Whit’s Frozen Custard is moving its 100-location franchise network onto Square’s unified commerce platform as the quick-service restaurant brand looks to centralize operations, improve cross-location visibility and give franchisees a more consistent technology stack.

The rollout covers locations across 11 states and brings payments, restaurant operations, kitchen workflows, franchise management and reporting into Square's ecosystem. For Whit’s, the move addresses a common challenge for growing franchise businesses: maintaining local operating flexibility while giving corporate teams centralized control over technology and performance data.

The frozen custard chain previously relied on multiple systems across its locations, with menu changes, reporting and other operational processes requiring manual coordination. Square says the new deployment is intended to reduce that fragmentation while supporting the brand's continued expansion.

Market Landscape

Restaurant franchises increasingly operate across physical stores, digital ordering channels, loyalty programs and mobile experiences. As location counts increase, technology fragmentation can make relatively simple corporate tasks—such as changing menus or comparing store performance—more difficult.

Whit’s says its previous setup created gaps in reporting and menu management while franchisees also had to manage payments, disputes and compliance-related processes independently.

The company's Square deployment includes Square Register, Square Kitchen Display System, Square for Restaurants and Square for Franchises. Together, those products give the corporate organization a centralized view of its restaurant entities while allowing individual franchisees to manage day-to-day operations.

The shift illustrates a broader trend in restaurant technology toward unified commerce platforms. Instead of operating point-of-sale, payments, kitchen technology, reporting and customer-facing digital tools as separate systems, restaurant operators are increasingly looking for connected infrastructure.

For a franchise, the value extends beyond convenience. Centralized technology can make it easier to standardize menus, monitor performance and manage brand-level operations while leaving individual stores with control over daily execution.

Square says Whit’s estimates the deployment will save approximately $2,000 annually per location in software and processing costs. That figure is an estimate supplied by the companies and should not be treated as an independently verified cost benchmark.

Strategic Outlook

Whit’s is also using the Square relationship as a foundation for additional digital customer experiences.

The company plans to adopt Square's emerging drive-thru capabilities as it looks to improve service speed while maintaining its in-store customer experience. It is also preparing to use integrations from Square's partner ecosystem covering online ordering, loyalty and mobile applications.

That combination is significant because restaurant commerce is no longer limited to the point of sale. Customers can discover a location online, order through a mobile interface, participate in a loyalty program and complete a transaction in-store or through a drive-thru.

For franchise operators, connecting those touchpoints can provide a more consistent customer journey while giving corporate marketing and operations teams greater visibility into activity across locations.

The technology strategy also gives Whit’s a potential foundation for expansion. Adding locations to a standardized commerce environment can be less operationally complex than deploying and integrating multiple systems independently at every new store.

However, unified commerce does not eliminate the underlying challenges of franchise technology. Brands still need accurate product data, consistent operational processes, reliable integrations and clear governance between corporate teams and franchisees.

The Whit’s deployment demonstrates why commerce platforms are increasingly becoming part of a restaurant's broader operating infrastructure. POS, payments, kitchen management, franchise reporting and digital customer engagement are converging into a technology layer that can support both daily operations and growth.

For Square, the deal also demonstrates the opportunity to move beyond payment processing and become a broader commerce platform for multi-location businesses. For Whit’s, the immediate objective is simpler: replace fragmented systems with infrastructure capable of supporting the next stage of its franchise growth.

Top Insights

• Whit’s Frozen Custard is deploying Square's unified commerce platform across 100 locations to consolidate restaurant and franchise operations.
• Square Register, KDS, Restaurants and Franchises give Whit’s centralized management while preserving operational flexibility for individual franchise locations.
• The deployment addresses fragmented menu management, reporting, payments and compliance processes that previously created additional work for franchisees.
• Whit’s estimates approximately $2,000 in annual software and processing savings per location, based on the company's own assessment.
• Future plans include drive-thru capabilities and integrations supporting online ordering, loyalty and mobile app experiences.

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