Bruegger’s Bagels
Bottom line
- Total investment $694K – $1.2M including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 57/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 23 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -7.5% 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 Bruegger’s Bagels unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
10%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Bruegger's franchisees operate quick-service bagel cafes serving breakfast, lunch, and specialty beverages. Day-to-day operations include managing bagel production, food prep, staffing (typically 8–15 employees), POS systems, inventory, customer service, and marketing within a protected territory.
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 · 17 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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Bruegger's presents cautionary risk: a shrinking franchise system with hidden unit economics, elevated capital requirements, and no transparent profitability data to justify the investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 57 / 100 rating
- 01MINORSystem contracting sharply: 181 units down 5.8% YoY indicates declining franchisee success and network confidence
- 02MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure: Franchisor refuses to provide average unit volumes or net income, preventing ROI validation
- 03MEDHigh initial investment with opaque returns: $693,800–$1.2M+ required with no disclosed profitability benchmarks creates significant capital-at-risk scenario
- 04HIGHGoing Concern = False is ambiguous: Unclear whether franchisor itself has financial stability concerns
- 05MINORModest 5% royalty masks unit economics: Without revenue/profit data, impossible to model actual franchisee cash flow and breakeven timeline
- 06MINORQuick-service food model inherently labor-intensive: Bagel shops face persistent wage inflation, commodity cost volatility, and thin margins typical of QSR
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
99 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Bruegger’s Bagels · FDD (2024) PDF