Bobby Chez Crabcakes Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $249K – $498K
- Disclosed sales
- $990K
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Bobby Chez is a seafood franchise known for its award-winning crab cakes and prepared seafood dishes. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing food prep, staffing, and service.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Bobby Chez Crabcakes franchise requires a total initial investment of $249K – $498K, including a $40K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2022 FDD, average unit revenue was $990K[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: D (Below average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: high - issued more than two years ago
Evidence: partial✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $249K – $498K
- 10th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $990K
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 8th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 4
- 6th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants median · 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
- COSTTotal investment $249K – $498K including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $990K/year (median $1.0M) (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance).
- RISKVerdict D (Below average), verdict score 34/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHFlat: no net change in franchised outlets in the latest year (0 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Bobby Chez Franchise, LLC
- Parent company
- Franchise Founders 1, LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 8 of the 2022 FDD
- CEO title
- CEO
- Matt Friedman
- Founder active
- Yes
- Original founder still leading the business
- Incorporated in
- FL
- HQ
- 1991 Marlton Pike East, #11, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
- Auditor
- JPizars - CPA & Business Consultants LLC
- Audited financials
Overview
About
- CEO
- Matt Friedman
- Headquarters
- NJ
- Founded
- 2020
- FDD year
- 2022
- States available
- 1
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 45% below the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2022 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown15 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $40K | $40K | |
| Real Estate Rent Deposits and Pre-Paid Expenses | $5K | $15K | |
| Training Expensesnot refundable | $2K | $5K | |
| Initial Marketing Investmentnot refundable | $10K | $10K | |
| Fixtures & Furnishingsnot refundable | $20K | $30K | |
| Signagenot refundable | $5K | $10K | |
| Food Service Equipmentnot refundable | $60K | $120K | |
| Computers, Hardware and Softwarenot refundable | $8K | $9K | |
| Bobby Chez Crabcakes Restaurant Leasehold Improvementsnot refundable | $55K | $180K | |
| Inventory and Suppliesnot refundable | $10K | $15K | |
| Professional Feesnot refundable | $3K | $5K | |
| License, Permits and other Licensesnot refundable | $2K | $5K | |
| Insurancenot refundable | $2K | $7K | |
| Architectural/Engineering Feesnot refundable | $8K | $18K | |
| Additional Funds - 3 Monthsnot refundable | $20K | $30K | |
| Total initial investment | $249K | $498K |
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
- $249K – $498K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $20K – $30K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $40K – $40K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 7.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $450 |
| Training fee | $2K |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $15K |
| Total fee load | 7.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 38% below the full-service restaurants norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2022 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Bobby Chez Crabcakes until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$399K
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Bobby Chez Crabcakes unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2022 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $990K
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.0M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross sales
- Sample size
- 4 outlets
- vs category median 18 · small
- Range (low → high)
- $729K→$1.2MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 44 of the 2022 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2021
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2022
- Disclosed in the 2022 filing, covering 2021
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 801 Full-Service Restaurants 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 $990K/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 2.7x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 7.0% (near the Full-Service Restaurants median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence. Sample size of 4 outlets — treat as directional only.
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 Full-Service Restaurants medians
How Bobby Chez Crabcakes Compares
Category median of published Full-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2022 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 4
- Opened
- 0
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 4
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 0%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 0
- 0.00 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 10
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 1 state reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
1
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
No litigation required to be disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · JPizars - CPA & Business Consultants LLC
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Income statement, statement of operations, and statement of cash flows tables in the Exhibit C audited financials (audited by Juan A. Pizarro Llanos, CPA, dated March 21, 2022, for initial period ended December 31, 2021) contained no extractable revenue or net income figures in the FDD text. Balance sheet only: 2021 total assets $95,614; notes payable $100,000; owner contribution $330,000; accumulated members equity/net income deficit $(334,386); total equity/net worth $(4,386). Franchisor not in existence 3 years, so full statements not provided.
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 34 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDNet Income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — impossible to assess actual profitability; average revenue of $990k means little without expense breakdown
- 02MEDOnly 4 units system-wide — extremely small franchise with no disclosed growth trajectory; high risk of system collapse
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($249k-$498k) relative to unit count suggests franchisor may be financing growth through franchisees rather than organic expansion
- 04MINOR5% weekly royalty on gross sales (not net) — franchisees pay royalties even during unprofitable weeks, compounding cash flow risk
- 05MEDNo litigation disclosed but Going Concern status suggests underlying financial/operational problems not yet litigated
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 7.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2022 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| 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 | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Miami-Dade County, Florida |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | FL |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
No litigation required to be disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 16 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 55 hrs
- Training location
- Online and Franchisee's Location
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- Franchisee with franchisor approval; must use Bobby Chez-preferred broker
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Revel
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Revel
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Bobby Chez Crabcakes franchise?
The total investment to open a Bobby Chez Crabcakes franchise ranges from $249K – $498K, with an initial franchise fee of $40K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Bobby Chez Crabcakes franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Bobby Chez Crabcakes FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $990K. The median is $1.0M. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Bobby Chez Crabcakes?
Bobby Chez Crabcakes is franchised by Bobby Chez Franchise, LLC. Its parent company is Franchise Founders 1, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2022 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Bobby Chez Crabcakes FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Bobby Chez Crabcakes FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Bobby Chez Crabcakes's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Bobby Chez Crabcakes (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Bobby Chez Crabcakes franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Bobby Chez Crabcakes has 4 total units in the United States.
Is Bobby Chez Crabcakes a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Bobby Chez Crabcakes as a D-grade franchise with a verdict score of 34 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. 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.