Bottom line
- Total investment $230K – $468K including a $45K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 52/100.
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
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 Café 86 unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
30%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Café 86 franchisees operate coffee and beverage-focused café locations, likely handling daily inventory management, staff scheduling, customer service, and point-of-sale operations. Day-to-day activities include preparing/serving food and beverages, managing labor costs, and driving local marketing within their 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 · 14 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
Early-stage café franchise with explosive growth, zero financial transparency, and high capital requirements presents significant viability and profitability risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure (average unit revenue and profitability completely hidden)
- 02MINORExplosive unit growth of 233% YoY suggests either unsustainable scaling or aggressive recruitment masking underlying weakness
- 03MINORHigh initial investment range ($229.5K-$467.7K) without transparent earnings data creates profitability uncertainty
- 04MEDOnly 17 units total indicates very early-stage system with limited track record and high failure risk
- 05MED6% royalty on undisclosed gross sales means franchisees cannot validate ROI projections
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
14 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Café 86 · FDD (2025) PDF