California Pizza Kitchen
Bottom line
- Total investment $2.3M – $6.9M including a $50K franchise fee, 5.0% 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. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 169 loans (below the industry average).
- No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.
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 California Pizza Kitchen unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
3%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
Franchisees operate upscale casual dining restaurants serving California-style gourmet pizzas, pastas, and contemporary American cuisine. Daily operations include kitchen management, server/bartender oversight, inventory control, and customer service across typically 2,000–3,500 sq ft locations requiring full-service restaurant infrastructure and staffing (50–100+ employees).
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 · 18 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
Material lack of financial transparency (no Item 19) combined with flat unit growth and high capital requirements creates unquantifiable ROI risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 52 / 100 rating
- 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed — impossible to assess ROI or payback period on $2.3M–$6.9M investment
- 02MINORUnit count stalled at 148 with unknown/likely flat growth — suggests mature or contracting system
- 03MINORHigh capital requirement ($2.3M–$6.9M) with no revenue benchmarks creates severe information asymmetry
- 04MED5% royalty on undisclosed revenue base — cannot validate sustainability of franchisor support model
- 05HIGHGoing Concern classification FALSE — potential ambiguity in financial stability signals
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
33 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
California Pizza Kitchen · FDD (2024) PDF