FranchiseVerdict
FV-00484·AVOIDMinimal33

Cenex

Other
Investment
$750
0th pct Other
Avg revenue
50th pct Other
Royalty
Units
99th pct Other
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $750 including a $750 franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated AVOID with a risk score of 85/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 1 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

Legal entity
CHS INC.
Parent company
CHS INC.
Incorporated in
Minnesota
HQ
5500 Cenex Drive, Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota 55077

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 Cenex unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
Working capital
$
Item 7 didn't break this out — defaulted to ~10% of annual revenue

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

139%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$105K
EBITDA margin
14.0%
Total invested
$76K
Payback
9 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

Cenex franchisees typically operate fuel/petroleum retail locations, convenience stores, or agricultural supply operations under the Cenex brand. Daily operations involve managing inventory, serving customers, handling fuel distribution logistics, and maintaining compliance with corporate standards and supplier agreements.

FDD year
2026

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$750
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$750
Royalty
n/d
Ad fund
n/d

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

Total units
Opened
Last reporting year
Closed

No multi-year history disclosed and no opening/closing activity in the last reporting year.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
1
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

85
Risk · 0-100
AVOID85 / 100

Cenex presents extreme risk due to going concern status, complete financial opacity, unprotected territory, and structural indicators of a contracting or distressed franchise system.

Score breakdown · what drove the 85 / 100 rating

  1. 01HIGHGoing Concern status indicates serious financial/operational distress at corporate level
  2. 02MINORZero financial disclosure (revenue, net income, royalty rates) prevents ROI assessment
  3. 03MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk from other franchisees
  4. 04MINORUnknown unit count and growth trajectory suggest possible system contraction
  5. 05MINORExtremely low $750 franchise fee may indicate struggling brand unable to command standard fees
  6. 06MINOR3-year term is unusually short, suggesting corporate uncertainty about sustainability
  7. 07MINORNo Item 19 earnings claims means no franchisee performance benchmarks available

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Protected territory
No
Initial term
3 years
Renewal term
3 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
No
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Governing law
Minnesota

Item 11

Training & Operations

POS system
CHS Connect
Operating tech stack

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

1 numbers

Locked
(651) 355-••••
MN

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Cenex · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above