Brain Tune Café
Formerly known as Thirstea
Bottom line
- Total investment $213K – $291K including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $232K/year (median $237K). Estimated payback in 4.0 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
- Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 7 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 Brain Tune Café unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
10%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Brain Tune Café units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$232K
on $1.2M purchase
Total debt
$926K
SBA $0.6M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Brain Tune Café franchisees operate specialized cafés combining beverage/food service with cognitive training, brain health products, and wellness services. Day-to-day operations include customer service, product inventory management, facilitation of brain training programs or workshops, and potentially staff management depending on location size.
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 · 6 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
Micro-franchise system with going concern status, undisclosed unit performance data, and suspiciously high reported margins requires extensive validation before investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern warning indicates the franchisor may have financial viability issues despite not disclosing litigation
- 02MEDOnly 7 units system-wide suggests minimal scale, limited support infrastructure, and unknown/stagnant growth trajectory
- 03MINORAverage net income of $63,792.92 on $231,546 revenue (27.5% net margin) is exceptionally high and potentially unrealistic—warrants verification of accounting methodology
- 04MEDNo Item 19 financial performance representations disclosed—franchisor unwilling to substantiate the claimed averages
- 05MINORHigh initial investment ($213,300–$291,400) relative to system size creates risk if franchisor lacks operational stability
- 06MED5% royalty on gross revenue (not net) compounds risk if unit-level profitability declines
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
11 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Brain Tune Café · FDD (2025) PDF