Most teams define TAM by logo count.

“We already sell to CAVA.”
“We’re trying to land Blaze.”
“We have inroads at Freddy’s.”

But in restaurant tech, selling to a brand isn’t binary. It’s category-dependent. A brand might be a dream buyer for one tool, and a nightmare for another.

This is Part 3 in our GTM Clarity series. In Part 1, we mapped your own GTM motion. In Part 2, we looked at brand structure. Now we’re zooming in one level deeper to show why what you sell matters just as much as who you’re selling to.

The missing dimension in GTM planning

A brand’s willingness—and ability—to adopt new technology changes depending on what you’re selling. That’s because:

• Different departments own different decisions
• Adoption pain varies by tool
• Mandate control isn’t uniform across the stack

The same 200-unit brand might:

• Mandate a POS platform
• Recommend a loyalty tool
• Ignore labor tech completely
• Let franchisees pick their own guest feedback solution

And suddenly, your CAC, rollout speed, and even who your buyer is changes without the logo ever changing.

Different categories. Different rules.

The structure of adoption isn’t uniform, and it often shifts based on what you’re selling.

Some categories lean corporate. Others get left to the field. And a few are stuck in the middle, fluctuating brand to brand depending on leadership philosophy, legacy systems, or rollout tolerance.

Here’s a directional look at how that plays out:

Category	Mandate Tendencies	GTM Reality
POS	Mixed	Often assumed to be mandated, but many brands tolerate franchise variance, especially when middleware smooths the guest experience.
Payments / Gift Cards	More often mandated	Usually tied to POS or processor contracts. But even here, some operators route around it.
Loyalty	Skews mandated	Uniform point accrual and redemption rules tend to require centralized control, especially when programs tie into POS, mobile, or rewards apps.
Guest Feedback	Flip a coin	Text surveys, QR codes, table tents… It’s often up to the operator unless brand cares deeply about centralizing feedback.
Scheduling / HCM / Inventory	Rarely mandated	These tools are deeply operational, sometimes regionally. Many franchise orgs leave them up to the operator and vendors know it, building high-effort, high-CAC sales teams to match.
Delivery / Catering	Technically discretionary	Despite big-name partnerships (ezCater, DoorDash), adoption can vary by location unless explicitly enforced.

This doesn’t just shape your GTM strategy, it reshapes your TAM model. A brand might be 500 units strong, but if you’re selling a non-mandated category into a 90% franchised system, your real TAM could be closer to 50 locations than 500.

Why this breaks GTM models

When your pipeline says “we’re engaged with Tropical Smoothie,” but your product sits in a category they don’t centrally control, you’re not forecasting pipeline. You’re forecasting wishful thinking.

This disconnect affects:

• Sales team expectations (“Why is this taking so long?”)
• Quota modeling (overweighted enterprise TAM assumptions)
• Expansion strategy (assuming vertical success = horizontal openness)

It’s also where RevOps can get tripped up, tracking deals by logo but not by category-specific structural fit.

Don’t assume trust transfers

One last nuance: Success in one category doesn’t mean you’re pre-approved for another.

You can be the approved scheduling vendor and still get ghosted when pitching a new product or service. You might process their payments but still need to fight your way into their ordering experience.

The install base doesn’t behave uniformly. Neither should your GTM motion.

Category shapes structure. Structure shapes strategy.

Before you build your next chase list, ask yourself:

• What are we selling?
• How is that category bought?
• Who owns the decision, and can they enforce it?

At Restaurantology, we track category-specific install base and adoption structure across 15,000+ multi-unit brands. Because knowing where to sell is useful. But knowing what they’ll actually buy? That’s strategy.