Cap't Loui Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $463K – $1.8M
- Disclosed sales
- $2.1M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
CAP'T LOUI is a full-service franchise serving Cajun-style seafood boils, fried seafood, and Louisiana fare. Franchisees run the restaurants, managing the kitchen, dining service, and staffing.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A CAP'T LOUI franchise requires a total initial investment of $463K – $1.8M, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 4.5% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $2.1M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2026 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - the current year's filing
Evidence: strong✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored8 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing.
Overview
- Investment
- $463K – $1.8M
- 22nd pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $2.1M
- Outlet subset10th pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 4.5%
- 6th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 23
- 20th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Full-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Full-Service Restaurants median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $463K – $1.8M including a $50K franchise fee, 4.5% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $2.1M/year (median $2.0M) (reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system). Note: this is gross profit, not take-home income.
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 74/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +4 franchised outlets in the latest year (4 opened, 0 closed); 6 signed but not yet open (Item 20).
- GROWTHSystem growing at 50.0% CAGR over 3 years with 23 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Capt Loui, LLC
- Predecessor
- Loui Loui, LLC
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- President
- Henry Hyuk Kim
- Incorporated in
- NJ
- HQ
- 73 Dewey Street, Garfield, New Jersey 07026
- Auditor
- Optimus Financials, Inc.
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $1.8M
- vs $1.5M prior year
Affiliated brands
- InBoston
- Louistone
- Louifortlee
- Napkin Monster
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Henry Hyuk Kim
- Headquarters
- NJ
- Founded
- 2020
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 8
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 68% above the typical full-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown22 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Feenot refundable | $50K | $50K | |
| Travel & Living Expenses while Training | $1K | $5K | |
| Real Estate/Rent | $5K | $80K | |
| Plans, Development & Leasehold Improvements & Construction | $250K | $1.0M | |
| Architect and Engineering Fees | $10K | $50K | |
| Equipment, Fixtures & Furniture | $50K | $200K | |
| Menus | $500 | $2K | |
| Computer, Electronics and Point of Sale Control System | $50 | $2K | |
| POS Monthly Software Fee | $380 | $780 | |
| Restaurant365 setup and quarterly fee | $5K | $5K | |
| Security deposits, utility deposits, business licenses and other prepaid expenses | $10K | $100K | |
| Business Class Internet Service | $100 | $300 | |
| Signage | $8K | $30K | |
| Initial Inventory | $20K | $30K | |
| Supplies & Misc. Expense | $2K | $4K | |
| Advertising/Promotion/Grand Opening Materials | $8K | $15K | |
| Insurance | $5K | $25K | |
| Liquor License (if applicable) | — | — | |
| Audio/Video/Surveillance System | $2K | $4K | |
| Smallwares | $2K | $4K | |
| Total initial investment | $463K | $1.8M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $463K – $1.8M
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $30K – $200K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 4.5%
- Tiered by sales volume · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 3.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 4.5% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 3.0% |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $13K |
| Inventory (initial) | $20K – $30K |
| Total fee load | 9.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 28% above the full-service restaurants norm.
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for CAP'T LOUI until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$1.3M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one CAP'T LOUI unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system
- Avg gross sales
- $2.1M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.0M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- gross revenue and net income
- Sample size
- 15 outlets
- vs category median 18
- Range (low → high)
- $996K→$3.8MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 60 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 9 / 10
- vs category median 3 / 10 · above
Compared against 801 Full-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $2.1M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.8x. Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.5% — above the Full-Service Restaurants median of 7.0%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 9/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 50.0% CAGR over 3 years across 23 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Full-Service Restaurants medians
How Cap't Loui Compares
Category median of published Full-Service Restaurants brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 23
- Opened
- 4
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 2
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 91%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +50.0%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +50.0%
- Compounded over last 3 years
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Signed, not yet open
- 6
- 0.26 per open outlet · Item 20 Table 5
- Projected new
- 4
- Franchisor's next-year forecast
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 8 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
8
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
Fast growth in a small system. Newer franchisors expanding quickly may not yet have the support infrastructure of larger systems.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
CAP'T LOUI presents moderate-to-high risk due to unprotected territory, thin margins, opaque unit growth data, and absence of verified financial disclosures.
Why this reads harsher than the A grade: the grade weighs financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency across the whole filing, while this summary lists individual flags without that weighting. The flags are worth checking with current owners; neither is investment advice.
Litigation (Item 3)
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Optimus Financials, Inc.
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Item 21 audited financial statements of franchisor Capt Loui, LLC are in Exhibit G, which is image-based/scanned and produced no extractable text in the OCR; no balance sheet or income statement figures, auditor name, or revenue could be read. Affiliate revenues are disclosed in Item 8 (Napkin Monster, LLC total revenues $1,664,275.22; InBoston, LLC total revenues $260,217.87, FYE 12/31/2025) but these are affiliate, not franchisor, figures and are not from the Item 21 audited statements.
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 74 / 100 verdict
- 01MEDNo disclosed going concern status despite $197K avg net income on $2.05M revenue (9.6% net margin is thin)
- 02MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk and customer cannibalization between franchisees
- 03MINOR23.5% YoY growth masks potential unit churn — need breakdown of openings vs. closures to validate sustainability
- 04MINORInvestment range spans 292% variance ($463K-$1.8M) indicating inconsistent startup costs or hidden variables
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | No territory protection |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Granted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 60 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 15 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 1 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | New Jersey |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | NJ |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 85 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 155 hrs
- Training location
- Fort Lee, NJ / Garfield, NJ
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 3 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisee with franchisor approval
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Toast
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Toast
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
21 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a CAP'T LOUI franchise?
The total investment to open a CAP'T LOUI franchise ranges from $463K – $1.8M, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do CAP'T LOUI franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the CAP'T LOUI FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $2.1M. The median is $2.0M. Important context: Reported for a subset of outlets rather than the whole system. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns CAP'T LOUI?
CAP'T LOUI is franchised by Capt Loui, LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the CAP'T LOUI FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the CAP'T LOUI FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is CAP'T LOUI's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for CAP'T LOUI (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many CAP'T LOUI franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, CAP'T LOUI has 23 total units in the United States, including 21 franchised units and 2 company-owned units. 4 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is CAP'T LOUI a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates CAP'T LOUI as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 74 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.