Bottom line
- Total investment $705K – $1.2M including a $35K franchise fee, 5.5% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.2M).
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 73/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 29 loans (below the industry average).
- System contracting at -25.0% 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 BurgerFi unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
20%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 BurgerFi units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
45.8%
6.58× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.96×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$2.5M
on $10.7M purchase
Total debt
$8.2M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
BurgerFi franchisees operate fast-casual burger restaurants focused on premium, craft-style burgers and natural frozen custard. Day-to-day operations include food preparation, inventory management, staff scheduling, customer service, and POS/delivery platform management across dine-in, takeout, and third-party delivery channels. Franchisees must maintain brand standards for sourcing and preparation while managing typical QSR labor and food costs in a high-investment location.
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 · 15 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
BurgerFi presents extreme risk: contracting franchise system (-15.4% YoY), going concern status, officer criminal indictment for tax fraud, multiple active lawsuits alleging fraudulent inducement, and undisclosed net income make this unsuitable for most investors.
Score breakdown · what drove the 73 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — indicates potential solvency/viability issues at corporate level
- 02MEDUnit count declined 15.4% YoY (82 units) — system is actively contracting, not growing
- 03HIGHMultiple active litigation cases including fraud allegations, criminal indictment of officers for tax fraud conspiracy, and negligent misrepresentation claims — pattern of disputes with franchisees
- 04MEDNet income not disclosed in FDD Item 19 — cannot validate the $1.26M average revenue translates to acceptable profitability after 5.5% royalty + CoGS
- 05MINORHigh investment threshold ($704K-$1.17M) paired with declining unit count creates poor risk/reward profile
- 06HIGHCriminal indictment against named officers (Happy Asker, Maher Bashi) for conspiracy to defraud U.S. and filing false tax returns — raises questions about corporate integrity and financial reporting accuracy
- 07HIGHMultiple franchisee refund disputes and fraud inducement claims suggest corporate may have misrepresented unit economics or support
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
46 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
BurgerFi · FDD (2025) PDF