Restaurant franchise software has one job: let the franchisor control what the brand promises while the franchisee runs the outlet. Get the split wrong in one direction and franchisees quietly change the menu, run their own discounts and keep the customer list. Get it wrong in the other direction and nobody at the outlet can fix a price or snooze a sold-out dish without a phone call to head office.
This explainer sets out what belongs to the franchisor, what belongs to the franchisee, how to handle the two things franchise agreements fight about most, customer data and money, and which questions to ask any software vendor before you sign. It is written for franchisors with two to twenty outlets, where the systems are being chosen for the first time.
What the franchisor needs to control
The franchise is a promise that the food, the look and the experience will be the same in Nagpur as in Pune. Everything that protects that promise sits with the franchisor.
- The menu: items, descriptions, photos, variants, add-ons, combos. Decided by head office and kept identical at every outlet.
- Pricing bands: a brand price per item and the band within which an outlet may vary it.
- The ordering channels: the WhatsApp numbers, store pages and domain, registered and controlled by the brand, so the customer relationship is with the brand.
- Customer data: who ordered, from which outlet, how often. The franchisor's most valuable asset and the one most often lost.
- Brand marketing: campaigns, coupons and promo banners, run centrally and targeted by outlet.
- Quality signals: ratings after every order, delivery times, cancellation rates, visible per outlet.
- Access: who can log in to what, across all outlets, with the ability to remove access the day a franchise ends.
What the franchisee needs to own
A franchisee who cannot run their own outlet will either fail or route around the system. The software has to give them real control of operations.
- Orders: accept, prepare, mark ready, dispatch, serve. All day, without head office involvement.
- Staff: their own cooks, counter and riders, with their own logins.
- Availability: snooze an item that has run out, set outlet hours, close early on a bad day.
- Price within the band: move a ₹300 item to ₹320 because rent in their mall is higher.
- Delivery: their zones, their charges, their riders, their pickup counter.
- Their numbers: their outlet's revenue, orders, ratings and repeat rate, every day.
How those accesses map to actual roles for a team of twenty is laid out in roles and permissions for multi-outlet restaurant teams.
The control matrix
Put the two lists side by side and most decisions make themselves. The column on the right is where franchise disputes usually start.
| Area | Franchisor | Franchisee | Typical dispute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menu items | Create, edit, remove | Mark unavailable | Outlet adds a local item |
| Prices | Brand price and band | Sets price within band | Outlet discounts below band |
| Customer list | Owns, segments, campaigns | Sees own outlet's customers | Outlet exports list on exit |
| Ordering number | Registers and controls each outlet's number | Takes orders on the outlet's number | Number registered in the franchisee's name |
| Coupons | Creates, targets by outlet | Requests | Outlet creates own coupons |
| Delivery zones | Sets limits | Draws zones, sets charges | Zones overlap a neighbour outlet |
| Staff | Role templates | Adds and removes own staff | Shared logins across outlets |
| Reports | All outlets, compared | Own outlet | Outlet reports revenue off-system |
The menu and price rows matter most. Many franchisors want software that edits an item once for every outlet while each franchisee prices it locally, and that is a common need. Where each outlet keeps its own menu in the software, the franchisor holds one reference menu with the price band written beside each item and applies every change to all outlets on the same day.
Customer data: the question to settle before outlet two
If each franchisee registers and runs the outlet's WhatsApp number and ordering account in their own name, the customer list belongs, in practice, to the franchisee. When the agreement ends, so does the brand's relationship with those customers. This is the quiet way franchise brands lose their most valuable asset, and no clause in the agreement gets it back.
The alternative is for the brand to hold every outlet's ordering channel. Many franchisors want a single brand number that passes each order to whichever franchise outlet covers the customer's address, and that is a common need. Where each outlet has its own number, the practical version is that the franchisor registers every outlet's number and keeps every outlet's ordering account under the brand. The franchisee cooks, and the list stays with the brand. Franchisees should see their own outlet's customers and history, which they need for service, but campaigns and exports are a franchisor function. How the brand's channels fit with day-to-day outlet operations is covered in the pillar on multi-outlet restaurant management.
Write this into the agreement in plain words: the ordering numbers and the customer data are brand property, and the franchisee is granted access for the term.
Money: royalties, order fees and where payments land
Franchise royalties are usually a percentage of revenue, and the argument is always about what revenue was. If the outlet reports its own numbers, the royalty is a negotiation every month. If every order flows through one system, revenue per outlet is a report, and the royalty is arithmetic.
Per-order economics also matter. On aggregators, commission is commonly 18 to 30 percent of the order value, and a franchisee paying that plus a royalty has very little left. A direct channel with a flat per-order fee leaves room for both parties: an outlet doing 1,500 direct orders a month at ₹10 each pays ₹15,000, against ₹1,08,000 to ₹1,80,000 in commission on the same ₹6 lakh of orders.
Where the customer's payment settles, to a brand account or to each outlet's account, is a contract decision; the software should support either and show the split clearly. Cloud-kitchen franchise models, which have their own set of fee structures and red flags, are covered in cloud kitchen franchise in India.
Eight questions for any franchise software vendor
- Can an item be edited once and pushed to every outlet, with local prices where you allow them?
- Can the brand register and control every outlet's ordering number and store page, so the channel stays with the brand if a franchise ends?
- Who owns the customer data, and can a franchisee export it?
- Can the franchisor see all outlets compared on one dashboard, and the franchisee only their own?
- Are roles and permissions scoped by outlet, with instant removal?
- Can coupons and campaigns be targeted to one outlet's customers?
- What does it cost per order, and is there any commission on order value?
- Does each outlet get its own staff app alerts, KOT printing and delivery zones?
If the answer to the third question is unclear, stop there.
What this looks like on Tezzu
Tezzu runs a franchise brand as separate store profiles under one account, one store per outlet. Each store has its own WhatsApp number, store page, menu, delivery zones and charges, pickup points and staff, and the franchisor sees reporting across all stores. With the account held by the brand, the ordering channels and customer data stay with the brand, and WhatsApp campaigns run from a prepaid wallet alongside coupons and promo banners on each store page.
Many franchisors ask for a single brand number shared by every outlet and one menu edited once for all of them. Both are common needs. Today each outlet runs as its own store in Tezzu, with its own number and menu, so head office applies menu changes to every store from its reference menu.
Each outlet's team uses the staff app for new-order alerts, prints KOTs and GST bills at their kitchen, and moves orders through delivered, collected or served. Staff roles and permissions give each person their own login with the access their job needs. Ratings after every order are visible per store, so quality drift at one franchise shows within a week.
For several outlets, the Growth plan at ₹1,999 a month covers up to 3 stores and Enterprise at ₹3,999 a month has no store limit, with a flat ₹10 per order, no commission on order value and a 7-day trial. Each outlet is set up like a single store, which the setup playbook walks through.
Map your franchise onto Tezzu stores
Book a 20-minute demo and we will walk through how your outlets, menus and staff would sit as stores under one account, and tell you where the fit is strong and where it is not.
Book a demoFrequently asked questions
What software do restaurant franchises use?
Usually a combination: a POS at each outlet, an ordering channel that may or may not be shared, and spreadsheets for royalties. The franchisors who avoid disputes put every outlet on the same ordering system under the brand's account, with one reference menu, agreed price bands, customer data owned by the brand and reports that compare outlets, so revenue and quality are visible without asking.
Should franchisees have their own WhatsApp number?
A number per outlet is fine, as long as the brand registers and controls it. Many franchisors would prefer one brand number shared by every outlet, and that is a common need; in Tezzu today each outlet runs as its own store with its own number. What matters is that the numbers and customer data sit under the brand's account, not the franchisee's, so they stay with the brand when an agreement ends.
How do franchisors control menu prices across outlets?
With a brand price per item and a written band within which each outlet can set its own price. The outlet changes the number, never the item, so descriptions, photos and combos stay identical. Where each outlet keeps its own menu in the software, compare outlet prices against the band every month. Any price outside the band is a conversation.
How is royalty calculated when all orders go through one system?
From the revenue report per outlet, which every order feeds automatically, including cash-on-delivery orders. The percentage is whatever the agreement says; the point is that the base is not in dispute. Aggregator orders handled outside the system still need to be added, which is one more reason to move repeat customers to the direct channel.