From the filings
The Red Bird is a quick-service restaurant brand with a small, entirely single-unit operator base. The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document does not name a centralized IT buyer or mandate specific technology systems, meaning purchasing decisions likely sit with individual franchisees. For software vendors, this represents a highly fragmented, 10-unit addressable market where each location may evaluate tools independently.
For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.
Live signals
Ongoing fee load
The recurring percentage of gross sales named in this filing, before rent, labour or any technology fee.
8%of gross sales (FY2025)
15% reference
Franchisor behaviours
20 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 3 explicit no's; 11 questions the text does not settle, which is not a no.
How the franchisor buys
Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?
YesItem 8
We are the only designated supplier for certain items (such as signs, sauce, seasoning, batter mix, and uniforms) that you must buy for the operation of your Franchised Business.
Does the franchisor reserve the right to change designated suppliers or systems at any time?
YesItem 8
We reserve the right, at our option, to periodically re-inspect the facilities and products of any approved supplier and to revoke our approval if the supplier does not continue to meet any of our then-current criteria.
How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?
0Item 8
We did not offer franchises before this disclosure document was issued and, in past years, have had no sales made (directly or through affiliates) to franchisees.
Does the franchisor or an affiliate receive rebates, commissions or other revenue from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
We have the right to collect and retain all manufacturing allowances, marketing allowances, rebates, credits, monies, payments, or benefits (collectively, “Allowances”) offered by suppliers to you or to us (or our affiliates) based upon your purchases of Products, equipment, and other goods and services.
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?
95Item 8
We estimate that your product purchases from approved suppliers and according to our specifications will represent approximately 95% of your total product purchases in establishing the Franchised Business, and approximately 95% in the continuing operation of the Franchised Business.
Does the franchisor charge a fee to evaluate a proposed supplier?
YesItem 8
Either you or the proposed new supplier must pay us a charge (which will not exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection and the actual cost of the tests).
Can a franchisee propose a new supplier for the franchisor's approval?
YesItem 8
If you want to buy any supplies, or any other items from an unapproved supplier, you first must submit to us a written request asking for our approval to do so.
Communications
Does the franchisor own or control the business telephone numbers, or take them over when the agreement ends?
YesFranchise agreement
We may designate, and own, the telephone numbers for your Franchised Business.
Franchise management
Does the franchisor conduct periodic inspections, audits or evaluations of the franchised business?
YesItem 8
You must allow us or our agents, at any reasonable time, to inspect the Franchised Business and to remove samples of items or products, without payment, in amounts reasonably necessary for inspection or testing by us or a third party to determine whether those samples meet our then-current standards and specifications.
Can the franchisor change the operations manual and brand standards unilaterally?
YesFranchise agreement
We may periodically revise the contents of the Brand Standards Manual, and you must consult the most current version and comply with each new or changed standard.
Must the franchisor approve the franchisee's site or location before opening?
YesItem 8
You must submit to us, in the manner we deem as appropriate, in the form we specify, a copy of the site plan and such other materials or information that we may require, together with an option contract, letter of intent, or other evidence satisfactory to us which confirms your favorable prospects for obtaining the…
Marketing
Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?
YesItem 8
You must spend at least $25,000 (but not more than $100,000) for initial opening marketing and promotional programs in conjunction with the Franchised Business’s soft opening and grand opening.
Operations
Must the franchisee buy products from a designated distributor?
YesItem 8
You must buy all Products, equipment, ingredients, supplies, materials, and other products used or offered for sale at the Franchised Business only from suppliers (including manufacturers, distributors, and other sources) that we have approved in writing.
Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?
YesItem 8
You must buy all Products, equipment, ingredients, supplies, materials, and other products used or offered for sale at the Franchised Business only from suppliers (including manufacturers, distributors, and other sources) that we have approved in writing.
Payments
Are royalties and other fees collected by automatic bank debit (ACH or electronic funds transfer) from the franchisee's account?
YesItem 8
We have the right to require that you make these payments to us by EFT (electronic fund transfer), including ACH. ď‚· We have the right to adjust, for inflation, all fixed dollar amounts under the Franchise Agreement for changes to the Index from the year when you sign your Franchise Agreement.
People
Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?
YesFranchise agreement
You must also employ a full-time Social Media Manager (“Social Media Manager”) that will assume responsibility for the Franchised Business’s social media presence.
Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?
YesItem 8
We are the only designated supplier for certain items (such as signs, sauce, seasoning, batter mix, and uniforms) that you must buy for the operation of your Franchised Business.
Point of sale
Must the franchisee use a specific point-of-sale system designated or approved by the franchisor?
YesFranchise agreement
“The Red Bird” Shop Point of Sale (POS) system consists of a hardware platform (including PC processor and peripheral hardware devices such as iPads, touch screens, printers, bar code readers, card readers, cash drawers, battery back-up, etc.) combined with POS software and connected to cloud-based back-end…
Training
Can the franchisor charge the franchisee for additional, refresher or remedial training?
YesFranchise agreement
Your Specially Trained Management Personnel may also be required to attend refresher courses, seminars, and other training programs that we may periodically specify.
Is attendance at an annual convention or conference mandatory for the franchisee?
YesItem 7
Convention The fee will be As incurred You must attend the conventions and Meeting determined at the and meetings that we periodically Fee time and will be a require, and must pay this fee (if we proportionate charge a fee) for each person who…
Who buys here
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.
The Red Bird operates as a quick-service restaurant brand with a footprint of 10 mapped locations across five states, according to FranCloud’s operator analysis. Illinois leads with two units, while California, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon each host one. Every mapped operator is a single-unit franchisee — there are zero multi-unit owners in the system. This structure means software vendors face a market of 10 independent buying points, not a consolidated HQ-driven procurement process.
For vendors accustomed to selling into franchised chains with centralized IT mandates, The Red Bird presents a different challenge. No parent company is on file, and the brand appears independently owned. The absence of a corporate layer means no top-down technology standards are imposed on franchisees. Each location likely selects its own point-of-sale, scheduling, inventory, or accounting tools based on local preference.
The 2025 FDD does not list any headquarters executives in Item 1. Without a named CIO, VP of Technology, or operations leadership, there is no identifiable central buyer. In practice, this means software purchasing authority is distributed across the 10 franchisees. Vendors should expect a direct, unit-by-unit sales motion rather than an enterprise deal negotiated at a corporate office.
This fragmentation can be both a hurdle and an advantage. The hurdle is scale: 10 units is a small total addressable market. The advantage is that each franchisee can adopt new tools without waiting for franchisor approval. If your software solves an acute operational pain point for a quick-service restaurant, you can prove value at a single location without navigating a formal vendor review process.
The 2025 FDD contains no mandated or recommended technology systems. No POS vendor, online ordering platform, payroll provider, or kitchen display system is named. This is unusual for franchise systems, where franchisors often standardize at least the point-of-sale to ensure consistent reporting and royalty collection.
The absence of a tech mandate suggests The Red Bird franchisees operate with full autonomy over their technology stack. For a software vendor, this means the installed base is unknown from public filings. Prospecting will require direct outreach to understand what tools each location currently uses and where gaps exist.
Item 8 of the 2025 FDD, which typically discloses designated or approved suppliers, did not yield an extract in FranCloud’s database. Without this signal, the procurement model remains uncharacterized. It is not publicly known whether franchisees must buy from specific vendors, choose from an approved list, or operate with complete purchasing freedom.
Similarly, Item 17 renewal terms and the initial franchise term length are not disclosed in the available data. Without a known contract duration or renewal window, vendors cannot time their outreach around upcoming expirations or mandatory refresh cycles. The 6.0% royalty rate is the only financial term captured, and it does not directly inform software sales timing.
The 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document is the primary source for understanding the legal and operational framework of The Red Bird franchise system. It contains the franchisor’s representations about fees, obligations, territory, and — critically for software vendors — any technology or supplier requirements imposed on franchisees. The embedded viewer below provides full access to the document.
When reviewing the FDD, pay close attention to Item 11 (franchisor assistance and technology obligations) and Item 8 (restrictions on sources of products and services). These sections reveal whether the franchisor mandates specific software or leaves purchasing decisions to franchisees. In The Red Bird’s case, both sections are silent, confirming the decentralized purchasing environment. For a ranked list of franchise systems where your software is the best fit, FranCloud can map the operator footprint and decision-maker structure across hundreds of brands.
Questions vendors ask
Every number on this page traces back to this document. Read it in full, page by page. Buy the original PDF to download, search, and annotate it.
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FDD alert
We’ll email you the moment The Red Bird files a new annual FDD, usually the freshest signal of a vendor change.
Operator footprint
7 operators run 7 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.
Operators by units owned
Top states by locations
| CA | 1 |
|---|---|
| AZ | 1 |
| IL | 1 |
| NY | 1 |
| TX | 1 |
Related Quick service restaurant brands
Primary franchise filings · updated June 2026. Every figure is source-traceable and QA-checked.