From the filings

Mandated tech stackHQ-led decisions

Tommy's Express

Home services

Tommy's Express's Franchise Agreement requires locations to run a franchisor-designated Computer System, with affiliate TCWS as the sole approved supplier of the point-of-sale and vacuum-vending systems. The brand franchises 244 of its 260 US car wash locations under Tommy Enterprises.

For software vendors selling into US franchise brands.

Live signals

Total units
260
244 franchised
Unit growth YoY
vs prior filing
AUV
$1.71M
Item 19, 2025
Royalty
4%
of gross sales
Ad fund
1%
national + local
Initial fee
$50K
per unit
Investment range
$6.79M–$8.10M
all-in, Item 7
Procurement
Franchisor controlled
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.

5%of gross sales (FY2026)

Ongoing fees: 5% of gross sales (FY2026)Royalty 4%, Ad fund 1%. Total 5% of gross sales. Drawn against a 15% reference scale.

15% reference

Royalty 4%Ad fund 1%

Franchisor behaviours

What the franchisor requires

29 requirements the franchisor states in this filing, each in its own words; 1 explicit no; 4 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

Item 11

We will have full independent access to the information contained in your computer system at all times during the term of your Franchise Agreement, including the ability to download information relating to sales, and sales-based data pertaining to business operations.

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

a statement of profit and loss for that month within twenty (20) days after the end of each calendar month

How the franchisor buys

Is the franchisor or an affiliate itself a supplier of required products, services or systems?

Yes

Item 8

Currently, our affiliate, TCWS, which is wholly owned by TEI, is the sole approved supplier of the proprietary Tommy's equipment package, Tommy's vacuum and vending system and Tommy's point of sale system, all of which are required for operation of your Tommy's Business.

Is there a franchisee advisory council, association or committee?

Yes

Item 11

We have an Advisory Council that serves to represent the franchise community and provides advisory consultation on the System, products and services offered by Tommy's Businesses, advertising conducted by the Brand Development Fund, and any other matters that we deem appropriate.

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

Yes

Item 11

We can require you to change the hardware and software you use for your Tommy's Business.

How much revenue did the franchisor and its affiliates earn from franchisee purchases in the last fiscal year?

109950000

Item 8

During our fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, our affiliate, TCWS derived $109,950,000, or 71.3% of its total revenue, as revenue from the sale of the required purchases or leases listed above.

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

Yes

Item 8

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, we earned $1,100,000 in revenue in the form of rebates or other payments based on required purchases made from our approved supplier TCWS.

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?

60

Item 8

All of your required purchases represent approximately 45% to 60% of your total purchases in connection with the establishment of your Tommy's Business, and approximately 60% of your overall purchases in operating the Tommy's Business.

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

Yes

Item 8

You must reimburse the costs we incur in making this determination, but not more than $2,000 per request.

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

Yes

Item 8

If you want to use any product, material or render any service that does not comply with the standards of the System or is to be purchased from a supplier that has not yet been approved, you must first submit a written request for approval of the proposed product or supplier and obtain our approval of the product or…

Communications

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

13.3 Cancellation of Assumed Names; Transfer of Online Presence and Phone Numbers

Franchise management

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

Yes

Franchise agreement

We or our representatives or agents shall have the right at any time during normal business hours, and without prior notice to you, to inspect, copy, request, receive and/or audit or cause to be inspected, copied, requested, received and/or audited the business records, bookkeeping and accounting records, sales…

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

Yes

Item 11

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

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

Yes

Item 12

The Franchise Agreement grants you the right to operate your Tommy's Business only at the location we approve.

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 must not establish a separate Online Presence related to Tommy's Express or your Tommy's Business without our prior written approval (which we shall not be obligated to provide).

Is a minimum grand opening advertising spend required?

Yes

Item 11

You must spend at least $15,000 (but no more than $20,000) to support early site performance and grand opening marketing, promotions, and events.

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

Yes

Item 11

You will agree to spend at least 2% of Gross Sales each month on marketing and promotion of your Tommy's Business, which is in addition to the 1% of Gross Sales contributed to the Brand Development Fund.

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 Tommy's Business 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

Franchise agreement

You must purchase all products, materials, and supplies only from distributors and other suppliers approved by us from time to time.

Must equipment be purchased from designated or approved suppliers?

Yes

Item 8

You are required to purchase all detergents, chemicals, solutions, uniforms, items for retail sales, parts and new or replacement equipment (car wash and/or technology) from TCWS, and we may earn a profit on your purchases.

Payments

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

Yes

Item 8

You must have the point of service, payment processing and other electronic transactional systems set forth in our Franchise Operations Manual or as otherwise designated by us.

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

Yes

Item 6

We have the right, and you agree, that we may debit your designated EFT account for payments that are 60 days past due to Tommy's, our affiliates or approved suppliers.

Must the franchisee participate in a gift card program?

Yes

Franchise agreement

You shall participate in our gift card and TommyClub programs.

People

Does the franchisor require minimum staffing levels or specific roles?

Yes

Franchise agreement

You shall always maintain a sufficient number of trained employees to service your customers, but at least the minimum number specified by us.

Must employees wear uniforms specified by the franchisor?

Yes

Item 8

You are required to purchase all detergents, chemicals, solutions, uniforms, items for retail sales, parts and new or replacement equipment (car wash and/or technology) from TCWS, and we may earn a profit on your purchases.

Point of sale

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

Yes

Item 11

Your computer system must have the hardware and software designated in our Franchise Operations Manual.

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

Yes

Item 11

We will have full independent access to the information contained in your computer system at all times during the term of your Franchise Agreement, including the ability to download information relating to sales, and sales-based data pertaining to business operations.

Training

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

Yes

Item 11

Provide additional or refresher training programs, seminars, franchisee meetings and other related activities regarding the operation of the Tommy's Business as we may conduct for you or Tommy's personnel generally, and which may be mandatory for you, your manager and other employees (Franchise Agreement – Section…

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

Yes

Item 11

We may hold franchise wide or regional franchisee meetings from time to time at our Headquarters in Holland, Michigan, or another location to be determined, which a Controlling Principal must attend.

The filing answers no to 1 question
  • Must the franchisee participate in a customer-satisfaction or net-promoter survey program?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.

Sales LeaderRegional 100 499

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

VP SalesHead of SalesCROSales Director
  1. 95.3% of home services brands mandate no POS, leaving a massive whitespace for tech vendors to target before competitors catch on.By identifying the 525 brands with no mandated POS, your sales team can prioritize high-fit targets and cut prospecting waste by 40%, converting weeks of manual research into a single query that surfaces ready-to-sell accounts.
  2. Teams spend weeks manually combing through FDDs to assess unit counts and financials across 554 active home services brands.Replacing manual FDD research with instant corpus search saves 15+ hours per brand evaluation, allowing your team to assess 10x more targets and accelerate pipeline velocity by 30%.
  3. Without instant access to AUV data, you cannot gauge franchisee ROI or brand health across 239 disclosed home services brands.Seeing median AUV of $661,803.61 at a glance lets you prioritize brands with strong unit economics, increasing win rates by focusing on financially healthy targets and avoiding low-ROI pursuits.

The vendor opportunity at Tommy's Express

Tommy's Express franchises 244 of its 260 US locations, with 16 company-owned, in the home-services segment. The initial franchise term runs 20 years — unusually long — so a technology decision made at build-out tends to stick. Tommy's Express operates under Tommy Enterprises.

Who controls software purchasing

Alex Lemmen is Chief Executive Officer of Tommy's Express, and Andrew VanWylen serves as Chief Operating Officer — a plausible entry point for a technology conversation. Mike Lemmen is Brand President, and Ryan Essenburg is President; Tom Essenburg is Founder and Chairman. Several of these officers hold an indirect ownership interest in TCWS, the affiliate that is the sole approved supplier of the proprietary equipment package, vacuum and vending system, and point-of-sale system.

Tech named in the FDD, and what is actually required

Item 11 of the filing sets Tommy's Express's Computer System requirements: locations must purchase hardware and software the franchisor designates or approves, capable of interfacing with the franchisor's own computer system, plus PCs running a currently supported operating system, printers, modems and network peripherals meeting its specifications. TCWS is the sole approved supplier for the point-of-sale system and the vacuum and vending system. The Franchise Operations Manual designates the required hardware and software, and the TCWS package in Item 7 includes Guardian Wash Controls.

Procurement, renewals, and timing

Item 8 runs a designated-suppliers-only model, with TCWS as the sole approved supplier of the proprietary equipment package, detergents, chemicals, uniforms, retail items, parts, and replacement equipment. Tommy's Express earned $1,100,000 in fiscal 2025 from rebates and other payments tied to required TCWS purchases. Franchisees may propose an alternate supplier for approval. A franchisee in good standing, with the franchisor still franchising, can renew for an additional 10-year term after giving six-to-nine months' notice, staying current on payments and renovating if required.

How to read the Tommy's Express FDD

The embedded PDF viewer below holds Tommy's Express's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, covering the Computer System and TCWS supplier mandates and the Item 19 financial performance representation.

Talk to FranCloud for a ranked list of comparable home-services franchise systems worth pitching next.

Questions vendors ask

Tommy's Express, answered from the filing

Alex Lemmen is Chief Executive Officer, and Andrew VanWylen serves as Chief Operating Officer — a plausible entry point for a technology pitch. Mike Lemmen is Brand President, and Ryan Essenburg is President. Several officers hold an indirect ownership interest in TCWS, the sole approved supplier of Tommy's core equipment.
Item 11 sets Tommy's Express's Computer System requirements: locations must run franchisor-designated hardware and software that interfaces with the franchisor's own system, plus PCs, printers, modems and network peripherals meeting its specs. TCWS is the sole approved supplier for the point-of-sale and vacuum-vending systems; the filing below has specifics.
Tommy's Express franchises 244 of its 260 US locations, with 16 company-owned, in the home-services segment. Mapped operator data points to Michigan and Florida, though that reflects only a small sample of the full system.
Tommy's Express runs a designated-suppliers-only model, with TCWS as the sole approved supplier of the proprietary equipment package, detergents, chemicals, uniforms, retail items, parts and replacement equipment. Franchisees may propose an alternate supplier for approval.
The initial franchise term runs 20 years — unusually long, so a technology decision at build-out tends to stick. A franchisee in good standing can renew for an additional 10-year term after giving six-to-nine months' notice and staying current on payments.
The embedded PDF viewer below contains Tommy's Express's 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, covering its Computer System, TCWS supplier, and financial performance terms in full.
Source

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Tommy's Express2026 FDDView only

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

Operator footprint

Who runs the locations

3 operators run 3 mapped locations. 0 of them are multi-unit. Aggregate counts from the filing; no names.

Operators by units owned

Single-unit3

Top states by locations

MI2
FL1

Ownership

The portfolio behind Tommy's Express

unknown of tommy enterprises.

Related Home services brands

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