for our determination whether the item complies with our specifications or the supplier meets approved…
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
FRANCHISEE acknowledges that as between COMPANY and FRANCHISEE, COMPANY has the sole right to and interest in all telephone numbers and directory listings associated with the Marks
Data and IT
Must the franchisee comply with PCI, data-security or cybersecurity standards set by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
The computer system, as a whole, must be compliant with the standards created by the PCI Security Standards Council, including new or modified requirements.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 11
inspect and observe the operations of the Restaurant periodically to assist you in complying with the Franchise Agreement and other aspects of our system.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY shall have the right from time to time to add to, and otherwise modify, the System Standards Manual to reflect changes in prescribed and approved products and services, as well as changes in mandatory and suggested formats, specifications, standards, methods and procedures for MELTING POT Restaurants.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You must obtain our prior written approval in advance of the opening of the Restaurant.
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 may not establish or maintain any social media sites utilizing any user names, or otherwise associating with the Marks, without COMPANY'S advance written consent.
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
As of the date of this disclosure document, we require that you spend 1.5% of your annual Gross Revenues for Local Advertising efforts; however, on June 1, 2026 it will decrease to 1.8%.
Must the franchisee participate in a customer loyalty or rewards program?
YesItem 11
You must participate, at your expense, in these programs in accordance with the terms and conditions that we establish for such programs.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase all meats, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish, proteins, dairy products, canned goods, dry goods, spices, produce items (which may or may not be part of nationwide buying program), supplies, and other items you use and sell at and from your Restaurant through our approved suppliers or distributors.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase or lease and use only such equipment and supplies as we may specify or approve and method that we prescribe.
Payments
Must the franchisee use a payment processor or merchant-services provider designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase credit card processing through our required third-party vendor, Toast POS.
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY has implemented an electronic funds transfer system, commonly referred to as “ACH”, for payment of the royalty and service fees, Brand Development Fund Contributions and other payments required to be paid to COMPANY.
Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?
YesFranchise agreement
If COMPANY designates that it or its designee shall process gift card transactions for MELTING POT® Restaurants during the Term, FRANCHISEE agrees to use the service provided or designated by COMPANY to process all gift card transactions for the Restaurant.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 11
1. Employ a 3-person (or 4-person if your Restaurant exceeds $2,000,000 in sales volume) qualified management team to manage the Restaurant – 1 will be the General Manager, and 2 to 3 will be the Assistant Managers, one whose primary, but not exclusive, duties will include all responsibilities where guests are…
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase various promotional items and uniforms for your staff from a manufacturer we designate.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 11
We require you to purchase a POS system for your Restaurant from our preferred vendor.
Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?
YesItem 11
We have independent access to the information generated and stored on the computer system, including financial data, and there is no contractual limitation on our right to access this information.
Sales and CRM
Must the franchisee use a CRM system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase various marketing, website, search engine optimization, customer relationship management, social networking, wireless services, firewall, compliance security, and brand development products, services and/or software from the approved supplier.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY may charge FRANCHISEE a reasonable fee and the cost of training materials for each such person attending, and COMPANY need not refund all or any portion of the fee if FRANCHISEE or its representative fails to attend.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesItem 11
At least one franchisee with 10 percent or greater ownership who is involved in the operation of the restaurant is required to attend any annual brand conference or event hosted by the franchisor and may represent up to three locations.
The filing answers no to 3 questions
- Must the franchisee use an accounting or bookkeeping system designated or approved by the franchisor?Item 8
- Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Item 7
- Must the franchisee participate in a regional advertising cooperative when one exists?Franchise agreement
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 franchisor's owner/CEO decides; an ops or franchise-development lead may evaluate.
VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
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- 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 The Melting Pot
The Melting Pot operates 89 total locations—85 franchised and 4 company-owned—according to its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document. The brand posted an average unit volume of $2,168,708, with a 5.0% royalty rate and a standard 10-year initial franchise term. Year-over-year unit growth was -2.3%, signaling a slight contraction in the system. For software vendors, the addressable market is capped at these 89 units, concentrated in Texas (8), Virginia (6), Tennessee (5), Pennsylvania (5), and Washington (4). All 50 mapped operators in the FDD are single-unit franchisees; no multi-unit operators appear in the disclosure. This fragmented operator base means any technology sale must align with a franchisor that mandates or recommends systems from the top down.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2026 FDD names Scott Pierce as the registered agent for service of process, but no chief information officer, chief technology officer, or head of procurement is listed in Item 1. The absence of a named technology executive does not mean purchasing is decentralized. The franchisor mandates OpenTable for reservations, which signals that core technology decisions are made at headquarters. Vendors should prepare to engage the corporate office in Florida, where the brand is based, and expect a centralized evaluation process for any system that touches operations or guest experience. Without a disclosed parent company, The Melting Pot appears independently owned, so there is no larger enterprise hierarchy to navigate.
Mandated and current tech stack
The only technology system explicitly mandated in the 2026 FDD is OpenTable by OpenTable, Inc., covering the reservation function. No point-of-sale, back-office, labor scheduling, inventory management, or loyalty platform is disclosed as mandated or recommended in Item 11. This does not mean those systems are absent—only that the franchisor has not chosen to list them as required or suggested in the disclosure. For a vendor selling adjacent or replacement software, the OpenTable mandate is both a constraint and a signal: the brand is willing to standardize on a single vendor for a mission-critical function, and any pitch should acknowledge that existing relationship.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 extract, so the procurement model—whether designated supplier, approved supplier, or open—is not publicly disclosed. Renewal terms are clearer. A franchisee in good standing can obtain a successor franchise for a successive 10-year term by giving written notice no later than the 16th month and no sooner than the 19th month before expiration, meeting with franchisor representatives at headquarters, maintaining or securing substitute premises, remodeling, signing a new franchise agreement and related agreements, and paying a successor fee. This structured renewal window creates a natural point when franchisees may evaluate new technology, but with negative unit growth, the volume of renewals may be modest. Vendors should monitor the system’s unit count trajectory to gauge the pipeline of renewal-driven evaluations.
How to read the The Melting Pot FDD
The full 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document for The Melting Pot is embedded below. It contains the franchisor’s audited financials, the franchise agreement, and the Item 11 technology disclosures referenced throughout this page. For software vendors, the most relevant sections are Item 11 (mandated systems), Item 8 (procurement restrictions, though absent here), and Item 17 (renewal and transfer conditions). The document is filed with state franchise regulators and represents the most current public disclosure available. Review it to validate the unit counts, executive names, and technology mandates before building your sales case. When you are ready to prioritize franchise brands by tech mandate, decision-maker concentration, and unit growth, FranCloud can generate a ranked target list for your software category.
Questions vendors ask
The Melting Pot, answered from the filing
The FDD lists only Scott Pierce as registered agent for service of process. No CIO or technology buyer is named, but the franchisor mandates systems, indicating HQ controls core software decisions.
The 2026 FDD mandates OpenTable by OpenTable, Inc. for reservations. No POS or other operational systems are disclosed as mandated or recommended in Item 11.
89 total units as of the 2026 FDD: 85 franchised and 4 company-owned. The brand saw a -2.3% year-over-year unit change.
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement extract, so whether the brand uses designated suppliers, approved suppliers, or an open model is not disclosed.
Franchise agreements run 10 years. Renewal requires notice between months 16 and 19 before expiration. With recent negative unit growth, renewal-driven tech evaluations may be limited.
The 2026 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the embedded PDF viewer below for the full disclosure document.
Source
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment The Melting Pot files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
50 operators run 50 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit50
Top states by locations
| TX | 8 |
|---|---|
| VA | 6 |
| TN | 5 |
| PA | 5 |
| WA | 4 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.