FranchiseVerdict
Challenge Island logo
FV-00494·STRONGExcellent86

Challenge Island

OtherFranchising since 2016Website
Investment
$58K – $74K
17th pct Other
Avg revenue
50th pct Other
Royalty
7.0%
33rd pct Other
Units
197
86th pct Other
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $58K – $74K including a $50K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 11 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 22.6% CAGR over 3 years with 197 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Challenge Island Global, LLC
Incorporated in
Georgia
HQ
4590 LaSalle Ct., Marietta, Georgia 30062
Auditor
Muhammad Zubairy, CPA PC
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$917K
vs $1.1M prior year

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 Challenge Island 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
$
FDD Item 7: $58K–$74K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $4K–$10K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

143%

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
$73K
Payback
8 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

Challenge Island franchisees operate experiential learning centers offering STEM/problem-solving activities and camps for children. Day-to-day operations include managing after-school programs, summer camps, birthday parties, and corporate team-building events, with responsibilities spanning staff hiring/training, facility management, marketing, and parent/client relations.

CEO
Sharon D. Estroff
Founded
2015
FDD year
2025
States available
30

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$58K – $74K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$4K – $10K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$50K
Royalty
7.0%
Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
9.0%
vs 9–13% typical

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
197
Opened
20
Last reporting year
Closed
2
Turnover rate
1.0%
Company-owned
7
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
96%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
1.0%
Net growth (yr3)
+9.8%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+22.6%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
190+17
Franchised units
2024
173
Franchised units
2025
155
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 29 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).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 29 states
Not registered

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.

Total loans
11
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

54
Risk · 0-100
STRONG54 / 100

Challenge Island presents elevated risk due to litigation history, missing financial disclosure (Item 19), slow unit growth, and unclear franchisor financial stability, making ROI assessment impossible.

Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo average revenue or net income disclosure (Item 19) — impossible to assess actual franchisee profitability
  2. 02HIGHTwo litigation settlements totaling $205,000 (2016 Virginia unregistered franchise sales; 2019 California fraud/misrepresentation) indicate regulatory and legal compliance issues
  3. 03MINORModest unit growth of 9.8% YoY with only 197 locations suggests slower-than-typical franchise expansion; no growth acceleration visible
  4. 04MINORHigh franchise fee ($49,900) combined with 7% royalty minimum creates significant fixed cost burden without transparent revenue benchmarks
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern flagged as 'False' — unclear if this means concerns exist or notation is missing; requires clarification on franchisor financial health

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

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

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Boundary
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
2
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Georgia

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
24 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Franchise Management Tool (FMT)
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

85 numbers

Locked
(404) 692-••••
CIGLLC is the franchisor, and its offices are at
GA
(856) 562-••••
NJ
(770) 402-••••
GA

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Challenge Island · FDD (2025) PDF

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