FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00052·MODERATEStandard76

Abbey Road Institute

Education - Tutoring & Test PrepFranchising since 2022Website
Investment
$517K – $2.5M
89th pct Tutoring & Te…
Avg revenue
55th pct Tutoring & Te…
Royalty
Units
7
28th pct Tutoring & Te…
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $517K – $2.5M including a $250K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
  • No protected territory and the franchisor reserves the right to compete in your area. Clarify territorial boundaries before signing.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
ABBEY ROAD INSTITUTE, LLC
Parent company
Abbey Road Training Limited
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
4 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG, United Kingdom
Auditor
Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$13K
vs $31K prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Abbey Road Institute unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: education
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $517K–$2.5M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $60K–$130K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

7%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$105K
EBITDA margin
14.0%
Total invested
$1.6M
Payback
181 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Abbey Road Institute franchisees operate music production and audio engineering educational facilities, offering courses in recording, mixing, mastering, and music technology. Franchisees manage student recruitment, instructor hiring, facility operations, and course delivery in their protected (or unprotected) territories. Revenue is generated through tuition fees, equipment rental, and potential ancillary studio services.

CEO
Luca Barassi
Founded
2021
FDD year
2026
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$517K – $2.5M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$60K – $130K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$250K
Royalty
8-12% of Gross Revenues
Ad fund
n/d
Total fee load
12.0%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
7
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
86%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+20.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+20.0%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
6+1
Franchised units
2025
5
Franchised units
2026
5
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 4 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 4 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

65
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE65 / 100

Abbey Road Institute presents meaningful financial opacity and growth constraints; the lack of disclosed revenue data, unprotected territory, and modest unit expansion create elevated risk for a $500K+ investment with no validated ROI benchmarks.

Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo Item 19 financial performance disclosure — cannot validate revenue/profitability claims despite $517K-$2.46M investment requirement
  2. 02MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk; franchisees can cannibalize each other's markets
  3. 03MEDOnly 7 units with 20% YoY growth is modest expansion for a 10-year-old brand; suggests limited scalability or market demand
  4. 04MINORHigh franchise fee ($250K) relative to unit count indicates dependency on new franchisee recruitment rather than system profitability
  5. 05MED8-12% royalty rate on undisclosed revenues creates unpredictable cash flow burden for franchisees
  6. 06HIGHNo 'Going Concern' status may indicate recent financial instability or restructuring at corporate level

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Non-exclusive
Protected territory
No
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
New York

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
29 hrs
On-the-job training
14 hrs
POS system
Computer and Point of Sale System
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

4 numbers

Locked
(561) 466-••••
Master Legacy LLC
FL
(212) 697-••••
NY
(651) 539-••••
MN

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Abbey Road Institute · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above