Aroma Espresso Bar
Bottom line
- Total investment $538K – $1.5M including a $55K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.5M/year (median $1.5M).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 3 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
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 Aroma Espresso Bar unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
14%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Aroma Espresso Bar units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$765K
on $3.8M purchase
Total debt
$3.1M
SBA $1.9M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate upscale espresso bars serving specialty coffee, pastries, and light meals in café settings. Day-to-day operations include managing barista staff, inventory procurement, POS systems, customer service, and maintaining brand standards across equipment and ambiance.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
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).
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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Severely undercapitalized franchise system with chronic litigation, minimal unit count, opaque financials, and unproven unit economics creates substantial investment risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 4 units in system with unknown growth trajectory suggests stagnant or declining franchise network
- 02MINORPending arbitration with former master franchisee (Aroma Canada) indicates serious relationship breakdown and potential systemic issues
- 03HIGHHistory of litigation including 2015 fraudulent inducement settlement suggests pattern of franchisor-franchisee disputes
- 04MEDNet income not disclosed despite $1.53M average revenue — inability or unwillingness to provide profitability data is major red flag
- 05MINORHigh initial investment range ($537.5K–$1.5M) with only 4 operating units limits ability to validate ROI claims
- 06MED7% royalty on gross sales (not net) combined with undisclosed net income makes profit modeling impossible
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
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
5 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Aroma Espresso Bar · FDD (2023) PDF