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From the filings
+2.74% units YoYOperator-led decisions
The Original Pancake House
Quick service restaurantThe Original Pancake House operates as a quick-service restaurant chain with 150 franchised locations and a single company-owned unit. The 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document does not identify specific HQ executives or mandated technology systems, leaving software purchasing authority decentralized. Vendors targeting this 151-unit system must navigate a franchisee-driven procurement environment with no named technology mandates on file.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Total units
151
150 franchised
Unit growth YoY
+2.74%
vs prior filing
AUV
—
Item 19, 2026
Royalty
2%
of gross sales
Ad fund
1%
national + local
Initial fee
$60K
per unit
Investment range
$483K–$1.67M
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, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
3%of gross sales (FY2026)
15% reference
Mandated & recommended tech
The systems vendors compete with
Systems named in Item 11 of this filing. None is recorded as mandated here, which is not the same as the filing mandating nothing. Read Item 11 before treating the category as open.
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Franchisor behaviours
What the franchisor requires
17 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 7 explicit no's; 10 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?
YesFranchise agreement
FRANCHISEE shall establish and maintain at FRANCHISEE’s own expense a bookkeeping, accounting, and recordkeeping system which shall conform to the requirements and formats that COMPANY may prescribe from time to time.
Must the franchisee submit periodic financial statements (monthly, quarterly or annual) to the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
FRANCHISEE shall furnish to COMPANY on such forms that COMPANY may prescribe from time to time: within ten (10) days after the end of each calendar month, a report on the RESTAURANT’s Gross Revenue for the previous calendar month; within fifteen (15) days after the end of each calendar month, a profit and loss…
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
You must purchase directly from us the Stabilizer Base that we require you to use in the preparation of pancakes and similar menu items.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 11
System Standards may be periodically modified by us in the Operating Manual or otherwise communicated to you in writing, and will constitute provisions of the Franchise Agreement.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
382326Item 8
In the year ending December 31, 2025, our revenue from our sale of products (including the Stabilizer Base) directly to franchisees was $382,326 or approximately 5.9% of our total revenue of $6,473,268.
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?
30Item 8
Your purchases of all specified items (from us or approved suppliers) will represent approximately 75% of your total purchases in connection with the establishment of your Restaurant, and 30% of your total purchases in connection with the operation of your Restaurant.
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you propose to use any brands, types, or models of fixtures, furnishings, equipment, signs, food products, materials and supplies which are regulated under the System Standards and which we have not previously approved, you must submit a written request to us for approval of such item and must submit a sample of…
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 him and COMPANY, COMPANY has the sole right to and interest in all telephone numbers and directory listings associated with any Mark.
Franchise management
Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?
YesFranchise agreement
FRANCHISEE shall present to FRANCHISEE’s customers such evaluation forms as COMPANY periodically prescribes and shall participate and/or request FRANCHISEE’s customers to participate in any surveys performed by or on behalf of COMPANY.
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesFranchise agreement
COMPANY shall have the right at any time during business hours, and without prior notice to FRANCHISEE, to inspect and audit, or cause to be inspected and audited, the business records, bookkeeping and accounting records, sales and income tax records and returns and other records of the RESTAURANT and the books and…
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesItem 11
System Standards may be periodically modified by us in the Operating Manual or otherwise communicated to you in writing, and will constitute provisions of the Franchise Agreement.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 11
You may not open the Restaurant until you are authorized to do so by us.
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 agrees not to establish or participate in the establishment or maintenance of any web site or social media regarding or relating to the RESTAURANT without the prior written consent of COMPANY, which shall be in the sole and complete discretion of COMPANY.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must purchase directly from us the Stabilizer Base that we require you to use in the preparation of pancakes and similar menu items.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must purchase directly from us the Stabilizer Base that we require you to use in the preparation of pancakes and similar menu items.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesItem 15
You also must designate an individual as the manager to provide on premises supervision of the Restaurant.
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesItem 11
We may charge you a reasonable fee for this training, but we do not currently impose any fee.
The filing answers no to 7 questions
- Does the franchisor have direct or independent electronic access to the franchisee's financial, sales or customer records?Item 11
- Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?Item 20
- Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?Item 8
- Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
- Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?Item 11
- Does the franchisor have independent access to the data in the franchisee's POS or computer system?Item 11
- Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?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 The Original Pancake House
The Original Pancake House presents a 150-unit addressable market for software vendors, with 150 franchised locations and a single company-owned unit. The brand grew units by 2.74% year-over-year, indicating modest but steady expansion. With no mandated technology systems disclosed in the 2026 FDD, the entire franchise base represents a greenfield opportunity for POS, payroll, scheduling, inventory management, and other operational software. The 2% royalty rate and 20-year initial franchise term suggest franchisees operate with relatively low franchisor overhead, which may translate into budget flexibility for technology investments.
Who controls software purchasing
The 2026 FDD does not list any HQ executives, and no operator footprint is mapped in available data. This absence of centralized leadership information, combined with the 150-to-1 franchised-to-company-owned ratio, points to a multi-unit operator (MUO) decision-making model. Individual franchisees likely control their own software stacks. Vendors should prepare for a decentralized sales process, targeting franchisees directly rather than expecting a top-down mandate from the Portland, Oregon headquarters. The lack of named decision-makers means prospecting requires building relationships at the store and regional level.
Mandated and current tech stack
No mandated or recommended technology systems are captured in the 2026 FDD. This means The Original Pancake House does not require franchisees to use specific POS, back-office, or customer-facing platforms. For software vendors, this open environment eliminates the barrier of displacing an incumbent mandated system. However, it also means there is no single integration point or franchisor-led rollout. Each franchisee may operate a different stack, requiring vendors to support varied environments and sell location by location.
Procurement, renewals, and timing
The FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement signal, so the franchisor's approach to designated versus approved suppliers remains undisclosed. In practice, this likely means franchisees source their own technology without franchisor interference. Renewal timing offers a strategic entry point: franchise agreements run 20 years, with renewal required in the 17th year. The renewal provision states that franchisees in good standing may renew for the then-offered franchise term with no initial franchise fee, but they must sign the current form of agreement, which may contain materially different terms. This forced renegotiation window creates a natural moment for franchisees to reassess their technology stack.
How to read the The Original Pancake House FDD
The 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document is the definitive source for understanding the franchisor-franchisee relationship at The Original Pancake House. Software vendors should focus on Item 11 for any technology obligations, Item 8 for procurement restrictions, and Item 17 for renewal conditions that signal when franchisees are contractually open to change. The embedded PDF viewer below provides the full document. For a ranked target list of franchise systems matched to your software category, FranCloud can help.
Questions vendors ask
The Original Pancake House, answered from the filing
The 2026 FDD does not list any HQ executives, so the buying center is unknown. With 150 franchised units and only one company-owned location, purchasing authority likely rests with individual franchisees rather than a centralized IT or procurement team.
The 2026 FDD does not capture any mandated or recommended technology systems, including POS. This suggests an open technology environment where franchisees select their own operational software without franchisor-imposed standards.
There are 151 total units in the US, consisting of 150 franchised locations and 1 company-owned restaurant. The brand operates in the quick-service restaurant segment with 2.74% year-over-year unit growth.
The 2026 FDD does not include an Item 8 procurement signal, so the designated versus approved supplier model is not disclosed. Vendors should assume an open procurement environment unless franchisees indicate otherwise during sales conversations.
Franchise agreements run for 20 years, with renewal required in the 17th year. Renewals require signing the then-current agreement, which may have materially different terms. This creates periodic reevaluation points where new software vendors could gain traction.
The 2026 FDD is filed with state franchise regulators. You can review the full document using the embedded PDF viewer below to analyze Item 11 technology disclosures, Item 8 procurement requirements, and Item 17 renewal conditions directly.
Source
Read the filing itself
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FDD alert
Tell me when this brand refiles.
We’ll email you the moment The Original Pancake House files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
Who runs the locations
76 operators run 87 mapped locations. 7 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Single-unit69
2–9 units7
Top states by locations
| IL | 20 |
|---|---|
| CA | 14 |
| FL | 10 |
| MN | 7 |
| IN | 4 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.