Technology

A technology row in Item 7 is an opening purchase estimate. It is not the lifetime cost of software, processing, online ordering, or required upgrades. It may cover a POS terminal and a back-office PC, or it may cover kitchen display screens, kiosks, networking, cameras, music, and the first term of a software subscription. Two filings can use similar labels and still be pricing different stacks.

The league table at the end of this chapter includes only technology-bucket rows. Great Greek has none. GDK has one. 375° has two. Adding those rows inside a filing is fair; inventing a Great Greek technology line by subtracting something from the restaurant package is not.

The disclosed technology lines

Brand	Filing label	Low	High
German Doner Kebab	Hardware and Software	$27,500	$30,000
Shah’s Halal Food	Computer Hardware, Software, and POS System	$4,000	$6,000
Mad for Chicken	POS System	$3,000	$15,000
375° Chicken ‘n Fries	POS System	$4,000	$6,000
375° Chicken ‘n Fries	Computer Systems	$500	$1,500

375°’s two rows add to $4,500–$7,500. That addition is in the filing. GDK’s single $27,500–$30,000 line is both the highest low end and the tightest band. Shah’s $4,000–$6,000 matches 375°’s POS row and does not match GDK’s hardware and software row in magnitude. Mad for Chicken’s $3,000–$15,000 is the widest technology band in the set: the high is five times the low.

Those gaps are the comparison. GDK is describing a 1,200–1,400 square-foot outlet inside a five-outlet minimum, with a 2024 table that also carries Restaurant Equipment of $140,000–$175,000. Shah’s is describing a 1,200–2,000 square-foot restaurant whose fixture package is $30,000–$50,000. If GDK’s hardware line includes kitchen display, networking, and opening software that Shah’s put in the fixture package or omitted, the $27,500 versus $4,000 contrast is a labeling difference, not a finding that one brand is six times more computerized.

Recurring fees are Item 6, opening purchases are Item 7

The FTC’s Franchise Rule compliance guide puts continuing fees in Item 6 and the opening investment in Item 7. A POS subscription that begins at opening can appear in both: first-term software in Item 7, the ongoing rate in Item 6. Adding the Item 6 annual technology fee into the Item 7 cell double-counts the first year if the opening purchase already included it, and undercounts later years if it did not.

Capriotti’s, in the companion fee directory, discloses a technology fee of 0.65 percent of gross sales on top of royalty and funds. Dog Haus discloses a technology development fee of $5,000 a year. Those are 2024 comparative-study figures for brands that do not have line-item worksheets in this Item 7 dataset. They belong in the monthly operating model, not in a reconstructed GDK or Shah’s technology row.

Inside the itemised set, the opening technology purchase still has to be reconciled to Item 11 (computer systems) and Item 8 (required suppliers). The franchisor can require a specific POS, a specific online-ordering vendor, and a specific camera system. Substituting a cheaper terminal because Shah’s disclosed $4,000–$6,000 does not help if Item 8 names a different vendor for the brand actually being bought.

What the row often does not include

Network cabling, conduit, and a dedicated data closet often sit in construction. GDK’s Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing of $150,000–$175,000 and Fit Out Materials & Installation of $175,000–$205,000 are large enough to absorb low-voltage work; the labels do not say whether they do. Shah’s Build-Out/Construction of $80,000–$160,000 is the same kind of neighbor.

Kiosks, customer-facing screens, and digital menu boards can sit in technology, in equipment, or in signage. GDK’s signage is $20,000–$35,000; Shah’s is $10,000–$28,000; Mad for Chicken’s is $5,500–$9,500; 375°’s is $10,000–$12,000. Great Greek has neither a technology row nor a signage row. The restaurant package of $225,964–$248,560 is silent on both.

Payment processing equipment may be “free” from a processor in exchange for a rate. That arrangement can make the Item 7 technology low look like a bargain while raising the cost of goods sold for the life of the agreement. The opening table will not show the rate. The merchant agreement will.

Cameras, music licensing hardware, time clocks, and back-office printers are easy to leave off a three-terminal POS quote. Mad for Chicken’s $3,000 low is the figure that most needs a footnote: it can be a single terminal in a conversion, or it can be an incomplete list. The $15,000 high is still below GDK’s low. Either Mad for Chicken is pricing a thinner stack, or GDK is pricing a thicker one. The public tables do not say which.

Worked example: add inside a filing, not across filings

375° is the only itemised brand that split POS from other computers:

• POS System: $4,000–$6,000
• Computer Systems: $500–$1,500
• Combined: $4,500–$7,500

That combined range still sits next to Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment of $100,000–$120,000 and Leasehold Improvements, Construction and/or Remodeling of $100,000–$200,000. Technology is 1 percent of 375°’s $521,500 high total. GDK’s $30,000 high is 3 percent of $1,123,000. Ranking those percentages without reading Item 11 is how a directory turns into a false precision about “who is more digital.”

Great Greek’s silence is the other worked example. The 2023 filing discloses 60.25 classroom hours and 180 on-the-job hours, a 35-year term, and a restaurant package. It does not disclose a POS line in Item 7. A buyer still needs terminals, connectivity, and software. The cost is somewhere — in the package, in additional funds of $35,000–$75,000 for up to six months, or outside the table. The Great Greek cost page leaves that as a silence. So does this chapter.

Technology checklist

1. Copy every technology-bucket label in the filing, including 375°’s second computer-systems row.
2. List the required stack from Item 11: POS, KDS, kiosks, back office, cameras, online ordering, accounting, music, timekeeping.
3. Mark each item as opening purchase (Item 7), recurring fee (Item 6), required supplier (Item 8), or unnamed.
4. Add cabling, racks, and electrical to the construction quote if the technology quote is terminals-only.
5. Put processing rates and software subscriptions on the monthly cash calendar that feeds working capital.
6. Ask recent franchisees what they actually paid to open the system and what they pay now, following the FTC’s FDD walkthrough.

Kiosks, cameras, and the store that opens without them

Customer-facing kiosks, if the brand requires them, are large, long-lead, and easy to leave off a POS quote. GDK’s $27,500–$30,000 hardware-and-software line is the cell most likely to include a thicker stack; Shah’s $4,000–$6,000 is the cell most likely not to. Neither label says “kiosk.” Item 11’s computer systems section does. Read that section before treating Mad for Chicken’s $3,000 low as a complete opening technology budget for a 2,000–4,000 square-foot restaurant.

Cameras are a landlord, insurer, and franchisor requirement that can arrive as a separate vendor. They need power, network, and a retention policy. Cabling may already be in GDK’s MEP or fit-out rows. The recorder may belong in technology. The monthly cloud fee belongs in Item 6 or in the operating model. Splitting those three without a footnote is guesswork; leaving cameras out of the cash plan because Item 7 said “POS System” is how opening week starts with a compliance gap.

Music, time clocks, and back-office accounting software are the same pattern: small opening invoices, recurring fees, required vendors. 375°’s Computer Systems of $500–$1,500 is the row that looks like it was meant for that remainder. It may be. Confirm in the FDD rather than assigning leftover gadgets to it because the label is leftover-shaped.

The injected comparison below sorts disclosed technology rows by high estimate. Use it to see who printed a line. Use Items 6, 8, and 11 to see what the line has to buy.