FranchiseVerdict
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BluTaco

Food & Beverage - Full ServiceFranchising since 2018Website
Investment
$9K – $632K
0th pct Full Service
Avg revenue
57th pct Full Service
Royalty
Units
29
62nd pct Full Service
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $9K – $632K including a $0 franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 75/100.
  • System contracting at -15.2% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
BluTaco Franchising, LLC
Parent company
Pro Food Systems, Inc.
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
120 Commerce Drive, Holts Summit, Missouri 65043
Auditor
Eide Bailly
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$189K
vs $6K 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 BluTaco 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: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $9K–$632K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $3K–$30K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

38%

In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$128K
EBITDA margin
17.0%
Total invested
$337K
Payback
32 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

BluTaco franchisees operate fast-casual taco restaurants, likely handling food preparation, inventory management, staffing, and customer service. Day-to-day work involves production, sales, and operations management in a small footprint location.

CEO
Shawn Burcham
Founded
2017
FDD year
2025
States available
16

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$9K – $632K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$3K – $30K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$0
Royalty
0
Ad fund
0.0%
typical 3–5%

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
29
Opened
0
Last reporting year
Closed
5
Turnover rate
17.2%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
97%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
-15.2%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-15.2%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
28-5
Franchised units
2024
33
Franchised units
2025
33
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 18 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 · 18 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

75
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION75 / 100

BluTaco presents HIGH RISK: a rapidly contracting system (15% YoY decline) with a franchisor in going concern status, no royalty stream, and undisclosed unit-level financials.

Score breakdown · what drove the 75 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORSystem declining 15.2% YoY (29 units) — suggests franchisee dissatisfaction or market failure
  2. 02HIGHGoing Concern status = franchise company has material doubt about survival
  3. 03MINORZero royalties + $0 franchise fee = franchisor has minimal recurring revenue and weak incentive to support franchisees
  4. 04MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure — inability or unwillingness to provide Item 19 indicates poor unit economics
  5. 05MINORWide investment range ($9K–$632K) suggests inconsistent execution or undefined business model
  6. 06MINORUnknown term length — lack of transparency on commitment period is unusual and risky

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius or Site-specific
Protected territory
Yes
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
No
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Delaware

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
0 hrs
On-the-job training
11 hrs
POS system
MicroSale
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

28 numbers

Locked
(406) 837-••••
MT
(701) 628-••••
ND
(620) 325-••••
KS

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

BluTaco · FDD (2025) PDF

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