Big Frog Custom T-Shirts Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Big Frog Custom T-Shirts is a print franchise producing custom t-shirts, apparel, and gifts, with no minimum order, using digital printing. Franchisees run a print shop handling design, printing, and customer orders for consumers and businesses in a territory.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchise requires a total initial investment of $158K – $376K, including a $60K franchise fee. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $436K[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 10.0% charge-off rate across 16 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2026 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $158K – $376K
- 43rd pct Business Serv…
- Avg gross sales
- $436K
- 10th pct Business Serv…
- Royalty
- N/A
- Units
- 73
- 37th pct Business Serv…
- SBA charge-off
- 10.0%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Business Services · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Business Services avg · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- Total investment $158K – $376K including a $60K franchise fee.
- Average unit revenue of $436K/year (median $439K).
- Verdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 63/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 10.0% across 16 loans (near or below the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Big Frog Custom T-Shirts, Inc.
- Predecessor
- and Affiliates
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- President and Chief Executive Officer
- Dr. Christina P. Bacon-DeFrece
- CEO experience
- 17 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- Florida
- HQ
- 533 Main Street, Dunedin, Florida 34698
- Auditor
- PDR CPAs (pdr-cpa.com)
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $4.6M
- vs $3.8M prior year
- Management churn noted
- Frequent turnover
- Item 2 disclosed frequent executive changes
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
- CEO
- Dr. Christina P. Bacon-DeFrece
- Headquarters
- Florida
- Founded
- 2008
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 25
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost is about average for a business services franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown13 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee, Standardnot refundable | $60K | $60K | |
| Training Travel Expenses | $2K | $5K | |
| Lease Deposits and Store Build Out, Standard location | $15K | $50K | |
| Equipment, Furniture & Fixtures for Standard Franchise | $15K | $112K | |
| Computer System and Software | $7K | $13K | |
| Signs, Standard location | $5K | $13K | |
| Office Supplies | $2K | $4K | |
| Insurance | $2K | $3K | |
| Professional Fees | $2K | $3K | |
| Franchise Opening Costs, including Utility Deposits, Licenses | $1K | $2K | |
| Opening Inventory, Standard location | $5K | $6K | |
| Promotional and Advertising - 3 Months for Standard Franchise | $10K | $10K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 Months for Standard Franchise | $40K | $42K | |
| Total initial investment | $164K | $323K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $158K – $376K
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $40K – $75K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $60K – $60K
- Middle of category vs category
- Royalty
- For the initial 6 months: 6% of gross sales. After 6 mont…
- Ad fund
- 1.5%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty (flat) | After the first 6 months, royalty is the greater of 6% of gross sales or $1,200 per month. |
| Marketing / ad fund | 1.5% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $350 |
| Training fee | $2K |
| Transfer fee | $25K |
| Renewal fee | $5K |
| Inventory (initial) | $5K – $6K |
| Total fee load | 7.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 67% below the business services norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$68K
15.5% margin
Unlevered ROIC
21%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
4.8 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $436K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $439K
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- historical_actual
- Sample size
- 62 units
- vs category median 38
- Range (low → high)
- $128K→$1.5M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $243K→$967K
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Transparency tier
- full
- Categorical assessment of disclosure depth
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 6 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 356 Business Services brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $436K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.6x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.5% — below the Business Services average of 11.9%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 6/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System contracting at -2.6% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven consolidation or franchisee exits.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Business Services averages
How Big Frog Custom T-Shirts Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 73
- Opened
- 7
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 8
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 11.0%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- -2.6%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- -2.6%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 7
- Closed (3yr)
- 8
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 4
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Transfer rate
- 10.8%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Termination rate
- 4.1%
- Franchisor-initiated terminations
- Ceased ops
- 5.4%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 15 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 contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
Available to sell in · Item 12
- Hawaii
States where the franchisor is registered to sell new franchises (FDD registration filings).
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 16
- Loan volume
- $2.2M
- Median loan
- $150K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 10.0%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 90.0%
- 5-yr charge-off
- N/A
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 9
- Defaults
- 1
- Typical loan rate
- 6.0%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 16.7%
- brand beats franchise avg ↓
- Jobs supported
- 70
- 3.1 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 38%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 100% went to startups / new businesses, 0% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in other clothing stores, franchised businesses charge off at 16.7% vs 25.9% for independents — franchising is associated with 36% lower SBA default risk in this category.
Top lenders financing Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchisees
Showing 3 of 9 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Big Frog Custom T-Shirts's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 9 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 9 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 6-year lending trend
Instant access. No subscription.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 10.0% — 38% below the 16.0% national norm, i.e. lower lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Active franchisee litigation, non-disclosed profitability data, small/stagnant unit base, and financial stability concerns make this a speculative investment requiring extensive validation before proceeding.
Litigation (Item 3)
Adroit 365, LLC v. Big Frog Custom T-Shirts, Inc. (Circuit Court, Oakland County, MI, filed Dec 2024) - breach of contract/conversion claim over termination of a Franchise Agreement for failure to use required POS system; franchisor filed answer, affirmative defenses, and counterclaims; case in early stages, no trial date.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · PDR CPAs (pdr-cpa.com)
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 63 / 100 verdict
- 01HIGHActive litigation with franchisee (Adroit 365) involving breach of contract and conversion claims, with franchisor counterclaim for trademark infringement suggests systemic operational/relationship issues
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 despite $513k average revenue — impossible to assess actual profitability or ROI on $164k-$323k investment
- 03MINORRoyalty structure creates cash flow pressure: $1,200/month minimum ($14,400/year) represents 2.8% of average revenue even before growth, limiting franchisee margins
- 04MINOROnly 74 units system-wide with unknown growth trajectory — insufficient scale and transparency on unit growth/attrition rates
- 05HIGHGoing Concern flag is FALSE (meaning concern exists) — franchisor financial stability questions despite modest unit base
- 06MEDHigh initial investment ($163k-$323k) combined with undisclosed profitability metrics creates unfavorable risk/reward profile
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | protected |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory population | 150,000 |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 25 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 5 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 2 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | No |
| Arbitration location | Pinellas County, Florida |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | Florida |
| Litigation count | 1 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
Adroit 365, LLC v. Big Frog Custom T-Shirts, Inc. (Circuit Court, Oakland County, MI, filed Dec 2024) - breach of contract/conversion claim over termination of a Franchise Agreement for failure to use required POS system; franchisor filed answer, affirmative defenses, and counterclaims; case in early stages, no trial date.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 35 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 35 hrs
- Training location
- Big Frog University in Dunedin, Florida; your Market (on-site); Center of Excellence store; virtual/eLearning
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 6 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee (subject to franchisor approval)
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- CoreBridge POS System
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: CoreBridge POS System
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
15 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Big Frog Custom T-Shirts · FDD (2026) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchise?
The total investment to open a Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchise ranges from $158K – $376K, with an initial franchise fee of $60K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Big Frog Custom T-Shirts FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $436K. The median is $439K. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Big Frog Custom T-Shirts's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Big Frog Custom T-Shirts has a charge-off rate of 10.0% across 16 loans, meaning 10.0% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Big Frog Custom T-Shirts franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Big Frog Custom T-Shirts has 73 total units in the United States, including 73 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 7 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Big Frog Custom T-Shirts a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Big Frog Custom T-Shirts as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 63 out of 100 (higher is better), based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.