Bottom line
- Total investment $899K – $1.4M including a $35K franchise fee, 4.5% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.1M/year (median $1.0M). Estimated payback in 4.8 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 47/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 56 loans (below the industry average).
- 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 Captain D's unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
16%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Captain D's units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
42.6%
5.90× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.04×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$3.0M
on $11.4M purchase
Total debt
$8.4M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Captain D's franchisees operate sit-down/carryout seafood casual dining restaurants, managing daily operations including food preparation, inventory of fresh/frozen seafood proteins, crew supervision, and customer service. Franchisees handle P&L responsibility across 40-60 employees, navigating high food costs, labor turnover, and seasonal demand fluctuations typical of regional seafood concepts.
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 · 13 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
Captain D's presents moderate-to-caution risk: stagnant unit growth, capital-intensive model with modest returns, and lack of transparent financial disclosure in a structurally challenged seafood casual dining category.
Score breakdown · what drove the 47 / 100 rating
- 01MINORDeclining unit growth at 1.8% YoY suggests system maturation or contraction in a casual dining segment facing headwinds
- 02MINORHigh initial investment ($898K-$1.35M) coupled with modest net income ($232K avg) yields 3-4 year payback period with execution risk
- 03MINOR21.4% net margin is healthy but below QSR industry standards; vulnerable to labor/commodity inflation in seafood-heavy menu
- 04MEDNo Item 19 (financial performance representation) disclosed—cannot verify if $1.08M average revenue and $232K net income are system-wide or cherry-picked
- 05MED20-year term with 4.5% royalty locks franchisee into aging casual dining format with limited flexibility to pivot
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
Captain D's · FDD (2024) PDF