Bonefish Grill
Bottom line
- Total investment $4.3M – $9.0M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 72/100.
- System contracting at -42.9% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).
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 Bonefish Grill unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
2%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate upscale casual seafood restaurants featuring grilled fish, wood-grilled steaks, and craft cocktails. Day-to-day operations include managing 80-150 employees, maintaining food quality/seafood sourcing, executing table service during lunch and dinner shifts, and driving local marketing to compete with casual dining chains.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
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
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 19 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Bonefish Grill presents HIGH RISK due to steep unit decline, regulatory history, missing financial disclosures, and high capital requirements with no transparent path to profitability.
Score breakdown · what drove the 72 / 100 rating
- 01MEDUnit count declined 33.3% year-over-year (166 units), indicating significant system contraction and potential franchisee struggles
- 02MINORNo Item 19 financial performance disclosure despite high investment range ($4.26M-$9.04M), making ROI assessment impossible
- 03MINOR2015 SEC consent order for unregistered franchise sales demonstrates prior regulatory non-compliance and franchise disclosure violations
- 04MEDHigh initial investment relative to undisclosed unit economics creates misalignment of risk/reward transparency
- 05MINORRestaurant sector fundamentals challenged by labor costs, food inflation, and consumer traffic volatility post-2015
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
25 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Bonefish Grill · FDD (2026) PDF